KPOP & BLACK CULTURE

KPOP is a music genre which originated in South Korea. The genre is heavily influenced by a variety of other musical genres from around the world such as: Pop, Electronic, Dance, R&B, Hip Hop and much more. With the genre’s growing popularity over the recent years thanks to the likes of BTS, many people who are beginning introduced to the genre for the first time are noticing a couple of controversial issues which have not gone unnoticed by many fans of the genre. Gaining worldwide recognition has opened the door to many questions about the genre’s authenticity and its representation of various cultures – most notably Black culture. More recently, KPOP and Black culture have come into question again after the release of Jay Park’s music video – “DNA Remix”.

For those who do not know, Jay Park is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer of Korean descent. He first found fame back in 2008 as the leader of the South Korean group, 2PM. After his controversial departure from the group, Park embarked on a solo career, releasing numerous EPs and albums – achieving a lot of success. As an artist, Park is known for utilizing the R&B/Hip Hop style and sound. However, the release of his latest music video raised a lot of eyebrows from fans and critics.

On June 14th Park dropped the music video for the song - “DNA Remix”. In the music video, Park along with other Korean artists have been accused of cultural appropriation. Many of the artists in the video can be seen sporting braids and even dreadlocks – causing many to speak up again a topic that has been so prevalent in KPOP. Many fans expressed their concerns and opinions on social media – particularly Twitter. One Twitter user commented: “I thought Jay Park DNA remix was going to be about being Korean, but then people trying to be black soo bad”. Another Twitter user who is a fan of Park’s stated: “I’d been a Jay Park fan since I was 10 and would look past the s*** he would do. But now I’m an adult and grew more brain cells. I can’t keep being a fan. Couldn’t even watch that DNA remix. It was the afro for me. You can appreciate our black culture without imitating it”. However, Park himself saw things differently and tried to defend his actions along with his peers – only to make things worse.

After receiving negative feedback from fans and critics, Park decided to share his opinion on the controversial story, making several eye-raising comments. On the behalf of himself and his Korean artist peers, Park decided to address the situation in the comment section on YouTube; in a lengthy statement. Park started off by firstly addressing the Black and Latino roots of Hip Hop, mentioning some of his heroes are “Black rappers”. However, just as it seemed Park was getting somewhere, he slowly started to make things worse. Mentioning we “don’t see colour”, Park would go on to make several points before negating his answers. For example, he mentioned Koreans cannot to relate to the Black struggle “but there are certain elements we can relate and identify with”. While talking about some of his peers sporting dreadlocks, he might not “necessarily agree with it” but would go on to say “who am I to say don’t do that”. So, from his lengthy comment it would seem Jay Park is trying to say Koreans and Black people are in the same boat but are not at the same time. Following the controversy, Park would later go on to make the music video private but this did not stop the conversation.

Many fans and critics were quick to dismiss Park’s comments as they were tired of the star getting away with his use of Black culture and are finally glad, he has been confronted about it. Being somewhat of a fan of Jay Park myself, I can understand where he and fans are coming from. Park grew up in America and most likely grew up around various different cultures. So, for him Black culture and many others are what he is used to seeing and has some understanding of but to a certain degree. With that being said, for someone who grew up in America and has seen what an impact Black culture has had and the struggles that came with it, Park should have known better than to take something that’s so precious to many. It’s frustrating to see Jay Park make these types of comments given the fact he has been in the industry for over a decade now and would know what is deemed acceptable or not. Many fans asked why he would use the Kendrick Lamar’s “DNA” – which was a celebration of Black culture and remix it to cater towards Korean culture but it the music video be heavily drenched in Black culture.

Park’s actions are nothing new for many as stated before, the issue of Black culture being used in KPOP as always been prevalent. From the Bubble Sisters wearing Blackface back in 2003 to MAMAMOO sporting the same look for their performance of “Uptown Funk” in 2017, KPOP has used an abused Black culture for a long time. Even some of the KPOP artists I am personally a fan of have made several questionable decisions. In 2014, BIGBANG’s G-Dragon was sporting neon dreadlocks in the music video “Good Boy” for his collaboration with fellow BIGBANG member Taeyang. As a fan, I did not question it at the time because I knew these guys were heavy influenced by Black culture. Looking back now, I see why people are upset because many fans give KPOP stars a pass because they are from Korea and it’s nice to see them embrace different cultures (specifically Western culture). However, if we as fans keep giving out favourite acts a pass, then they will never understand the impact their actions have had on so many.

For many of the top entertainment companies such as: SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment in South Korea who create these KPOP artists, having cornrows, braids and Afros is just part of the creative aesthetic but they are really doing more harm than good. They fail to understand the significance of having these types of hairstyles in the Black community and how you can be made to feel inferior and out of place in certain environments.

So, with Jay Park’s recent actions opening the revolving door of KPOP and Black Culture, where do we go from here? To start, some KPOP stars have acknowledged their involvement in cultural appropriation and have expressed their sincerest apologies. However, this is something that is not going to stop overnight. Heads of the big entertainment companies need to understand that there is a different between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. It’s not just the companies that need a greater understanding but the artists themselves. As the artists start to gain worldwide recognition, they will see a number of their fans coming from various ethnic backgrounds and cultures. These fans will then start to question the actions of their favourite acts and they themselves will need decide if what they are doing is right.