I have to begin this post by stating I am a 22-year-old black man. I have been a fan of K-pop and Korean culture since I was 14. Over the last 8 years, I have had my ups and downs while navigating the Korean music industry as a black body. The themes of appreciation V.S. appropriation have come forward since the inception of K-pop in my life. For an extended period of time, I ignored the signs of appropriation in K-pop because most the fandom would shun me or even outright threaten me for speaking out against their “bias” or their favorite group. This made engaging with the topic not only extremely hard but draining as well.
The co-opting of black culture for views and engagement can be seen countless times throughout most of K-pop especially in music videos. This can be the use of black fashion, styles, trends, and culture sole for monetary gain. It’s literally engaging with a group of people/ their culture only when it is beneficial. CL’s song Baddest Female is a great example of an idol and entertainment company capitalizing on black culture for views.
CL’s video has a late 90s and early 2000s female rapper/ R&B singer vibe. The themes of the video were also very interesting especially since it is a song that seems to be promoting female empowerment. The video highlights many fashion trends and themes that were prominent in the black community during the late 90s and 2000s. When first watching the video I noticed the accessories more than the outfits even. There was a heavy emphasis on the gold chains she was wearing, her grillz, and flexing her money. These are also themes that can be found in many different hip-hop music videos as a way to show that one has made it out of their struggle and to a point where they can show off what they have. Showing this growth in wealth and change in environment is why rappers often emphasize their bank accounts, whips, and homes in music videos. For many fans who are engaging they can claim that she is doing the same thing that many have done before her. However, this baseline engagement with hip-hop for an aesthetic promotes an unhealthy surface level engagement with black culture in general.
CL is not the only example of this within Korean hip-hop. Truedy is another Korean hip-hop artist who also capitalizes on black culture. With her, it is much less subtle than it is with CL. Truedy in her everyday appearance can be seen rocking braids, chains, and timeless 90s and 2000s “hip-hop” styled clothing. She uses her aesthetic to fit the mold of what it means to be a rapper/hip-hop when in reality there is no clear cut design.
This brings me to Pham’s piece and the term racial plagiarism. This was a term prior to this reading I had never heard of. “Racial plagiarism” accord to Pham “centrally involves and colludes in racial capitalist processes of value extraction in which racialized groups’ resources of knowledge, labor, and cultural heritage are exploited for the benefit of dominant groups and in ways that maintain dominant socioeconomic relationships.” This idea is meant to give a fine line to the debate between cultural appropriation and appreciation, which can be extremely vague and leave too much up to interoperation. Although in many ways this idea of racial plagiarism also leaves room for work too. Ignoring that, if these guidelines are applied CL’s music video it can clearly be seen that highly popular female artist is racially plagiarising. Although she is a Korean woman and is part of the minority her actions of co-opting black hip-hop culture for her company’s and her own beneficial gain feeds into the hegemony established by white bodies. By using the fashion, trends, and styles black bodies created to seem more hip, edgy, and gain views while simultaneously ignoring the cries of black fans doesn’t seem right to me. The same can be said for Truedy and many more artists. Maybe feelings should be excluded when discussing racial plagiarism however, that doesn’t sit right with me either. If an entire group is asking for change or actively saying there is a problem, maybe it’s time to listen.
The Politics of K-Pop 
Of course, this sort of “rags to riches” story could be expressed in ways that are much less in-your-face and not as controversial, but I’m still left to wonder if hip-hop and its origins should be denied from Korean artists entirely. Korea itself is a nation with a history of colonialism and was on the brink of economic downfall before it became one of the biggest economies in the world, and I wonder if they are truly “copping” this sort of narrative because it’s something that relates to them. Of course, no one is ever completely off the hook ( personally agree with the issues you have with Truedy and find her association with black culture to be a superficial one.) but it’s definitely something to consider: is it possible for Korean artists to engage in this sort of creative expression to because of their past, or is the sort of struggle ingrained in hip-hop culture exclusively black and thus any sort of association with it by non-black artists should be “cancelled”?
Hip-hop and black culture will always be more than just hair, and the ways in which certain K-pop artists try to engage with it will most definitely fall short, but perhaps the boundaries of what can and can’t be acceptable for Koreans to engage in is still somewhat of a gray area.
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