Korean Hip-Hop imitates mainstream American Hip-Hop by stealing the concepts, fashion, music, and attitude (yes, misogyny included). Korean artists strive to be as close to the media’s idea of Blackness as possible, most of them copying each other to the point where I can’t tell some Korean rappers apart cuz their music and style is relatively the same.
So it’s really interesting to see Kpop and K Hip-Hop fans talk about how Koreans do it better, especially since there’s no creative movement behind the genre’s presence in South Korea. They latched on to Hip-Hop for the same reason most white people do. It was a way to profit off the world’s desire to be Black without having to live as a Black person.
We’ve been saying it for the longest time but I’ll say it again. Y’all only like K Hip-Hop over ours bcuz you hate Black people and/or fetishize East Asians. That is the only reason. Listening to K Hip-Hop gives you all the things you like seeing come from Black American culture, without you having to actually see Black people.
okay so not to be “controversial” or anything but bts shouldn’t be classified as activists. yes, they are a safe space for so many, but a lot of the time their actions are blown out of proportion by fans who genuinely think those actions are impactful or fans projecting their beliefs into them. i’m glad they’re being recognised, because they did work for the platform they now have but i hope time magazine makes it clear that they fall under the artist catergory NOT the activist section.
okay i’m getting too many anons abt this. bts has fought for mental health and the healing of the self. they’ve used their music and platform to repeatedly do that. what the have NOT done is speak in clear terms about racism, homophobia, sexism or anything like that. they have NOT mentioned race or colorism or anything relating to activism separate from their love yourself campaign which also did NOT talk about any of those topics. it’s upsetting to act like bts stands for everything because they spoke at the U.N. i’m so proud that they’ve spoken about mental health, especially when it’s such a big erasure problem or something that’s ridiculed in the world. if u pay attention though, it’s the safest topic to fight for which is why so many other kpop groups also lend their voices to it. it’s an important topic, but a safe one. stop projecting ur ideals and beliefs onto a band that has never stood behind them, regardless of if they secretly wish to or not. they haven’t yet, so they don’t deserve the credit yet.
since i didn’t explain correctly the first time i want to clarify that i made a mistake my making it seem like u can only be an activist if you fight for everything, which is not true. i’m also not trying to diminish or devalue what bts has done when campaigning for mental health. it’s so so important to me on a personal level as well as to me on a moral level, but it’s also a safe topic in the sense that it’s the least controversial and could result in the least negative backlash. my main problem lies with both the media and the fandom giving them credit where it’s not due. especially with the time magazine thing, coupled with the unicef campaign and the u.n speech that allows this image of bts being true wokeologists to be produced.
okay so not to be “controversial” or anything but bts shouldn’t be classified as activists. yes, they are a safe space for so many, but a lot of the time their actions are blown out of proportion by fans who genuinely think those actions are impactful or fans projecting their beliefs into them. i’m glad they’re being recognised, because they did work for the platform they now have but i hope time magazine makes it clear that they fall under the artist catergory NOT the activist section.
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shares BTS’ reaction to the debate on military exemption
South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shared how BTS reacted to the ongoing debate on the military exemption.
This summer, the fairness of South Korea’s military exemption policy came into discussion, and it garnered great attention from the public when politician Ha Tae Kyung used BTS as an example in his claims. He stated if winners of piano and violin competitions can be exempt from the military then people who have a profound effect on the image of Korea such as BTS should also be exempt. Since then, the debate on whether or not the members of BTS deserve an exemption has been ongoing.
During the annual audit at the National Assembly on October 10, the issues on the current military exemption policy came into a topic of discussion. Cho Kyung Tae of the Liberty Korea Party stated, “Recently, fairness has been questioned as people ask, ‘Why is BTS of K-pop not given a military exemption?’” and emphasized the need for a reform.
In response, Do Jong Hwan, the minister of Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism shared, “The 7 members of BTS are sensitive about the issues relating to the military,” and revealed, “They said they will definitely serve in the military no matter what.”
He then added, “Abolishment and various other opinions will be considered into the discussion. We plan to come to a reasonable measure. We will continue the discussion with the Military Manpower Administration and the Ministry of National Defense.”
kim namjoon didn’t battle intense self loathe and anxiety growing up, give up so much for his music career and leave his bright future in education behind, for you to just ignore him and leave him out.
min yoongi didn’t go through clinical depression and social anxiety disorder, neglect his studies for music and get no support from anyone but still do music, for you to call him useless and lazy.
jung hoseok didn’t wake up early in the morning to skip school and go to dance practices to distract himself from his mental conflicts and work so hard to get recruited, for you to call him a sidekick.
kim seokjin didn’t leave an entire field of his potential acting career to give music a chance, work his brains out to practice singing because he was recruited when he had no background of music, for you to call him talentless or “only a visual”.
park jimin didn’t grow up comparing himself to others, work hard to maintain his grades at school and work harder to practice contemporary dancing, starve himself to be an idol and skip breaks to practice singing and dancing for you to call him “overrated”.
kim taehyung did not come to seoul wearing a fancy jacket his mom gave him so “the city boys wouldn’t judge him” because he came from a poor family, sit near trashcans as he watched the rest practice and vlog because he wasn’t revealed as a member, for you to say he’s “just weird” and isn’t talented.
jeon jungkook did not leave his family, friends, education and his entire childhood behind and come to seoul at the age of 13 to pursue music when he wasn’t even sure he could, grow up thinking he had to wear masks in front of people and battle social anxiety, for you to paint him in a bad light and call him rude when he really isn’t whatsoever, and call him overrated.
bts did not go through so fucking much, come from a small entertainment company where they trained and put everything on the line despite being told it was useless and they were nothing, look for people that would attend their concerts, give their everything to the army, make so many contributions towards, not only the music industry but also towards humanity and the youth of our generation, spread love and stand strong and handle all situations maturely and professionally despite all the unnecessary hate, criticism, death threats they had gotten, work their asses off, starve themselves and sacrifice their sleep to practice and maintain their personal lives and give back to their family, society and friends for you to say they are “just a group of good looking boys with a fandom of a bunch of crazy teenage girls” and for you to call them overhyped.
when reality is that they are one of the few artists who actually write about things people wouldn’t talk about but should talk about, produce and write their own music, help millions with their own lives and issues, spread so much love and encourage so much positivity that is needed in today’s world, teach life lessons no educational institution ever could, lessons that are engrained into our brain and soul, ones we’ll never forget, and have a fandom — a family, full of people of all ages and races and cultures and everyone leading a different life with a different story, that love and support these seven boys despite all odds and continue to spread the love furthermore.
a big fuck you to anyone who called bts irrelevant and overrated recently😃🙂
@paticle 