YG Entertainment decides edit CL’s solo song ‘MTBD’ after accusations of blasphemy

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Girl band 2NE1 have found themselves embroiled in a bitter controversy over alleged insults to Islam after a song on their latest album quoted verses from the Qu’ran.

The offending lines come in a ditty titled “MTBD.”

An official at the Korea Muslim Federation on Wednesday demanded that 2NE1′s agency YG Entertainment “swiftly delete” the lyrics in question or “completely revise” the song, and apologize to all Muslims.

The federation threatened “concerted measures” with Muslims around the world unless its demands are met.

The lyrics in question last six or seven seconds and consist of background crooning while 2NE1′s CL is rapping. Muslim critics claim they were lifted from Sura 78, Verses 32-34 of the Qu’ran, which describes heaven.

YG Entertainment admitted that it sampled a track from another song but declined to explain further.

The problematic portion has gone viral on YouTube and other social media. One Indian viewer identifying himself Ahmad Anir claimed a growing number of Muslims around him are saying this is a “clear case” of insulting Islam.

The federation claims it has received many complaints. Lee Ju-hwa, the secretary general at the federation, claimed Muslims consider it “blasphemous” to use the Quran for any purpose other than worship.

YG Entertainment has now apparently decided to delete the controversial portion.

The live performance from ‘All or Nothing‘ has been reuploaded without the section in dispute.

YGLadies, Chosun Ilbo, 2NE1

Comments

[turtles-tszx.livejournal.com]

Well i guess they didnt learn anything from jaurim's MKMF/MAMA performance incident, they're going to have problem when touring in malaysia and indonesia ;/, it might be cancelled like erykah badu concert.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

What happened with Erykah Badu?

[tees2mai.livejournal.com]

they deleted it but didn't apologize. typical yg.

[hagar-tammaa.livejournal.com]

YG Entertainment admitted that it sampled a track from another song but declined to explain further.

ok yg ok

[hagar-tammaa.livejournal.com]

I posted something similar to this but with the video explaining the matter very clearly

here it is
)

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this video, it's pretty clear with both being played after the other !

[veryimportantu.livejournal.com]

no apology?? not only did they sample that part from the Qu'ran but the song is pretty much identical to Dj Snakes 'turn down for what' smh yg

[tillapia.livejournal.com]

oh.

usually when people say someone is plagiarizing or whatever I can't hear the similarities at all. but wow- that really is almost identical.

[adlyeith.livejournal.com]

-sigh-

[a-perfect-shade.livejournal.com]

if they wanted to sample random arabic singing, they should have just picked something from arabic pop music. why would you use a religion's holy scripture? so stupid.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

Right? Like there are so many Arab celebs like Nancy Ajram, Amr Diab, Elissa, Nawal Al Zoughbi, Cheb Khaled etc who are extremely popular & could've been used but NOPE!

[uledy.livejournal.com]

no apology, huh?

Aaaaaaand, YG continues to be disrespectful towards fans.

not that anyone should be surprised.

get some fucking humility and acknowledge when you've fucked up and offended others. it's not that hard. but then again, they have no motivation to cause truth be told, this won't impact the popularity of any of their groups or their sales, so...

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

No apologizes whatsoever? Eat a dick, yg.

[porcupinegloves.livejournal.com]

no apology ofc lol
but sigh this is better than nothing i guess

i kind of believe that they sampled from another song, because i still don't understand how teddy found that video of a boy reading the Quran and why he thought it was a good idea to sample it (how would anyone think that sampling it was a good idea tbh?). but they should just have said from what song they sampled it and really explain things (and apologise).

[aridnili.livejournal.com]

Well, what happens is that the so called "creative minds", actually, spend their times doing experiments with a lot of songs from around the world, combining those, until it turns out to be quite cohesive and fitting for the writing of the rap. And in uncountable times the credits ain't properly given. This case was a really unfortunate one, 'cause they were caught in a serious matter. Edit: an example is the song Somebody That I Used To Know, from Gotye, that got a huge sample of the song Seville, from the brazilian bossa nova singer Luiz Bonfá, and didn't gave the proper credits or paid the sample to the family of the deceased singer, until it became a controversy.

[e-bone (from livejournal.com)]

Are they really trying to blame it on the creator of the other song (who it sounds like they didn't credit to begin with)?? YG's PR is just terrible.

[torontok.livejournal.com]

No apology of course.But then again if they had just clarified where the sample was originally from they wouldn't need to give one. If it was indeed another song then why not name it fully so you can get everyone off your back once and for all? hmm.

At least they're editing it out. For the best considering they don't wan tto lose sales or be banned from Malaysia or Indonesia

[miwa201.livejournal.com]

This is such a bad way of handling this. They should have just apologized and emphasized it was all Teddy's doing (CL only wrote the lyrics).

Technically I'm not that bothered by it bc I'm no longer a Muslim, but at the same time the song's been tainted to me and it seriously sucks.

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

I wonder how they'll deal with all the pre-order?
The problem is not just with the livre ver. Right?
The studio ver. is problematic too?

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Since the first print is probably already largely distributed into different stores they probably make changes for next printing batch.

[wangzi.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the apology YG!
WOOPS! We didn't get one. :-)

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm glad my album is already in mail as edited version of the song doesn't sound as good as the original.

[fireandbread.livejournal.com]

Dang, I think I missed my chance of ordering lol

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Like everyone here, I'm surprised/disappointed/disgusted that YG doesn't even apologize.
I guess removing the song is better than doing nothing...

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

no apology? so effing disrespectful.

but at least they edited it out.

[royarwa.livejournal.com]

why don't they just apologise :/
at least they edited the song

sooo off topic but

[couturevibes.livejournal.com]

your icon <3

[scheisse.livejournal.com]

Without an apology, this is almost worse than just keeping the sample in, eh? Like, this is them acknowledging the issue but not saying anything about it and trying to cover it up. The damage is done, an apology would have done a better job.

[mya13.livejournal.com]

not even surprised we didn't get an apology, but if we did it would go like this "We are sorry that you were offended" bs. i can't listen to any song off of crush anymore, i just feel so uncomfortable.

[tees2mai.livejournal.com]

same. i had to delete the album from my itunes cause listening to it annoyed me

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

glad they are editing the song but they should have given a proper apology

[lilmissniza.livejournal.com]

Of course YGE - point your finger on someone else. And oh, don't bother apologizing either 'cos you know it's not your fault you're too ignorant about proper cultural/religious appropriation. The song's already off my playlist since then and while I am very disappointed in how YGE handles this issue, I'm worried about the flak that CL/2NE1 are gonna get from this. Just when we'd thought they'd finally make a clean, flawless comeback YGE's PR (or lack of it) is bound to do something to ruin it.

Also, they're probably digging deeper into their grave by announcing that they sampled 'another song' which they decline to name and probably weren't even bothered to credit in the first place. I really hope they get a harsh wake up call and change for a better, proper management ways that they always tout themselves to be.

[scionofawhisper.livejournal.com]

Is sampling like this that common? I'm surprised how they just sampled a song apparently without permission...

And unlucky for them, it appears they unknowingly sampled a religious text. Kind of glad their bum is getting burned for it... =_=;

[la-geni.livejournal.com]

IDK how it is in Korea, but in the U.S my ex told me that they are allowed up to a certain extent to sample, and beyond that, you have to pay copyrights. It's not that much though, I think he told me six seconds is allowed, or something. I don't know music, but it wasn't a lot. But it's all so fuzzy and what ends up happening a lot of the time is that people will sample a good 30 seconds of a song, and not pay credits, and that's when people start calling them out. .

[seroquels.livejournal.com]

I'm so confused about all this still. I've seen Muslim ppl say it wasn't actually words, just someone vocalizing. Then ppl outraged saying it WAS actual words.

confused!

But I'm glad YG decided to respond to the problem, instead of ignoring. Step in the right direction.

[adlyeith.livejournal.com]

On youtube no one seemed to be able to agree whether it was actual words or not.