Ebony Magazine - 'Southern Rap Has Found a Home in Asia'

[aki-san.livejournal.com]

Cory Townes stumbled on an Asian rap group on YouTube that could be "the Korean Migos"



Yesterday ended for me just as any other in the EBONY digital offices; scheduling the night’s content and figuring out how I could get back to Brooklyn from Midtown while remaining as warm as possible in the 16 degree weather. But just as 6:00PM came closer, I found myself clicking on a random YouTube link. It was entirely in Korean, and had several iPhone “Fire Flame” emojis behind it. As someone whose curiosity is regularly tested, I clicked the link only to have my (admittedly Americanized) perception of pop culture blown away with the force of an atomic bomb. It was a Korean man, performing at some mega-stadium, in what looked like an awards ceremony. And he was rapping. And he was KILLING IT.

Normally, whenever I catch randomly cool things like this, I rewind to the beginning for reassurance that I’m not bugging out, but after three rewinds, the fact remained; this kid was shutting this show down. After watching more, he was joined on stage by two more rappers who assisted in the domination of the show, and then it hit me: these guys are rapping in the same flow and cadence as some of my favorite rappers from the South, most noticeably, Atlanta trio Migos. The resemblance was uncanny, the influence, spot-on, and it led me down the Internet rabbit hole trying to figure out just who these guys are. That, and I managed to live-tweet my findings with fellow music-heads @Cool_1ne and @FiveFifths.

After some research, I found YG Entertainment’s Bobby, who alongside The Qquiet and Dok2, performed the Korean smash hit, “YGGR #HipHop” at the 2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong. I already knew that hip-hop culture is huge in Asia, and that any number of underground and “traditional” Hip-Hop artists in America make the majority of their income doing Asian tours. But to see just how much US rap culture is mimic down to the details was a legitimate shock for me. Simply look at the aesthetics: gold chain on top of gold chain, snap-back hats, leather jogger sets, even the “turnt up” dances members of the crowd would do as Bobby rocked the stage.



You could swap that venue in Hong Kong and place them at Giants Stadium for Hot 97’s legendary “Summer Jam” concert and not much would be different. The way Dok2 would space out his braggadocious lyrics to match the drum signature of the 808-laced track reminds me of something Future or Quavo would make on a Metro Boomin instrumental. This leads me to wonder, what if there’s some alternate universe on the other side of the world that has their own versions of America’s superstars? A Japanese equivalent to Kanye West? A Chinese equivalent to Beyonce? The Korean Migos?

Whether that exists or not, I can say that “YGGR #HipHop” was the hottest song I heard yesterday, and even if you have zero clue what they’re saying (a look at the translated lyrics here), I felt it would be a crime not to share. Takeoff, there may be a collaborative effort in Korea for you.

Check out the video below:

Ebony, Mnet

The performance was also trending on the subreddit /r/hiphopheads a few days ago: Korean Rappers go hard in the paint (Live)

Also, Illionaire tag?

Comments

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

Very cool. I hope he goes further down that hole.
Maybe next week. :)

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

This rubbed me the wrong way in two different ways. I can't explain it just yet.

[audiograms.livejournal.com]

same.

[winged-monster.livejournal.com]

Maybe it has to do with the way he's applauding them for imitating (his own words) other artists. He sees everything in their performance taken from someone else's style, and he's happy. He also thinks that because they are imitating black culture, there is a space for black hip-hop artists to collaborate in Asia. He published this on the site of a famous black magazine with a predominantly black following and tells these black readers that they should look for opportunities in Asia.

It just seems odd to me that he likes people he's calling copycats. It seems like he also assumes that when people from a different culture or country imitate your culture, they must like you because you come from that culture...

[babyonions.livejournal.com]

I'm only here for the Jinwoo gif

[babyonions.livejournal.com]

And I think we need a Bobby tag tbh

Mods, you're fast, thank you :*

[yuzuruhanyu.livejournal.com]

lmao

[hongaerin.livejournal.com]

"This leads me to wonder, what if there’s some alternate universe on the other side of the world that has their own versions of America’s superstars? A Japanese equivalent to Kanye West? A Chinese equivalent to Beyonce? The Korean Migos?"

Seriously ? Is that guy discovering that countries other than USA have their own artists, singers and pop-stars ??????? And "alternate universe" because yeah sure USA is the only real thing and the rest of the world is just some weird alternate universe.

I don't know if I took his words wrong or something but this is making me so mad

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

No, its kind of understandable because this is sounding like the stereotypical american that only pays attention to american things, has never left the country to travel and thinks that america is the only country that has different genres of music.

[llamadistrict.livejournal.com]

hmmm

[torontok.livejournal.com]

So....am I the only one having to google all these refrences or....?

uncool desi kid lyfe

[blueglassbeads.livejournal.com]

i'm... really not okay with this article. i think it has to do with the fact that i know exactly what these asian artists get up to, and i'm really not okay with praising them for that. there's very few that show actual appreciation as opposed to being messy af and making a mockery of our music/culture.

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

oh huh dok2 didn't annoy me in that performance, maybe he's getting better

[uledy.livejournal.com]

well, ebony ain't black no more so ya never kno.

[921227.livejournal.com]

My sister & brother in law even showed me this clip asking did I know who they were, so I can see how it reached non kpop/rap fans. The article is a little suspect, but it isn't rhetoric I haven't heard from the american music community and I can see why they react that way esp if they hadn't had interest in foreign music before so seeing and hearing a bunch of Asian dudes go off like this is new. Tho I do think there's a market for black artists to collab in Korea

[itsnvrcldinhell.livejournal.com]

(http://imgur.com/N76JdTa)

died at the korean migos

[angela-derp-otp.livejournal.com]

smh omona.

[921227.livejournal.com]

??

[burqaswag.livejournal.com]

Embarrassing

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

I feel like alot of Omonians are in a bubble, and fail to see that they're actually in it. We're in the small percentage of people who are into kpop, and even smaller percent of people who actually delve deeper into a culture that isn't our own. The article writer's perspective is the EXACT same perspective I get from my dad (who calls Rain the Korean Usher) and my friends who would equate Taeyang much the same.

People understand best by equating. They think that something will be different in every aspect, because it is unfamiliar. I was the same when I first got into kpop and j-rock. It's a pleasant shock, no need to turn it negative. Ignorance is natural, and expected. It's only ugly when it's used to bolster hate. This article is not hateful. It's exposing people to kpop, and potentially giving more credit to Asian rappers to the general American public.

I do agree, that he isn't aware of the lack of knowledge about AA culture these K-rappers have, but I disagree that it should dissuade this article from being written. I believe if black culture becomes more aware of Korean hip-hop, Korean hip hop will be forced to be more aware of black culture. It might get ugly, but after a clash, there can only be reconciliation, and hopefully, understanding.

TLDR; I think people are writing off this article too quickly. I find it to be positive overall, and I'm glad he found kpop.

[blueglassbeads.livejournal.com]

lmao so you're gonna ignore the black members in here b/c you find this article ~*~positive~*~??? let's not talk over the people this truly affects, thank u.

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

It's so weird how much press this video is getting when only Bobby is bringing it and others aren't even trying (Well Masta Wu might be trying, but since he's always meh on stage it's hard to tell if he's trying or not). Anyhow I'm so bored with people here and elsewhere somehow equalizing k-hip hop as kpop when they are mostly completely different things one is dominated by non-idols who hardly ever do TV and other by idols with their black faces etc. Also majority of k-hip hop artists do fairly Korean type of pretty melody heavy hip hop with deep lyrics instead of Dok2 type try hard Americanized stuff, so I don't get complaints about k-hip hop.

[beanii.livejournal.com]

It still amazes me sometimes how much Bobby has done while not even officially debuted yet. Like he opened a major award show and sat in the artist pit as if he was a contender. I hoppy Ikon won't becom BI/Bobby and the guys like how sometimes people refer to 2ne1 as CL and the girls.

[ironicmustache.livejournal.com]

probs cause there's too many members in ikon who are forgettable and/or marginally talented.

[ironicmustache.livejournal.com]

i lol'd so hard when i saw this yesterday. i was like someone needs to send this to dok2 asap so he can die happy.

[e-bone (from livejournal.com)]

Why is this in a magazine geared toward black women in their 30s lmao

On second thought someone have Bobby pass this on to GD so he can flip through the rest of it and get some hair care tips b/c that roller set looking a hot mess tbh

[petecarl.livejournal.com]

Aww, Jinwoo's so cute. And Mino jamming in the back.

[canxi.livejournal.com]

I guess when you see something like this for the first time, it can be pretty awe inducing. I'm sure a lot of people perceive rap/hip-hop and it's various styles to be this exclusively American thing done by American artists and even if done in other places of the world would sound unfamiliar.

Years ago (early 2000s), I do remember there being a spot on the news highlighting hip-hop in other places of the world (Japan, Germany...etc. Places where English isn't the first language). It's one of those things people don't expect and are very impressed by or shocked about. I didn't find anything wrong with the article itself but I guess knowing what you know about Bobby and some of the like it can be hard to look positively on this because you know people will eat it up while further ignoring some glaring problems.

[luna301.livejournal.com]

This MAMA performance seems to have gotten around quite a bit recently. My friend's older brother showed it to me a few days ago all hyped up, and asking if I knew who they were because he knows I'm into Kpop. He was a bit confused when I laughed, not knowing that I'm a Bobby fan. Apparently he was shown the video by his friends who got it from other friends, so it's a ~thing~ now.

I just scrolled up and realised that Bobby now has his own tag.

[jeliza]

I wonder if he would have been as approving if he thought they were going to try and sell their imitations to the U.S. a la Iggy? He didn't exactly suggest they should come to the US to collaborate, but that there could be opportunities for US rappers over there.