From Rap to Durags: Racism in South Korea's Hip-Hop Industry

While many of us have enjoyed music from South Korea's Hip-Hop industry, listening to artists such as Jay Park, Simon Dominic or Ph1, the majority of us are ignorant to the rampant cultural appropriation almost all its artists commit. Everything from elements of black fashion to black music genres have all been appropriated by privileged South Korean artists to establish their own wealth and reputation. This is completely dichotomized with the lack of credit these artists give to the black communities they are appropriating off of, which is not only disrespectful but means that fewer people are aware of the cultural importance of certain features. 

Cultural appropriation, to take Wikipedia's definition,  is the 'adoption of certain cultural elements of one culture and is used by members of another. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from disadvantaged minority cultures.' When elements of a culture are appropriated the cultural meaning of it can become lost. Take, for instance, the cultural appropriation of rap music and hip-hop. Hip-Hop originated from poorer African-American and Latino youth communities who were living in Bronx, New York. Its conventions included stylized rhythmic rapping; deejaying; graffiti painting and break dancing and it was a long time before hip-hop became accepted into the mainstream because of its roots in a poorer ethnic demographic. Rapping was (and still is) a medium for oppressed ethnic minorities to protest against the impact of legal institutions (police, prisons) on their communities. Hayley Millman in writing about 'The Complete History of Hip-Hop'  identified that artists like Kool Herc spoke openly about 'black power poetry' to which Matt Erey  supports this arguing that hip-hop groups like the Furious Five and Grandmaster Flash rapped about 'social issues like poverty, crime and the stress of living in a dangerous city.' These raps were more than just a few words spoken quickly; they were an opportunity for black communities to openly speak about their struggles, and raise awareness of what it's like to be an African-American. 

To then have other privileged ethnic groups, such as South Koreans rappers, misuse rap to boast about their material wealth or the number of women they slept with is incredibly insulting and disrespectful. This is because these artists ascribe new meaning to rap- to boast about oneself- and divert attention to what rap was original: a medium to openly criticize the institutions, raise awareness of discrimination. Rappers like Jay Park, ZICO, and BTS' RM have essentially cultivated their wealth and reputation from appropriating off of Afro-Latina music genres- without ever crediting any artists. 

It's not only rap that South Koreans appropriate off of black culture. Dreadlocks, durags and grills- along with countless other black features- have all been used by Korean artists to become successful. Some of these features hold incredible cultural importance to black communities and when appropriated, said meanings become completely lost. Dreadlocks, for instance, are deeply connected to the Jamaican Rastafari movement- a social sect that believed Jesus would be incarnate as black 'Jah' and held central the belief that, according to the writer of Ebony,  'Jesus will return as the Lion of Judah, so wore deadlock to symbolize a lion's mane and the return of a powerful leader.' The writer identifies how sacred dreadlocks were to Jamaican communities, and it is this spirituality and cultural meaning of dreadlocks that are lost whenever South Korean rapper such as Zico or G2 wear these hairstyles. Naomi Perkins-Monney, a black activist, supports this and offers a unique insight into how the cultural appropriation of dreadlocks has personally affected her: 

'When I see images that are literally so sacred to black culture used as a pawn by (Korean artists) for clout to portray a certain image, its hard not to feel small and insignificant because the kpop audience is so large and loyal, they'll never be repercussions for these guys, and they would never have the opportunity to reflect on how bad their mass appropriation of black culture is.' (@naomiperkinsm).

South Korean rapper ZICO wearing artificial dreadlocks

It is particularly disrespectful as many South Korean artists only appropriate dreadlocks- and other black fashion pieced such as durags and grills- to look 'tough.' Durags hold a very necessary function, operating to keep wavy hairstyles in place. However, these same features have had their meaning misconstrued by Korean artists, who ascribe onto them ideas of 'toughness' 'gangsta' or 'badness' when wearing durags and grills to rap. This also necessitates racial stereotypes of black men because it implies that black people who wear these are themselves tough or bad. Just looking at the racist experiences that other black Koreans have (such as Ghanian-South Korean TV personality Sam Okyere who experienced verbal racial abuse while travelling)  and it becomes apparent that these stereotypes manifest in Koreans behaviors toward foreigners.  Speaking to 20-year old black Instagram user Chioma Marchington, she felt that the appropriation of black fashion/hairstyles were not only instrumental in constructing bad stereotypes of black people but meant cultural importance was lost: 

'I believe a lot of Korean hip hop artists wear hairstyles such as dreadlocks of braids to help portray themselves as looking 'tough' or 'bad' which in my opinion contributes to negative stereotypes by tainting these beautiful hairstyles for what they are and how they're worn and celebrated within the black community.' (@chi_mxx)

South Korean rapper Sik-K wearing a durag

South Korean's relationships with African-Americans is a complex one. As East Asians, South Koreans uphold a white racial hierarchy and are beneficiaries of privilege because of their skin colour. A study investigating the relationship between race and international students, published by WENR found that 'East Asians International students appear to have developed a certain sense of global racial hierarchies: whites, followed by East Asians, Latinos and finally African Americans and South-East Asians at the bottom. The bottom ranking is of the last group tends to be attributed to their darker skin colour.' This is representative of the global racial hierarchy prevalent today and offers an explanation as to why cultural appropriation is so problematic. East Asians have far more privilege than black people which sets them up for far more success than their black counterparts who conversely don't experience the same measures of success despite doing the same thing. It's not that Asian privilege makes South Korean artists bad inherently, but its that their race unfairly sets them up to garner more success than the black culture they are profiting off of. The double standard is so problematic because it fundamentally reveals that people have an issue with race and not what they are doing. 

Until education of race and cultural appropriation are instilled into the South Korean hip-hop industry, it will be a long time before black cultures get the respect and credit they deserve. Tone-deaf apologies by Korean artists, that exclaim they appreciate all cultures when they wear box braids or are deeply sorry when doing blackface, will continue to persist without addressing the real issues of ignorance. Moving forward we should look to educate ourselves on the racial issues black communities face globally if we are to improve our treatment toward them.