Where are the good Korean rappers?

One complaint that is often leveled against contemporary Korean music is that the rapping sucks.

Yeah, ‘cuz you know what I think when I see this:

or this:

or this:

I think to myself, Why can’t these guys learn how to rap?

Just kidding!

No, the real question, which the questioner may or may not realize they are asking is, Why does the rapping in K-Pop suck?

That’s a very different question. K-Pop–mainstream, commercial Korean pop music–is NOT the same as contemporary Korean music. Just like in the United States, there are many musical genres in Korea, including rock and, as the above videos indicate, hip-hop.

What tends to get pushed in the United States is K-Pop–hey, it’s big in Korea, so it should be big here! But I’m more skeptical.

For one thing, Korean pop music has a very different history than pop music in the United States–in particular, it has been much less influenced by hip-hop. There hasn’t been no influence–a K-Pop group is supposed to have a rapper. But it’s OK if the rapper really, really cannot rap–the bar for rap in K-Pop is very low.

That in and of itself doesn’t really bother me–after all, it’s not like you’re going to find exemplary fiddle and mandolin playing in American hip-hop music. Different musical genres demand different things.

What bothers me more is the fact that sometimes K-Pop music labels (which tend to run the groups with an iron fist) take people who really can rap:

And stick them in groups where the rapping is at best superfluous. I was shocked to discover that BTOB had that kind of rap talent–you would never know to listen to their music–and B.A.P. is being moved away from rap as fast as their dancing feet can take them. To me, that is just a shocking waste of talent–I just don’t know why you would take people who can do this:

And have them do this:

K-Pop: Where Rap Talent Goes To Die.

Another issue is that American hip-hop culture is regarded as cool in Korea, so K-Pop is often presented to Koreans as something that really appeals to American hip-hop fans. Which, as Simon and Martina of Eat Your Kimchi point out, makes about as much sense as claiming that Korean b-boys and DJs just loooove themselves some One Direction. In addition, YG–the label that represents Psy and G-Dragon, among others–likes to market itself as a hip-hop label and its artists as hip-hop artists. Which they largely are not. Take Psy–he actually can rap very well, but you wouldn’t know from “Gangnam Style,” because it is not a hip-hop song.

Do you know who actually can’t rap very well?

Yeah. American hip-hop fans look at that, and they see:

Which isn’t really fair to G-Dragon–he’s a great producer (of pop and dance music, not hip-hop) and a surprisingly excellent pocket singer. I really, really love GD & TOP. But G-Dragon is not a great rapper–he’s adequate for the kind of music he makes, which (I cannot say this enough) is not hip-hop. Not even Korean hip-hop. Claiming that G-Dragon is the greatest rapper in Korea and sticking him on stage with Missy Elliott (for fuck’s sake!!!) is just going to convince Americans that Koreans 1. can’t rap, and 2. have no fucking idea what hip-hop actually is.

Quick quiz! Does this:

Sound like this?

Or this?

There’s nothing wrong with a good pop or dance song. Hell, I’ll go so far as to say that if you cannot enjoy a song like “Crayon” or “Tik Tok” on any level, you need to re-examine your approach to fun. The problem is the manner in which this kind of music is presented to Americans–it’s hip-hop! it’s great rapping! G-Dragon makes my panties wet! (Uh, thanks for sharing?) That approach is only going to convince Americans that there is absolutely nothing in Korean music that could possibly appeal to them.

(Why should Koreans give a shit about the American market? IT’S HUGE!!!! GD & TOP sold took 15 months to sell 185,000 copies. Kayne West’s latest horrible flop of an album sold 327,000 copies–in a week.)