Discussion 2 by Ky Kim

Q4: How has American music influenced your group/solo idol in particular? If you do not think they were influenced, why do you think so?

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In the 1990s, hip-hop culture was exported as a U.S. cultural commodity worldwide. Hip-hop resonated with young generations around the globe who felt a social sense of alienation, and this fresh culture allowed them to express their experiences through music (Hare & Baker 2017:4). At that time, Bak Jaebeom was always exploring his passion for music as a youth in Seattle. He was influenced by b-boy cultures widespread around the city and they helped to lay the basis for the music he was pursuing. Bak was predominantly inspired by the work of American artists he grew up listening to, such as Usher and Michael Jackson, who influenced him vocally and in choreography (enterMedia 2012).

In Korea, the 1990s were a time of rapid change and the society was just beginning to learn about hip-hop culture. In the early 1990s, English was not the main part of Korean popular music; however, since the late 1990s, English quickly emerged as part of a verbal norm among young Korean artists and was incorporated on a large scale in the structure of the lyrics of contemporary Korean music. Korean artists started to hybridize diverse stylistic input from the U.S. in terms of rhythms, strong vocals, and group dances into their own music (Jin & Ryoo 2014:114-126). Similarly, Bak Jaebeom has entered the legitimate hip-hop scene in Korea with the use of Western ideas. Since becoming independent as a solo artist in 2010, Bak released music which took its roots in R&B and hip-hop, more specifically from the 90s.

Korean entertainment companies trained singers to use English in order to penetrate the Asian market, and eventually the Western market. While some singers learned local languages to appeal to local audiences, the majority of K-pop singers learned English because of its role as a lingua franca in music (Jin & Ryoo 2014:120). As opposed to the majority of Korean idols, Bak Jaebeom had to learn to sing in Korean, to speak it fluently for public appearances, and to present himself publicly as a Korean pop star. This process of repackaging and “Koreanizing” was the key to his popularity among Korean audiences. He utilized both the Korean and English language into his music and created a local hybrid hip-hop sound which supports the notion of cultural hybridity laced with elements of authenticity (Hare & Baker 2017:5).

While Bak wants his music to be recognized as K-pop, he admitted his music sounds more "American" and it is a more favourable style he wants to produce since he targets American audiences as well (StarToday 2012). One of Bak Jaebeom’s title songs, “Soju,” is a good example of hybridized American hip-hop music which has been localized for a Korean audience. However, as Korean was his second language he learned as a teenager, his lyrics in some of his songs were criticized as being too straightforward and explicit. Despite the judgement, he gradually sublimated this situation as into his own peculiarity and settled it as a unique trademark. Songwriters Kim Hyeongseok and Kim Hyunchul emphasized on King of Mask Singer, a Korean TV show, that Bak has a distinctive end note skill and emotion in his lyrics that only some artists have; artists who grew up under American pop culture (King of Mask Singer Ep. 42 2016).

In an interview by CNN (2017), Bak Jaebeom stated: "Me, being Asian-American, I was always looked at as an outsider. I always had to fight for my place." Bak also pointed out, “[Koreans] don’t really look at you as Korean, and over here, [Americans] don’t really look at you as American because you’re Asian.” He expressed his weird position as an Asian-American in the K-pop/hip-hop music industry. But he further claimed, “There is no one like me, so I have the advantage where I’m not really like anybody else” (Nylon 2018). His musical background, both in the U.S. and Korea, and his deep concern about his identity led to his creation of music that was recognized in both countries.

On July 20, 2017, Bak Jaebeom officially became part of Jay-Z’s record label Roc Nation. He proudly posted on his Instagram saying, “This is a win for the Town, this is a win for Korea, this is a win for Asian Americans…” Flowsion Shekar, CEO of Koreaboo, expressed that Bak Jaebeom’s success “shows that Asia is not being ignored […] You can be an R&B singer, a rapper, a singer from Asia and have ambitions to take over a global market. You can be recognized by the greats" (CNN 2017). Bak Jaebeom’s experience in both American and Korean cultures inspired him to spread his authentic passion for hip-hop and as well as establish his “weird” but firm place in the music industry.

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Hare, Sarah, and Andrea Baker. "Keepin’ It Real: Authenticity, Commercialization, and the Media in Korean Hip Hop." SAGE Open 7, no. 2 (2017): 4-5.

Jin, Dal Yong, and Woongjae Ryoo. "Critical Interpretation of Hybrid K-Pop: The Global-Local Paradigm of English Mixing in Lyrics." Popular Music and Society, 37, no, 2 (2012): 114-126.

Ju, Shirley. "Jay Park Talks About What It Was Like To Meet Jay Z For The First Time."

Nylon, July 20, 2018. https://nylon.com/articles/jay-park-interview-jay-z (accessed 10/01/2018)

Jung, Seok-hee. "Bak Jaebeom, a 26-year-old man who is authentic." enterMedia, March 20, 2012. http://entermedia.co.kr/news/news_view.html?idx=1212 (accessed 10/01/2018)

Lee, Hyun-woo. "The duality of 25-year-old Bak Jaebeom [Interview]." StarToday, May 9, 2012. http://star.mk.co.kr/new/view.php?mc=ST&no=106996&year=2012 (accessed 10/01/2018)

Liu, Marian. "Jay Park: from K-pop to Jay-Z." CNN, October 9, 2017.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/08/asia/jay-park-jay-z-roc-nation/index.html (accessed 10/01/2018)

Park, Jung-gyu, prod. "King of Mask Singer Ep. 42." In King of Mask Singer. Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. January 17, 2016.