Doing these blog entries on what I thought was a familiar topic actually challenged me in more ways than I would have originally thought possible. In the process of writing these entries, I have been forced to reexamine what I believed to be true of myself, of Asian Americans in general, and of American culture as I understood it.
By writing about what I thought was the typical Asian American culture, and specifically Korean American culture, I was forced to reexamine whether my experiences reflected the general truth or not. Although in many instances they did, there were several cases in which my own views were not reflective of the general experience. Also, I have had to do some research on what I considered to be common knowledge to make sure my facts were straight, and to give credibility to many of my facts. Granted, Wikipedia isn’t the most reliable source, I believe it served the purposes of this blog well enough.
By making explicit what I understood implicitly, I was able to take a step back and reevaluate my own values and beliefs, and why I had such beliefs and values. As I wrote the entries, there were some which reinforced my values and beliefs, while others forced me to question why I had such beliefs. One of the most prominent examples of this was the notion of Asians being perpetual aliens. As an immigrant myself, I simply understood all other Asians to be the same as me; but as I grew older, I understood otherwise, but the fact that Asians were seen as 'perpetual aliens' still seemed to make sense to me. However, I now see that that isn't necessarily fair to all Asian Americans.
There still remains a wide variety of topics that I have yet to cover, as well as a lack of depth with all of the topics I have discussed in my blog. The topics were random, not really building on each other, and not really making much organizational sense. It is my hope that, perhaps sometime in the future, somebody will compile a better anthology of intercultural experiences for Asian American immigrants.
My final thoughts on this blog is the idea of the 1.5 generation - which I called the 'Lost Generation.' Myself being one, I feel that there is much room for exploration for the 1.5 generation immigrants. Just the fact that there are even many different types of 1.5 generation immigrants - from those who have lost touch with their native culture, to those who still cling to it strongly, and anywhere in between - leaves so much room for further exploration on the concept of Asian American immigrants.
Through this blog, I was able to reevaluate my beliefs and values and, in a way, reinvent myself. I hope that my cultural exploration of the Asian American immigrants' experience does not stop here, and will continue to shape and reshape the way I and others see Asian American immigrants.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Asian American Culture - Asians as 'Perpetual Aliens'
Back where I’m from – that is to say, the Bay Area, which is more like home to me than Korea – Asians are not such a rare occurrence as they are on the East Coast. There are large areas with high concentrations of Asians – such as San Francisco, LA, and Seattle – and the further one gets from these concentrated areas, the lower and lower these concentrations become. But it remains that, overall, Asians are not so foreign to Americans on the West Coast overall.
However, my experiences during my short time here at Wheaton have shown me that the case back home is not necessarily the case all over America. I knew that in regions like the Midwest, Asians were few and far in between, and that the white majority would be unfamiliar with ‘my kind,’ but I never expected how alien I would feel here on the East Coast. As the area of America with the most history, as well as being home to some of America’s most iconic cities like New York City, Boston, and Washington D.C., I never imagined just how alienated I would feel here. Granted, Norton isn’t exactly a ‘big’ city in the least, I never expected so many ‘Americans’ – a.k.a. white Americans – to react to me in the way they did.
When I first meet white Americans, they give me the ‘smile-and-talk-slow’ sort of attitude that I often see them displaying when speaking to foreigners. However, when they hear my perfect – at least, near perfect – English, they give a bit of a surprised look. It is, for the most part, not a really big expression, but having run into this situation so many times, I have come to notice some traits that white Americans display when they realize that I’m not actually all that ‘alien.’ Some of these include their voice sounding less strained, their face losing the forced smile and adopting a more natural, comfortable expression, and speaking at a regular pace. Perhaps the attitudes of these people don’t stem from any ill-will – after all, the majority of Asians at Wheaton are international students; I just happen to be one of the few exceptions – but I still find it annoying that, after almost twelve years of not being treated too differently, people are suddenly treating me like I’m an idiot. That is to say, I do not mean that foreigners are idiots in the slightest, it is just that it was a culture-shock for me to suddenly enter this environment where I’m suddenly treated like I didn’t belong there.
One of the most common questions I get is, “Where are you from?” I used to just simply answer by telling them I was from California, or the Bay Area, or San Francisco, or next to Stanford because, well, all of those describe the place I consider to be my ‘home.’ But there have been many instances where people followed up the first question with a second one along the lines of, “Yeah, but where are you originally from?” Of course, it’s usually never this blatant, but the general message is clear: What sort of Asian are you? Now I have gotten into the habit of answering the first question like this: “I’m originally from Korea, but I’ve been living in California/the Bay Area/SF/next to Stanford since I was seven.” This way, I circumvent the socially sensitive topic – at least, I think it’s socially sensitive, the way my peers act when they ask what type of Asian I am – and we can move on with the conversation to other inconsequential drabble. Sometimes, I forget to add the fact that I’m from Cali, and people assume that I’m an international student. I found this to be strange, because although I obviously speak perfect English (at least, I’m pretty sure I do…), but I’m still assumed to be an international student?
This brings to my mind an interesting thing I learned a while back. Sometime earlier in the semester, I had done a presentation in the AAC – Asian American Coalition, Wheaton’s club for Asians and their allies – about the portrayals of Asians in popular American media, and came across a number of stereotypes placed on Asians. Some of them were familiar to me, such as Asians being good at math, Asians being ‘model minorities’ and Asian women being objects of desire and so on, but one that had never actually occurred to me was this: Asians as perpetual aliens. I had always had some inkling of this stereotype, the way Asians were portrayed in popular culture, but to see the stereotype stated and explained so overtly was like opening my third eye.
I find it very interesting that such a stereotype exists – Black Americans have obviously been ingrained in American culture since the country’s founding, and the Latinos have been a constant presence in American history. Compared to these other minority groups, Asians are relatively new entrants to this theater of American culture, and this notion that all Asians are immigrants strikes me as odd, but inexplicably almost acceptable. Of course, I realize that this isn’t really the case, and I feel like Asians are being cheated out of something; not necessarily anything tangible, but almost like our dignity, as if they were saying that Asians didn’t really ‘belong’ in America.
However, my experiences during my short time here at Wheaton have shown me that the case back home is not necessarily the case all over America. I knew that in regions like the Midwest, Asians were few and far in between, and that the white majority would be unfamiliar with ‘my kind,’ but I never expected how alien I would feel here on the East Coast. As the area of America with the most history, as well as being home to some of America’s most iconic cities like New York City, Boston, and Washington D.C., I never imagined just how alienated I would feel here. Granted, Norton isn’t exactly a ‘big’ city in the least, I never expected so many ‘Americans’ – a.k.a. white Americans – to react to me in the way they did.
When I first meet white Americans, they give me the ‘smile-and-talk-slow’ sort of attitude that I often see them displaying when speaking to foreigners. However, when they hear my perfect – at least, near perfect – English, they give a bit of a surprised look. It is, for the most part, not a really big expression, but having run into this situation so many times, I have come to notice some traits that white Americans display when they realize that I’m not actually all that ‘alien.’ Some of these include their voice sounding less strained, their face losing the forced smile and adopting a more natural, comfortable expression, and speaking at a regular pace. Perhaps the attitudes of these people don’t stem from any ill-will – after all, the majority of Asians at Wheaton are international students; I just happen to be one of the few exceptions – but I still find it annoying that, after almost twelve years of not being treated too differently, people are suddenly treating me like I’m an idiot. That is to say, I do not mean that foreigners are idiots in the slightest, it is just that it was a culture-shock for me to suddenly enter this environment where I’m suddenly treated like I didn’t belong there.
One of the most common questions I get is, “Where are you from?” I used to just simply answer by telling them I was from California, or the Bay Area, or San Francisco, or next to Stanford because, well, all of those describe the place I consider to be my ‘home.’ But there have been many instances where people followed up the first question with a second one along the lines of, “Yeah, but where are you originally from?” Of course, it’s usually never this blatant, but the general message is clear: What sort of Asian are you? Now I have gotten into the habit of answering the first question like this: “I’m originally from Korea, but I’ve been living in California/the Bay Area/SF/next to Stanford since I was seven.” This way, I circumvent the socially sensitive topic – at least, I think it’s socially sensitive, the way my peers act when they ask what type of Asian I am – and we can move on with the conversation to other inconsequential drabble. Sometimes, I forget to add the fact that I’m from Cali, and people assume that I’m an international student. I found this to be strange, because although I obviously speak perfect English (at least, I’m pretty sure I do…), but I’m still assumed to be an international student?
This brings to my mind an interesting thing I learned a while back. Sometime earlier in the semester, I had done a presentation in the AAC – Asian American Coalition, Wheaton’s club for Asians and their allies – about the portrayals of Asians in popular American media, and came across a number of stereotypes placed on Asians. Some of them were familiar to me, such as Asians being good at math, Asians being ‘model minorities’ and Asian women being objects of desire and so on, but one that had never actually occurred to me was this: Asians as perpetual aliens. I had always had some inkling of this stereotype, the way Asians were portrayed in popular culture, but to see the stereotype stated and explained so overtly was like opening my third eye.
I find it very interesting that such a stereotype exists – Black Americans have obviously been ingrained in American culture since the country’s founding, and the Latinos have been a constant presence in American history. Compared to these other minority groups, Asians are relatively new entrants to this theater of American culture, and this notion that all Asians are immigrants strikes me as odd, but inexplicably almost acceptable. Of course, I realize that this isn’t really the case, and I feel like Asians are being cheated out of something; not necessarily anything tangible, but almost like our dignity, as if they were saying that Asians didn’t really ‘belong’ in America.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Asian American Culture - Categories of Asians in America
As far as I can see, there are two overarching types of Asian-Americans: the ‘FOBs/BOBs/Asian-Asians’ and the ‘Westernized/Americanized-Asian/Twinkie.’
The former group, the FOBs/BOBs – a term, sometimes used derogatorily, other times as indicators of pride – are short for ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ or ‘Back On the Boat.’ The former – FOB – refers to 1st generation immigrants who still have memories of their home country, speak the language fluently, prefer the culture of their home country over that of America, and in general are the ‘Asians that still act like they’re living in Asia,’ so to speak. When called a fob, peoples’ reactions differ, depending on who says it, and in what manner. Often times, when an ‘American’ – that is, white/black people – calls an Asian a fob, it carries some sort of negative connotation, some more overt than others. They – that is to say, Americans – usually describe Asians as fobs in the context of their ignorance of American culture and norms, and some spit the word ‘fob’ with more venom than others. Although there are Americans out there who genuinely mean no harm by calling Asians fobs, it is generally frowned upon by Asians when an American calls Asians fobs.
BOBs – Back On the Boat – is more of a joke than anything else, often referring to Asians born in America who take more interest in Asian culture than American culture. In short, it is an American-born Asian who displays ‘fob-like’ characteristics. The usage of this term is really dependent from situation to situation, and it can be anywhere from a praise – Asians who are amazed and pleased that an American-born Asian would be so knowledgeable about their culture of origin – to straight insults, most often used by Americans and Westernized Americans to portray bobs as being ‘out of touch with their reality.’
Meanwhile, the concept of the Westernized Asian is often looked down upon by Asians of the former category. It isn’t necessarily out of malice; in some ways, Asians still living in their home countries are jealous of the Asians abroad who are so knowledgeable about the Western cultures. But as for the Asians in America, the Westernized Asian is seen as an Asian who has lost touch with his or her heritage, something which many Asians are proud of. Meanwhile, it is these sorts of Asians that generally get along better with the American crowd – be it the suburban whites, the urban blacks, or whatever other ‘Western’ demographics exist in America – which is often the object of envy of fobby Asians who wish to assimilate into American culture. And within Westernized Americans, there exist two sub-categories: those who wish to learn more about their heritage – or ‘get in touch with their inner-Asian’ – and those who absolutely abhor being Asian, and generally want nothing to do with Asians and Asian culture as a whole. It is this last group that is most looked down on.
The term ‘twinkie’ is a reference to Hostess’ iconic product, the Twinkie. The twinkie is, like the Twinkie, “yellow on the outside, white on the inside.” A reference to the Asian’s ‘yellow’ exterior (his/her skin color) and ‘white’ interior (their behavior/attitude/world view), much like Hostess’ own product, a white cream center encased in yellow sponge cake. For the most part, the term ‘twinkie’ is a derogatory term, used to describe Asians who no longer have any traces of their Asian heritage aside from their appearance and name.
This great division of Asian Americans leaves little room for those caught between and betwixt. Yet, this is where many of the 1.5 generation immigrants – those who immigrated with their parents as children – find themselves. 1.5 generation immigrants are often fluent in both their native language and English, and have some lingering of their original culture mixed with the ‘new’ American culture. This situation of belonging to neither-nor often result in feeling alienated from both one’s native culture and the new culture; in fact, they could be said to be a ‘lost’ generation.
The former group, the FOBs/BOBs – a term, sometimes used derogatorily, other times as indicators of pride – are short for ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ or ‘Back On the Boat.’ The former – FOB – refers to 1st generation immigrants who still have memories of their home country, speak the language fluently, prefer the culture of their home country over that of America, and in general are the ‘Asians that still act like they’re living in Asia,’ so to speak. When called a fob, peoples’ reactions differ, depending on who says it, and in what manner. Often times, when an ‘American’ – that is, white/black people – calls an Asian a fob, it carries some sort of negative connotation, some more overt than others. They – that is to say, Americans – usually describe Asians as fobs in the context of their ignorance of American culture and norms, and some spit the word ‘fob’ with more venom than others. Although there are Americans out there who genuinely mean no harm by calling Asians fobs, it is generally frowned upon by Asians when an American calls Asians fobs.
BOBs – Back On the Boat – is more of a joke than anything else, often referring to Asians born in America who take more interest in Asian culture than American culture. In short, it is an American-born Asian who displays ‘fob-like’ characteristics. The usage of this term is really dependent from situation to situation, and it can be anywhere from a praise – Asians who are amazed and pleased that an American-born Asian would be so knowledgeable about their culture of origin – to straight insults, most often used by Americans and Westernized Americans to portray bobs as being ‘out of touch with their reality.’
Meanwhile, the concept of the Westernized Asian is often looked down upon by Asians of the former category. It isn’t necessarily out of malice; in some ways, Asians still living in their home countries are jealous of the Asians abroad who are so knowledgeable about the Western cultures. But as for the Asians in America, the Westernized Asian is seen as an Asian who has lost touch with his or her heritage, something which many Asians are proud of. Meanwhile, it is these sorts of Asians that generally get along better with the American crowd – be it the suburban whites, the urban blacks, or whatever other ‘Western’ demographics exist in America – which is often the object of envy of fobby Asians who wish to assimilate into American culture. And within Westernized Americans, there exist two sub-categories: those who wish to learn more about their heritage – or ‘get in touch with their inner-Asian’ – and those who absolutely abhor being Asian, and generally want nothing to do with Asians and Asian culture as a whole. It is this last group that is most looked down on.
The term ‘twinkie’ is a reference to Hostess’ iconic product, the Twinkie. The twinkie is, like the Twinkie, “yellow on the outside, white on the inside.” A reference to the Asian’s ‘yellow’ exterior (his/her skin color) and ‘white’ interior (their behavior/attitude/world view), much like Hostess’ own product, a white cream center encased in yellow sponge cake. For the most part, the term ‘twinkie’ is a derogatory term, used to describe Asians who no longer have any traces of their Asian heritage aside from their appearance and name.
This great division of Asian Americans leaves little room for those caught between and betwixt. Yet, this is where many of the 1.5 generation immigrants – those who immigrated with their parents as children – find themselves. 1.5 generation immigrants are often fluent in both their native language and English, and have some lingering of their original culture mixed with the ‘new’ American culture. This situation of belonging to neither-nor often result in feeling alienated from both one’s native culture and the new culture; in fact, they could be said to be a ‘lost’ generation.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Does the Individual Represent the Whole?
Koreans, and Asians in general, have the mindset of ‘the community before the self.’ That is, an individual should be willing to put aside some of his or her own desires for ‘the greater good.’ This, of course, contrasts starkly with the American ideal of the self and individuality.
Moreover, Koreans have this notion that the individual is, in essence, a representative of one’s country. However, this seems to be an attitude more reserved for its own citizens – that is, Koreans feel this way more towards fellow Koreans who are going abroad – and this belief does not generally get applied to foreigners. I feel that this belief stems from two things: Koreans’ painful awareness of its small territory amongst the nations and their fierce pride as a nation-state.
Despite centuries of constant provocation from its giant neighbors of Japan and China, a near half-century of occupation by the Japanese – during which some of the worst atrocities against humanity were committed – and the Korean War which split the country apart, Korea has emerged as an economic powerhouse in this modern day and age, ranking as the 14th most affluent economy in the world gives immense pride to the people of Korea. Although the people of South Korea are still torn that South and North Korea are still two separate entities, the fact that South Korea was able to pick itself up from the rubbles and debris of the Japanese occupation and the following Korean War is source to powerful nationalist sentiment. However, the Koreans often feel that they are looked down on in the world stage because of their small territory. Just how true this is, I cannot say for sure.
Because the Koreans have such reasons to be proud, they feel that their actions are representative of their country. At least, that is the general sentiment amongst the older generations. It probably stems from their education and beliefs about themselves as a nation when Korea was still developing in the 1960s and 70s, when there were still relatively few Koreans abroad. It was probably because of such few numbers of Koreans were abroad at the time that the people of the older generation were taught that if they ever were in another country, they should act as stewards for their home country and behave themselves.
However, as more and more Koreans are going abroad, this sentiment has begun to weaken in Korea, especially amongst the younger generations, who understand that foreigners, especially with their individualistic world view, will not judge an entire nation based on the actions of a few individuals who may or may not be accurate portrayals of their country of origin. But just the fact that such a sentiment existed says something about the history of Korea: about its struggle to come to grips as once having been a force to be reckoned with in the East Asian theatre, to slowly being degraded in status until they were annexed by Japan, liberated with the help of Americans, only to be wrenched into two by a terrible civil war. In recovering, the Koreans must have adopted the idea that the world would be watching them, and judging them, and therefore, they must show the world that Korea may have been down, but certainly wasn’t out – and prove it they did.
Sources:
South Korean economic ranking:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ks.html
Moreover, Koreans have this notion that the individual is, in essence, a representative of one’s country. However, this seems to be an attitude more reserved for its own citizens – that is, Koreans feel this way more towards fellow Koreans who are going abroad – and this belief does not generally get applied to foreigners. I feel that this belief stems from two things: Koreans’ painful awareness of its small territory amongst the nations and their fierce pride as a nation-state.
Despite centuries of constant provocation from its giant neighbors of Japan and China, a near half-century of occupation by the Japanese – during which some of the worst atrocities against humanity were committed – and the Korean War which split the country apart, Korea has emerged as an economic powerhouse in this modern day and age, ranking as the 14th most affluent economy in the world gives immense pride to the people of Korea. Although the people of South Korea are still torn that South and North Korea are still two separate entities, the fact that South Korea was able to pick itself up from the rubbles and debris of the Japanese occupation and the following Korean War is source to powerful nationalist sentiment. However, the Koreans often feel that they are looked down on in the world stage because of their small territory. Just how true this is, I cannot say for sure.
Because the Koreans have such reasons to be proud, they feel that their actions are representative of their country. At least, that is the general sentiment amongst the older generations. It probably stems from their education and beliefs about themselves as a nation when Korea was still developing in the 1960s and 70s, when there were still relatively few Koreans abroad. It was probably because of such few numbers of Koreans were abroad at the time that the people of the older generation were taught that if they ever were in another country, they should act as stewards for their home country and behave themselves.
However, as more and more Koreans are going abroad, this sentiment has begun to weaken in Korea, especially amongst the younger generations, who understand that foreigners, especially with their individualistic world view, will not judge an entire nation based on the actions of a few individuals who may or may not be accurate portrayals of their country of origin. But just the fact that such a sentiment existed says something about the history of Korea: about its struggle to come to grips as once having been a force to be reckoned with in the East Asian theatre, to slowly being degraded in status until they were annexed by Japan, liberated with the help of Americans, only to be wrenched into two by a terrible civil war. In recovering, the Koreans must have adopted the idea that the world would be watching them, and judging them, and therefore, they must show the world that Korea may have been down, but certainly wasn’t out – and prove it they did.
Sources:
South Korean economic ranking:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ks.html
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Hip Hop in South Korea
Our recent segment in class on hip hop culture in the United States got me thinking, “How does the hip hop culture in South Korea differ from that of the United States?” This, of course, was easy for me to answer. As an avid listener of Korean hip hop, especially Epik High (the hip hop group that was quoted in the last entry), I am familiar not only with the ‘mainstream’ sort of hip hop in South Korea, but also the more ‘underground’ artists.
As I noted earlier, the music industry in South Korea is notorious for its ‘copycat’ tendencies. However, this mostly pertains to the mainstream artists who are signed with the larger entertainment groups such as SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, or YG Entertainment. Epik High, for example, is signed with a smaller company called Woollim Entertainment. But before continuing on to the modern hip hop culture, I believe it necessary to discuss the history of hip hop in South Korea.
Hip hop was, for a long time, a non-existent genre in South Korea. After all, it wasn’t too long ago that it evolved out of the poorer neighborhoods of New York and found itself writing the paychecks of the fat cats of the music industry. Soon after the rise of hip hop in the American music industry, a Korean-American artist would pave the way for Korean hip hop artists. Although hip hop had existed in the Korean mainstream music industry, there were no ‘strictly hip hop’ artists – that is, most of hip hop that existed in the Korean music industry was being performed by artists who had previously performed other genres of music – most notably rock – and were infusing hip hop-like elements into their music.
However, a Korean American, Seo Jeong Kwon, better known by his stage name of Tiger JK, became one of the first ‘pure’ hip hop artists to foray into the Korean mainstream. He faced strict censorships of many of his songs because of their content – sexual themes, antiestablishment ideas, and general explicit language – but by the third album, released in 2001, Tiger JK and his hip hop group, Drunken Tiger, made a name for themselves in the Korean mainstream for introducing pure hip hop – especially ‘Americanized’ hip hop because of Tiger JK’s childhood and adolescence spent in LA – and doing what few other artists do – write their own lyrics and produce their own beats.
It was Drunken Tiger that brought hip hop into the Korean mainstream, but it would be a few years later, in 2005, that hip hop would suddenly explode onto the Korean mainstream with the release of Epik High’s third album. The group had humble beginnings starting in 2003, when their first album all but flopped. Their second album fared better, but did nothing in terms of pushing hip hop into the mainstream. But with the release of their third album, Epik High was able to make hip hop go from being a barely recognized genre to a sudden craze.
The difference between Drunken Tiger’s popularity and Epik High’s was that while the former was a pure hip hop group, using traditional beats and instruments and synthesizers to produce their melodies, Epik High experimented with various types of music. In that sense, Epik High also wasn’t, and still isn’t, a ‘purely’ hip hop group. However, just like their predecessors, Epik High continued to produce their own beats and write their own lyrics. They even had a brief stint as an independent label from early to late 2009 as an independent label, Map the Soul, but returned to their previous label of Woollim Ent. when one of their members had to leave for the mandatory 2-year military service.
The themes found in both Drunken Tiger’s songs and Epik High’s songs discuss many ‘taboo’ topics. While the former follow more along the lines of ‘traditional’ American hip hop by discussing a wide array of subjects from sex – a taboo topic even in modern Korean society – to typical ‘hard’ hip hop behavior to issues facing society. Epik High, on the other hand, discusses various topics. Their earlier albums were more poetic, discussing things such as the process of life, starting from one’s birth to one’s death (their first album), and the various classes and niches of society (their second album). But neither of these were too popular with Korean music listeners. It was when Epik High began to write about the more ‘traditional’ mainstream music topics – mainly love – that they found success. Their third album found great success because of two songs – Fly, the album’s title song which encouraged its listeners to push ahead despite the hardships facing many in the Korean society, and Paris, a song about love. However, the other songs on their album still contained powerful songs with meaningful lyrics. What especially made their lyrics so relevant was that it was all written by the two rappers of the group – leader Tablo and co-lyricist Mithra Jin – and thus carried many personal opinions and emotions. Their fourth and fifth albums followed this pattern: the albums contained ‘bait songs’ of sorts – songs that would interest the mainstream Korean listeners – then the rest of the album would contain songs which carried Epik High’s beliefs and criticisms of contemporary society.
Contrary to the overarching themes of outcries against societal wrongs and criticisms of governmental shortcomings, American hip hop has, I feel, degraded. Most songs all talk about sex, drugs, violence, or some sort of combination of the three. There are the occasional trend breakers, but those are few and far in between. Most Americans put up a front of being ‘hard’ and ‘tough,’ because that is what the record companies want to portray the black and Latino communities – these two minority groups make up the majority of the hip hop industry – and won’t sign artists who deviate from this typecasting of the minority groups. Because of this, the hip hop industry has degraded to a bunch of men using rhyme schemes to disrespect each other and women while masking all of this up with a catchy beat.
In a sense, Korean hip hop artists who have had American influences – Drunken Tiger’s Tiger JK and Tasha Reid and Epik High’s Tablo, all of whom have spent a significant part of their lives in America – have adhered to the more ‘traditional’ American hip hop themes, while America’s own has degraded to a bunch of disrespectful men spitting hate rhymes.
References:
Tiger JK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_JK
Drunken Tiger:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Tiger
Epik High Discography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epik_high_discography
Edited May 3rd, 2010 for content/relevance
As I noted earlier, the music industry in South Korea is notorious for its ‘copycat’ tendencies. However, this mostly pertains to the mainstream artists who are signed with the larger entertainment groups such as SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, or YG Entertainment. Epik High, for example, is signed with a smaller company called Woollim Entertainment. But before continuing on to the modern hip hop culture, I believe it necessary to discuss the history of hip hop in South Korea.
Hip hop was, for a long time, a non-existent genre in South Korea. After all, it wasn’t too long ago that it evolved out of the poorer neighborhoods of New York and found itself writing the paychecks of the fat cats of the music industry. Soon after the rise of hip hop in the American music industry, a Korean-American artist would pave the way for Korean hip hop artists. Although hip hop had existed in the Korean mainstream music industry, there were no ‘strictly hip hop’ artists – that is, most of hip hop that existed in the Korean music industry was being performed by artists who had previously performed other genres of music – most notably rock – and were infusing hip hop-like elements into their music.
However, a Korean American, Seo Jeong Kwon, better known by his stage name of Tiger JK, became one of the first ‘pure’ hip hop artists to foray into the Korean mainstream. He faced strict censorships of many of his songs because of their content – sexual themes, antiestablishment ideas, and general explicit language – but by the third album, released in 2001, Tiger JK and his hip hop group, Drunken Tiger, made a name for themselves in the Korean mainstream for introducing pure hip hop – especially ‘Americanized’ hip hop because of Tiger JK’s childhood and adolescence spent in LA – and doing what few other artists do – write their own lyrics and produce their own beats.
It was Drunken Tiger that brought hip hop into the Korean mainstream, but it would be a few years later, in 2005, that hip hop would suddenly explode onto the Korean mainstream with the release of Epik High’s third album. The group had humble beginnings starting in 2003, when their first album all but flopped. Their second album fared better, but did nothing in terms of pushing hip hop into the mainstream. But with the release of their third album, Epik High was able to make hip hop go from being a barely recognized genre to a sudden craze.
The difference between Drunken Tiger’s popularity and Epik High’s was that while the former was a pure hip hop group, using traditional beats and instruments and synthesizers to produce their melodies, Epik High experimented with various types of music. In that sense, Epik High also wasn’t, and still isn’t, a ‘purely’ hip hop group. However, just like their predecessors, Epik High continued to produce their own beats and write their own lyrics. They even had a brief stint as an independent label from early to late 2009 as an independent label, Map the Soul, but returned to their previous label of Woollim Ent. when one of their members had to leave for the mandatory 2-year military service.
The themes found in both Drunken Tiger’s songs and Epik High’s songs discuss many ‘taboo’ topics. While the former follow more along the lines of ‘traditional’ American hip hop by discussing a wide array of subjects from sex – a taboo topic even in modern Korean society – to typical ‘hard’ hip hop behavior to issues facing society. Epik High, on the other hand, discusses various topics. Their earlier albums were more poetic, discussing things such as the process of life, starting from one’s birth to one’s death (their first album), and the various classes and niches of society (their second album). But neither of these were too popular with Korean music listeners. It was when Epik High began to write about the more ‘traditional’ mainstream music topics – mainly love – that they found success. Their third album found great success because of two songs – Fly, the album’s title song which encouraged its listeners to push ahead despite the hardships facing many in the Korean society, and Paris, a song about love. However, the other songs on their album still contained powerful songs with meaningful lyrics. What especially made their lyrics so relevant was that it was all written by the two rappers of the group – leader Tablo and co-lyricist Mithra Jin – and thus carried many personal opinions and emotions. Their fourth and fifth albums followed this pattern: the albums contained ‘bait songs’ of sorts – songs that would interest the mainstream Korean listeners – then the rest of the album would contain songs which carried Epik High’s beliefs and criticisms of contemporary society.
Contrary to the overarching themes of outcries against societal wrongs and criticisms of governmental shortcomings, American hip hop has, I feel, degraded. Most songs all talk about sex, drugs, violence, or some sort of combination of the three. There are the occasional trend breakers, but those are few and far in between. Most Americans put up a front of being ‘hard’ and ‘tough,’ because that is what the record companies want to portray the black and Latino communities – these two minority groups make up the majority of the hip hop industry – and won’t sign artists who deviate from this typecasting of the minority groups. Because of this, the hip hop industry has degraded to a bunch of men using rhyme schemes to disrespect each other and women while masking all of this up with a catchy beat.
In a sense, Korean hip hop artists who have had American influences – Drunken Tiger’s Tiger JK and Tasha Reid and Epik High’s Tablo, all of whom have spent a significant part of their lives in America – have adhered to the more ‘traditional’ American hip hop themes, while America’s own has degraded to a bunch of disrespectful men spitting hate rhymes.
References:
Tiger JK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_JK
Drunken Tiger:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Tiger
Epik High Discography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epik_high_discography
Edited May 3rd, 2010 for content/relevance
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Pop Culture in Korea
“여기저기 Fresh 근데 이미 본 듯해
같은 노래 노래 흥얼대 입술과 코 끝에
옷을 고를 때 거기서 거기 Style에 손을 대
You think you got a got a swag?
다 그저 따라 따라 따라해
요즘엔 유행어를 모름 대화가 안 돼
모두 Fashion 잡지 TV Show를 보고 단장해
보고팠던 영화조차 평점 따라 관람해
이미 다들 다들 하는데 다 따라 따라 따라해”
“Here and there, fresh, but it seems familiar
Hum the same same song, from your lips and your nose
When you pick your clothes you add your own style
You think you got a got a swag?
Every copy copy copy that
If you don’t know the trends these days, you can’t even talk
Everybody looks at fashion magazines and TV shows and dresses up
They even judge the movies they wanted see based on ratings
Everybody everybody already does so, so just copy copy copy them”
-Epik High, 2009, [e], 따라해 (Wannabe) (feat. Mellow) [translation: Copy Me (Wannabe) (feat. Mellow)]
The excerpt, from a song by the Korean hip-hop group Epik High, is only the first verse in which the group criticizes the trends of Korean pop culture; their words intended to criticize the Korean pop music industry, but can also be applied to Korean pop culture as a whole.
Epik High, a group of three – Tablo, Mithra Jin, and DJ Tukutz – criticize the Korean pop music industry for their trend of copying whatever is popular, and marketing it until the next ‘big’ thing comes around. One of the biggest, and most recent, examples of this was in mid-2009; or, perhaps, a little earlier.
On March 27th, 2009, a new girl band was unveiled by a Korean entertainment company called YG Entertainment. What made this girl group’s debut so famous was that their first song ever released, which was done for a commercial of a cell phone (yet another popular trend in Korea: using famous celebrities – especially popular girl groups – to market their cell phones; and I specifically point out cell phones because it is common practice to have celebrities featured in commercials in Korea, but there seems to be a prominent focus on popular girl bands in the cell phone industry). Their unofficial debut song, LOLLiPOP (link to official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIRW_elc-rY ), was alongside an extremely popular Korean boy band, Big Bang. Because of the catchy song, the girl group, 2NE1, gained immense popularity and recognition even before their official debut.
When 2NE1 finally did debut on May 6th, 2009, their song, Fire (link to official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwq-XdPfpeA ), the song was an instant hit, generating more than one million hits in a day. Their ‘concept’ – a term in the Korean pop music industry meaning literally the ‘concept’ or ‘look’ that the group is trying to portray – was that of strong, independent city girls, deviating from the Korean fixation on cuteness for this concept of ‘not-quite-cute-but-not-quite-sexy’ girls.
With 2NE1’s success with their concept of independent, borderline sexy girls came a new wave of girl group concepts. Girls’ Generation’s new concept with the release of their second mini-album “Tell Me Your Wish” saw the group of nine girls transform from cute, bubbly girls to sexy, strong marine/navy girls. Another girl group, Kara, also displayed a sexier side with the release of their second full-length album “Revolution.” Especially enjoyed by male fans all across Korea – and probably Asia and beyond – was their signature “butt” or “hip” dance during their performance of their hit song “Mister.” (link to performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0PhxB3CYq0 ) A third group to follow suit was the girl group Brown Eyed Girls, with the release of their third full-length album “Sound G.” Much like Girls’ Generation, Brown Eyed Girls changed their concept from a more ‘innocent’ look to a sexy, independent, mature look with their hit song ‘Abracadabra.’ (link to music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR0R_4cFxEc )
This all happened over a course of month or two, with each group promoting their sexy, strong, independent concept for as long as it was popular before going quiet from the music scene for several months until the next wave of girl group trends. Of course, the preparation of the ‘concepts’ for each group takes place over months; or so the groups claim. But it would not be too difficult to change their concepts last minute; for example, with Girls’ Generation, it would not be too difficult to imagine a scenario where they would have been preparing a more ‘cutesy’ marine/navy look, but with the rising popularity of the sexy/independent concept with girl groups, changing their concept to fit this new trend. After all, there was a two month gap between the success of 2NE1’s Fire and the appearance of these other girl groups’ new sexy looks.
It is exactly this trend of copying each other that Epik High is criticizing. But this is not only a trend in the pop music industry, but in popular culture in Korea as a whole.
It is a bit of an issue, or at least so Koreans seem to think. When I visited Korea last summer after not being there for almost 6 years, despite my infatuation with Korean pop music, I was completely unaware of what the popular culture there would be like until I actually arrived there. Much to my surprise, unlike in America where different ‘styles’ and subcultures exist – such as the typical high school groups like the punks, Goths, emos, jocks, etc. – the majority of Koreans dressed similarly, listened to similar music, and there existed overall a single, overarching ‘clique’ with extremely small pockets of other subcultures. But for the most part, Epik High’s line of, “If you don’t know the trends these days, you can’t even talk” rings especially true in Korea.
My relatives in Korea even talked about this during my stay, noting Korea’s tendency to have periods of ‘craze’ over certain things – such as clothes, bands, or various products – for a period. One of my aunts believed that this was especially prevalent in Korea because of its small size and concentrated population, which made it easier for producers to market to the consumers, causing a massive outbreak of desires and tastes.
But another line from ‘Copy Me’ also rings true: sometimes, the producers do not even have to work hard to market their goods to the public. All it takes is a celebrity endorsement – such as a celebrity wearing a certain brand of clothing, or appearing in a certain ad – to create the phenomenon of the masses suddenly desiring very similar goods. This is especially popular with clothes – “Everybody looks at fashion magazines and TV shows and dresses up” – and sometimes, the celebrities are not even endorsed by brand names to wear certain clothes. It is the celebrity’s popularity that makes whatever they wear instantly popular. I saw many examples of this during my time in Korea; whenever I went shopping, I would often see strange, outlandish clothes that made me wonder who in their right mind would wear such clothes. But, as was the case with most of these clothes that did not fit the dominant Korean street fashion, they had a sign attached that said “So-and-so celebrity was seen wearing this on this-and-that show” along with a picture showing that So-and-so celebrity had indeed worn such a strange article of clothing on this-and-that show. It didn’t make me want to wear the piece of clothing any, but I could understand why certain people would buy such clothes.
Such copy-cat behavior has resulted in many criticisms within Korea, where the citizens are aware of the copy-cat trend, but cannot or do not want to break out of the trend. Unlike in Korea, in America, not a single overarching style of dress nor does a very small group of artists heavily influence the music industry. In fact, it’s almost the opposite; different parts of America are almost like different countries in terms of culture. I often find myself wondering if I’m really still in America here on the East Coast – after all, there is no In-N-Out here, and people don’t say ‘hella.’
Sources:
Girls' Generation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNSD
KARA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_%28band%29
2NE1:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2ne1
Brown Eyed Girls:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Eyed_Girls
따라해 (Wannabe) (feat. Mellow) lyrics:
http://aheeyah.com/lyrics/epikhigh/epikhigh_6_kor.htm
Epik High official website:
http://www.mapthesoul.com
Video sources:
http://www.youtube.com
같은 노래 노래 흥얼대 입술과 코 끝에
옷을 고를 때 거기서 거기 Style에 손을 대
You think you got a got a swag?
다 그저 따라 따라 따라해
요즘엔 유행어를 모름 대화가 안 돼
모두 Fashion 잡지 TV Show를 보고 단장해
보고팠던 영화조차 평점 따라 관람해
이미 다들 다들 하는데 다 따라 따라 따라해”
“Here and there, fresh, but it seems familiar
Hum the same same song, from your lips and your nose
When you pick your clothes you add your own style
You think you got a got a swag?
Every copy copy copy that
If you don’t know the trends these days, you can’t even talk
Everybody looks at fashion magazines and TV shows and dresses up
They even judge the movies they wanted see based on ratings
Everybody everybody already does so, so just copy copy copy them”
-Epik High, 2009, [e], 따라해 (Wannabe) (feat. Mellow) [translation: Copy Me (Wannabe) (feat. Mellow)]
The excerpt, from a song by the Korean hip-hop group Epik High, is only the first verse in which the group criticizes the trends of Korean pop culture; their words intended to criticize the Korean pop music industry, but can also be applied to Korean pop culture as a whole.
Epik High, a group of three – Tablo, Mithra Jin, and DJ Tukutz – criticize the Korean pop music industry for their trend of copying whatever is popular, and marketing it until the next ‘big’ thing comes around. One of the biggest, and most recent, examples of this was in mid-2009; or, perhaps, a little earlier.
On March 27th, 2009, a new girl band was unveiled by a Korean entertainment company called YG Entertainment. What made this girl group’s debut so famous was that their first song ever released, which was done for a commercial of a cell phone (yet another popular trend in Korea: using famous celebrities – especially popular girl groups – to market their cell phones; and I specifically point out cell phones because it is common practice to have celebrities featured in commercials in Korea, but there seems to be a prominent focus on popular girl bands in the cell phone industry). Their unofficial debut song, LOLLiPOP (link to official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIRW_elc-rY ), was alongside an extremely popular Korean boy band, Big Bang. Because of the catchy song, the girl group, 2NE1, gained immense popularity and recognition even before their official debut.
When 2NE1 finally did debut on May 6th, 2009, their song, Fire (link to official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwq-XdPfpeA ), the song was an instant hit, generating more than one million hits in a day. Their ‘concept’ – a term in the Korean pop music industry meaning literally the ‘concept’ or ‘look’ that the group is trying to portray – was that of strong, independent city girls, deviating from the Korean fixation on cuteness for this concept of ‘not-quite-cute-but-not-quite-sexy’ girls.
With 2NE1’s success with their concept of independent, borderline sexy girls came a new wave of girl group concepts. Girls’ Generation’s new concept with the release of their second mini-album “Tell Me Your Wish” saw the group of nine girls transform from cute, bubbly girls to sexy, strong marine/navy girls. Another girl group, Kara, also displayed a sexier side with the release of their second full-length album “Revolution.” Especially enjoyed by male fans all across Korea – and probably Asia and beyond – was their signature “butt” or “hip” dance during their performance of their hit song “Mister.” (link to performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0PhxB3CYq0 ) A third group to follow suit was the girl group Brown Eyed Girls, with the release of their third full-length album “Sound G.” Much like Girls’ Generation, Brown Eyed Girls changed their concept from a more ‘innocent’ look to a sexy, independent, mature look with their hit song ‘Abracadabra.’ (link to music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR0R_4cFxEc )
This all happened over a course of month or two, with each group promoting their sexy, strong, independent concept for as long as it was popular before going quiet from the music scene for several months until the next wave of girl group trends. Of course, the preparation of the ‘concepts’ for each group takes place over months; or so the groups claim. But it would not be too difficult to change their concepts last minute; for example, with Girls’ Generation, it would not be too difficult to imagine a scenario where they would have been preparing a more ‘cutesy’ marine/navy look, but with the rising popularity of the sexy/independent concept with girl groups, changing their concept to fit this new trend. After all, there was a two month gap between the success of 2NE1’s Fire and the appearance of these other girl groups’ new sexy looks.
It is exactly this trend of copying each other that Epik High is criticizing. But this is not only a trend in the pop music industry, but in popular culture in Korea as a whole.
It is a bit of an issue, or at least so Koreans seem to think. When I visited Korea last summer after not being there for almost 6 years, despite my infatuation with Korean pop music, I was completely unaware of what the popular culture there would be like until I actually arrived there. Much to my surprise, unlike in America where different ‘styles’ and subcultures exist – such as the typical high school groups like the punks, Goths, emos, jocks, etc. – the majority of Koreans dressed similarly, listened to similar music, and there existed overall a single, overarching ‘clique’ with extremely small pockets of other subcultures. But for the most part, Epik High’s line of, “If you don’t know the trends these days, you can’t even talk” rings especially true in Korea.
My relatives in Korea even talked about this during my stay, noting Korea’s tendency to have periods of ‘craze’ over certain things – such as clothes, bands, or various products – for a period. One of my aunts believed that this was especially prevalent in Korea because of its small size and concentrated population, which made it easier for producers to market to the consumers, causing a massive outbreak of desires and tastes.
But another line from ‘Copy Me’ also rings true: sometimes, the producers do not even have to work hard to market their goods to the public. All it takes is a celebrity endorsement – such as a celebrity wearing a certain brand of clothing, or appearing in a certain ad – to create the phenomenon of the masses suddenly desiring very similar goods. This is especially popular with clothes – “Everybody looks at fashion magazines and TV shows and dresses up” – and sometimes, the celebrities are not even endorsed by brand names to wear certain clothes. It is the celebrity’s popularity that makes whatever they wear instantly popular. I saw many examples of this during my time in Korea; whenever I went shopping, I would often see strange, outlandish clothes that made me wonder who in their right mind would wear such clothes. But, as was the case with most of these clothes that did not fit the dominant Korean street fashion, they had a sign attached that said “So-and-so celebrity was seen wearing this on this-and-that show” along with a picture showing that So-and-so celebrity had indeed worn such a strange article of clothing on this-and-that show. It didn’t make me want to wear the piece of clothing any, but I could understand why certain people would buy such clothes.
Such copy-cat behavior has resulted in many criticisms within Korea, where the citizens are aware of the copy-cat trend, but cannot or do not want to break out of the trend. Unlike in Korea, in America, not a single overarching style of dress nor does a very small group of artists heavily influence the music industry. In fact, it’s almost the opposite; different parts of America are almost like different countries in terms of culture. I often find myself wondering if I’m really still in America here on the East Coast – after all, there is no In-N-Out here, and people don’t say ‘hella.’
Sources:
Girls' Generation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNSD
KARA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_%28band%29
2NE1:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2ne1
Brown Eyed Girls:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Eyed_Girls
따라해 (Wannabe) (feat. Mellow) lyrics:
http://aheeyah.com/lyrics/epikhigh/epikhigh_6_kor.htm
Epik High official website:
http://www.mapthesoul.com
Video sources:
http://www.youtube.com
Friday, April 2, 2010
Drinking
As with any other aspect of society, drinking and a culture's attitude towards drinking varies from culture to culture. As to be expected, Korean drinking culture differs greatly from American drinking culture. One of the biggest differences in attitude is related to the setting in which a person has their first drink. In most cases in America, one's first drink is usually at a party in high school, away from the watchful eyes of guardians and amongst peers. This may lead to unsafe drinking practices and habits to form, but allows for a greater degree of feelings of 'fun' and 'independence.' However, in Korea, it is usually with one's parents that a person has their first drink. I myself had my first hard alcohol -- soju -- with my father. Koreans have various rules and attitudes that need to be observed when drinking with one's elders, and it is by drinking with one's father that Koreans learn these practices.
Another stark difference is the behaviors of people when they get drunk. As with many other cross-cultural conversations I had, the topic of drunk behavior came up with me and my roommate. He was commenting on how 'stupid' white Americans seemed to become when they became drunk -- referring to the fact that masses of drunk white Americans that horded outside Stanton at unholy hours of the night. He himself, being of Latino heritage who hung out primarily with black Americans in high school, also noted the difference in drunken behaviors between black and white Americans. He noted that, which I agree with, parties with predominantly white people tended to become louder and rowdier as the night went on and people became more and more drunk. He didn't quite explain to me how black Americans acted differently when they were drunk -- just that they were. But despite a lack of a solid explanation on just HOW the two demographics differed when drunk, I knew what he was talking about. Koreans, and Asian Americans in general, also behave quite differently from white Americans when drinking. From my experiences, when Asians drink together, it is usually a small, intimate setting, with people you are familiar with. And to drink together is also a means of bonding -- I cannot count how many times I have drank with my friends' friends and have suddenly found myself with numerous new friends.
Where as the white American attitude towards drinking seems to be something that should be done in large groups, where anonymity is key and would provide a safe haven for any stupid behaviors that result from being drunk, Asians believe that, no matter how drunk you are, you should be responsible to some degree of your behaviors, especially when drinking with those older than you. This stark contrast makes it very awkward for me to really enjoy the 'party scene' -- or what little exists of it on campus -- because of such basic, cultural differences in attitudes toward drinking, and peoples' behaviors when drunk.
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