③

Although hip hop and rap emerged from African American cultural expressions of nationalism and afrocentrism, the genre has globalized and adapted in the last decades. Specifically Korea, who has taken the aesthetics and elements of hip hop and localized them into their own “cultural product.” In this paper, I will be analyzing “The poetics of resistance and the politics of crossing borders: Korean hip­hop and ‘cultural reterritorialisation” by Hae­Kyung Um and how Korean artist Dean does not represent some of the attributes made by the author on the development of hip hop and rap in Korea since the 1990’s.

It is recognized that from the 1990’s onwards, some of the localized aspects of Korean hip was a “hybridization of pop oriented rappers and dance group or idols inspired by Korea’s first rapper Set Taeji (Um 2013: 54). This is true to an extent, but not for rapper Dean who sticks to the original range of style from fast hip hop to slow R&B. Furthermore there is no incorporation of dance, even in collaboration in almost all of his music videos such as “Instagram”, “Pour up” or “Bermuda Triangle.”

As far as lyrics goes, the article states that artist’s rap songs incorporates English lyrics as well as their political stance on some cultural subjects related to Korea and the authenticity of “underground and home grown” hip hop (Um 2013: 57). For Dean, he definitely includes English lyrics and took a stance on social subjects such as his song Instagram but nothing majorly cultural related. Moreover, he especially hasn’t expressed any opinions on the authenticity of rap in regards to its origin in any of his music. 

In conclusion, although this article exhibits great examples of who and how localizations of Korean hip hop is represented, I find it untrue for solo artist Dean.

References:

Um, Hae-Kyung. “The poetics of resistance and the politics of crossing borders: Korean hip-hop and ‘cultural reterritorialisation’.” Popular Music 32, no. 1 (2013): 51-64.

Kiana Iranmahd, 28586584