#almost as weird as the fact that all of the extras in cl's 'lifted' music video are black... you know the song about weed

[a9saga]

maybe i’m wrong... but i feel like when people talk about the worst cases of cultural appropriation in kpop “the baddest female” by cl is often the first one brought up. i feel like i don’t see as many people bring up “one of a kind” by g-dragon. which, that’s the one for me, that’s the ultimate picture of cultural appropriation itself i think. it is the example used beneath the textbook definition of it. if you’re new to the idea that there is a difference between being influenced by art and style of other cultures, versus bastardizing that culture and wearing it like it’s your own creation, then there you go. you watch “one of a kind” and you’re like, oh yeah, i’ve seen this before. there isn’t a single frame of that video that doesn’t copy from lil wayne or other big american rappers of the time. musically, aesthetically, whatever. and you really can’t summarize what’s ridiculous about it better than the artist who made the song calling himself one of a kind in the hook.

not that the baddest female doesn’t ultimately do the same thing for the most part. it’s not any less obviously appropriative. and both cl and g-dragon come from the most notoriously controversial groups of their time, especially regarding antiblack racism and cultural appropriation. i do not know of a group that has more racist controversies that were never once acknowledged or apologized for. to some extent that may just be a bigger yg problem. bigbang and 2ne1 really were brother/sister groups. they were very, very similar to one another. kpop in general does not credit or respect the african american artists who create most of the trends it follows. but yg has some of the worst representation of that.

not as much as it used to though, maybe? i don’t know the newer groups from the company well besides blackpink because theyre fucking everywhere. but while the style of yg groups has been relatively consistent with the new generation, the new groups don’t have nearly as many stains of the sort and what they have done that’s offensive is not as frequent or blatant as kpop groups that would stir up racist controversies in the 2000s. you also occasionally get an apology now. there is a part of me that would like to think, reasonably, groups of the new generation of kpop have learned from the mistakes of these 2nd gen groups like bigbang and 2ne1. companies have been criticized for this shit many many times by now. but the fact that it still persists in any degree, and also considering that there’s no reason to believe the execs and directors who made these videos are actually any less racist than before, just makes me think it’s only lessened a bit for now and in another 8 or 9 years some guy in stray kids or whatever is going to release basically the exact same video as “one of a kind” and everyone on board is going to think they’re a creative genius all over again.

oh and i meant to mention this earlier but it’s also really fucking weird and awkward how there are little black kids in the “one of a kind” video that are basically used as props. that’s weird too.