I’ve noticed that there seems to be a strong emphasis placed on music based on where it originates from. For instance, Korean music is always prefaced with exactly that, “Korean” music, such as k-hiphop, k-indie, k-pop, the list goes on. When I asked some friends about this, a lot of them didn’t think of it as that big of a deal – and I agree. I think it’s fine to acknowledge a song’s culture and language of origin. However, I find it a bit troublesome when music starts to get belittled because of its place of origin. DEAN, a Korean R&B singer, songwriter, and producer A lot of times, music from different cultures get categorized into a separate genre and is oftentimes automatically pushed down and considered as somewhat inferior. A comment I commonly hear is, “This is really good for a (insert ethnic culture) song.” Most of the time, these kinds of statements aren’t said with malicious intent. It's usually just a passing thought. However, that in and of itself becomes problematic, especially since at that point, it’s something that’s so innately ingrained in our thoughts that things like “American” or “western” music is automatically better or is the ideal. This goes beyond the music and onto the musicians and artists as well. It’s so common for me to hear things like “This artist is Asian? I had no idea because he sounds so American,” “He sounds pretty good for an Asian rapper,” or “She sounds like a Korean version of Ariana Grande” and so on. 1LLIONAIRE, a Korean hip-hop label and collective That being said, I think it’s important that we make a conscious effort to be less segregating when we listen to different music and artists based on their ethnicity or cultural background. How we judge music should be based on the music alone, rather than their cultural or ethnic background or the musician's similarity to American artists. Check out some of my favorite songs by Asian and Asian-American artists below. ↓
(Note: All photos were taken by me)
7 Comments
Tom
2/4/2017 11:26:35 pm
I do agree that there's a lot of validity to your argument. We as a western American culture have a strong ingrained discrimination for anyone else besides us. However, I feel it might be a mix of your argument and that we see other cultures' music as having a different genre. Nowadays music has become so hybrid and diverse. Rock music has a multitude of subgenres including German metal or other Scandinavian metals which are seen as a lot heavier than what we find in America. In that way we see that the culture has their own unique sound which if we were to categorize it with an American counterpart it just wouldn't stack up. I agree that sometimes people see other cultures' music as inferior, but a majority of people that I've met think otherwise and a lot of times think ours is too repetitive and boring or a rip off of genres in other countries.
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Adolfo
2/5/2017 01:24:50 pm
I've heard the same from people when exposing them to Korean Hip-Hop. It's typically along the lines of, "Wait, Koreans rap? That's so funny." Or "Oh that's cute they're trying to act like black people."
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I really like your views on this subject matter. I don't think it's bad to acknowledge where an artist or their work comes from, as you said, but once you get beyond that I don't think it's a big deal.
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Shannon
2/6/2017 06:59:27 pm
I feel like Americans are so used to their culture being represented so strongly in media that when they are exposed to music of another culture, they find it to be "too weird". For instance, they are so used to music being in their language, that once they hear something that is not English they just dismiss it. So used to everything being so accustomed to their comfort zone that anything outside of it is scary. Quite sad when you realize that "comfort zone" is SO limited.
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Christianne
2/6/2017 07:15:35 pm
Though, as you said, when people make comments like "He sounds pretty good for an Asian rapper” or “She sounds like a Korean version of Ariana Grande” it's not coming from a bad place, but statements like that are micro-aggressions. What does "for an Asian rapper" have to do with his rapping skills? What does "Korean version of Ariana Grande" compare to?
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Eunita
2/10/2017 04:51:57 pm
I definitely agree that people have a weird opinion about foreign music. Unfortunately even I have to say I have the same opinion, more so when I was younger. I would find filipino friends who would want to share filipino music with me, but I didn't even try to listen.
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MYG
2/12/2017 12:00:48 pm
I really liked the song suggestions you gave at the end of your post. I didn't know that Korean music was so diverse outside of k-pop. I can't wait for more song recommendations.
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