A new hip hop MV hit the scene in Korea today and it’s generating a lot of buzz. Marius is my black friend is a music video devoted to tackling race in Korea, specifically the reactions Koreans have to black folk.
The video features the aforementioned Marius along with the rap duo 정턱과 쾌남들 whose aim seems to be to expose false stereotypes Koreans may have about black folk by pointing them out.
The video is aimed at a younger audience which may explain it’s heavy handedness. I think the sentiment is good and positive, but sometimes I feel the lyrics fall a bit short of the mark and the intention may go over the head of the kids.
- Loose translation of some of the lyrics:
- his hands have black skin but his palms are white
- his skin is black but his teeth are white
- when black folk eat jjajamyueng or chocolate you can’t tell
- black folk are all good at rnb and noraebang
- black folk are all brothers and even they are afraid of gangsters
- if you go to itaewon with a black person you won’t be mugged
- He is foreign but he doesn’t smell bad
So it’s obvious that these are dumb stereotypes that should be laughed at but do you think the kids will realize that or will it go over their heads?
Inquiring minds want to know what you think!
Here is another video from 정턱과 쾌남들
It was a great idea because if nothing else it sparked a conversation in many places where it would never have taken place. Perhaps you should release a proper version of the message KMK
I agree that the idea, intention, and sentiment were all fantastic and that the conversation it generated and will generate is necessary, but it would take someone far more talented than I to rap like that!
A better way would be to put together a diverse group of people and have them sing about being great friends…people both young and old of many races and both genders….and if it has to be thrown together in a hurry try a remake of We Are the World translated into Hanguel.
The Marious video seems to reinforce those very perceptions rather than tackle it. Images, in many ways, have words on a stronghold. The American media has done a great job with exploiting black negativity through imagery…an effective music video, to tackle this, like Dee said, "sensitive course," is to illustrate black males in positions of power, financial attainment, and/or within the lines of educational pursuits. Obviously it's difficult to showcase that in the aesthetic, but it's possible and has been done.
The black male disproportionately seen in one view—as men, in all race, we're much more complicated than that, filled with different ideologies, etc. In many ways, you'd think Korea would sympathize with the way black males are looked upon or put into one ideological pot, especially since East Asians go through their own ethnic bias and stereotype with China and Japan. Irrational people will always exist.
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you know, i really hate how this song makes White Skin the primary color that all others are compared to. Very bad, in my opinion. It uses Korean's lookism and focus on physical appearance to find a place for black skin. And since light skin color and tone is favored here, the lyrics really do, in effect, reinforce dark skin as funny and undesirable, strange and different. Big time fail.
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I think you make a great point. Perhaps they should have focused the message without including references to white skin which makes me think Dee might be on to something if it was perhaps rushed.
Yeah the intention is definitely good. The handling of the stereotypes is a little clumsy especially given the assumed target audience: kids.
I didn't consider the G20 summit angle. I wonder if it played any part?