KMK: Nicki Minaj F/Will.I.am

I’m usually only all about the Kpop, but the new MV Check it Out, from Will.I.am and Nicki Minaj, deserves a shout out. The backdrop focuses on a very chic Korean TV audience who sit stone still and silent while Will.I.am and Minaj put on a manic performance as if they’d been doped up on adrenaline.

Neon Hanguel letters float around them as they interact with their doubles while a pack of back up dancers do their thing. I’m trying to figure out what inspired Will.I.am to ride the Korean Hallyu Wave and I’m thinking its about his upcoming collab with Kpop girl group 2NE1.

I’m excited, but at the same time have some extreme doubts. Lets just look at few acts who recently dabbed their toes into the big bad US music market:

Wonder Girls

Boa

Se7en

Rain

The highway to American Pop stardom is littered with Kpop casualties. And no Far East Movement doesn’t count, even though their achievement should be applauded, because they’re American born and bred.

I just recently touched on this with my post on Crystal Kay. Just what keeps Asian acts out of the charts in the USA? Culture? Race? Management?  Language? What do you think?

At the moment the latest forage into the US is being spear headed by 2NE1. So the question becomes can 2NE1 finally be the first breakout Asian act to crack the US market?