The Influence of Hip-Hop on K-Pop

Though both incredibly popular, Hip-Hop and K-Pop are two musical genres which seemingly couldn’t be more different to one another. Scratch beneath the surface, however, and look a little closer, and you’ll discover that they’re a lot more similar than you may have realized.

Over the last decade or so, K-Pop (Korean Pop) has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity, particularly across the west. Acts such as EXO, Blackpink, and BTS are now household names and are amongst the biggest names in the world.

Despite K-Pop’s roots being traceable back to the 1950s, it wasn’t until the 1990s when this musical genre really started to gain traction. Incidentally, this was shortly after the rise of Hip-Hop in the 80s and 90s. Despite the two genres seemingly being worlds apart, they also share a great deal of similarities.

Although K-Pop is its own musical genre, it’s clear that Hip-Hop has had a profound influence on it for many decades now. You can see and hear it in the performances and choreography, the mannerisms, and the dancing.

Here’s a look at the influence of Hip-Hop on K-Pop and how it has influenced it over the years.

Early Influences on Korean Nightlife

While we can’t trace Hip-Hop’s influence over K-Pop to an exact date in time, many believe that K-Pop first began being influenced by Hip-Hop during the late 1980s, thanks in part, to Korean nightlife of all things.

In the early 1990s, Hip-Hop was incredibly popular. Predominantly black artists like the N.W.A, Ice-Cube, Tupac, and many more were taking the musical world by storm. The 90s was all about being edgy, rebelling, and flipping the metaphorical bird to authority figures, and audiences lapped it up.

Because Hip-Hop was so popular it was frequently played in nightclubs all over the world, including Asia. One such club was Moon Night in Seoul. Most of the time, the nightclub would play K-Pop music and would later become the spiritual home of K-Pop music, with many acts originating here. As it was located close to a U.S military base, however, in the early hours of the morning it would cater to U.S servicemen stationed on the base and play western music. Much of this music was Hip-Hop.

It wasn’t long before Korean citizens and U.S soldiers would frequent the club at the same time and become friends. As black U.S soldiers and Koreans socialized, they learned of each other’s customs. Soon enough, Hip-Hop dance caught on, with some Koreans fusing this style of dance with K-Pop music, as well as Hip-Hop and R&B.

How Hip-Hip Influenced K-Pop

As Hip-Hop grew in popularity, many K-Pop performers would look to emulate the black rappers and recording artists from the west. It all began on the dancefloors.

Hip-Hop Dancing

Hip-Hop dancing was, and still is, characterized by sharp, isolated staccato body movements and rhythmic “popping and locking”. It’s energetic, passionate, expressive, and has a subtly masculine edge to it. K-Pop artists gradually began incorporating Hip-Hop style dance movements into their routines and performances.

Today, groups such as BLACKPINK are renowned for using fast-paced, energetic elements of Hip-Hop dance in their choreography and fans can’t get enough.

Clothing and Fashion

As more and more Koreans were introduced to western genres of music, you gradually noticed elements of these genres creeping into K-Pop performer’s routines and acts.

K-Pop was heavily influenced by Hip-Hop dancing, and other forms of street dancing such as breakdancing, and you could see this in how the artists dressed. In the 90s, many K-Pop acts would emulate the fashion styles of popular rap artists. They’d wear oversized, baggy jeans and T-shirts, would wear high-top sneakers, and use accessories such as bandanas, gold jewelry and sunglasses.

Music Videos and Media

As well as dressing and dancing like Hip-Hop artists, K-Pop performers would also incorporate other elements into their own work, particularly when it came to photoshoots, album covers, magazine shoots, and music videos.

Instead of bright and colorful recording studios, K-Pop artists would choose more gritty, urban environments for their media material. A great deal of K-Pop music videos and album covers would feature graffiti-laden streets, alleys, and industrial settings like abandoned factories, just like many Hip-Hop artists did beforehand.

Collaborations

As the years passed by, K-Pop steadily grew in popularity, and thanks to the internet, western audiences were introduced to this unique style of music.

As K-Pop became more popular, it attracted more attention from famous performers, including R&B singers and Hip-Hop artists.

Following the huge success of Gangnam Style, PSY would collaborate with Snoop Dogg on the track ‘Hangover’. BTS, who many consider the greatest K-Pop group of all time, have also collaborated with performers such as Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Nas X, and many others. BLACKPINK also recently worked with Cardi B on the single ‘Bet You Wanna’ which did incredibly well both in Korea and the States.

A couple of decades ago, it was rare for these two genres to be mentioned in the same sentence, yet today, huge names from the world of Hip-Hop and K-Pop frequently collaborate with one another and produce extremely popular music.

Final Thoughts

Despite both musical genres and styles originating from different parts of the world at different points in time, it’s clear that Hip-Hop has had a profound effect on K-Pop and arguably helped shape it into the global phenomenon that it is today.

While there have been concerns of cultural appropriation over the years, the influence of Hip-Hop on K-Pop is there for the world to see, and the bond between the two genres only looks set to get stronger.