Jay Park’s braided hair in ‘DNA Remix’ video slammed as ‘cultural appropriation’

In the music video, Park is seen rapping while donning braided hair, a black shirt and a pair of blue jeans

Jay Park arrives at the 2019 Roc Nation THE BRUNCH on February 09, 2019, in Los Angeles, California (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)

Rapper Jay Park has been slammed heavily on the internet for “cultural appropriation” and copying African Americans for his recent release, ‘DNA Remix’. Soon after his song was released on YouTube, people started trolling him as one user said, “it’s kinda ironic how this song is about being korean but this entire video is just misusing black culture.” The second person commented, “jay park talking about in my dna while rocking braids like what’s in ur dna cultural appropriation??” 

In the music video, Park is seen rapping while donning braided hair, a black shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He is also sporting tattoos on his chest while a bunch of guys are standing beside him. The beginning lyrics of the song, which appears like he is praising himself, are, “Bounce back even though I fall down. I’m the legend before I die. Better take a pic with me.”

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“The issue is that they take all the aesthetics and music and concepts from African Americans and then profit off of it while also doing nothing about the anti blackness in thier own community. Isn’t Jay Park the same person that said listening to kpop is cultural appropriation? Imagine having a culture that isn’t even considered to be real by most people and then having it watered down to be used as a costume for people to make money off of. And then, to add insult to injury, not even being allowed to take part in their society because of your skin,” a third one added.

The 34-year-old ‘All I Wanna Do’ singer then justified himself by writing a lengthy post that read, “The Black and Latino people created Hip Hop. We understand that and think it is amazing and are grateful that you’ve shared it with the world. Hip Hop make us feel liberated and empowered. It gives us an out let to have our voice be heard and to express ourselves in a way society might not deem fit. We didnt get the best grades or go to college and we are not a doctor or a lawyer so it gives us a sense of belonging and value. Gives us hope and motivation that we can switch up our situation if we put our hearts and minds to it and can make something from nothing. A lot of our heroes are Black rappers and not just the aesthetic but their mindset on overcoming the odds and being goal oriented without caring what other ppl think and who might doubt you. So its only natural that we want to be like them to a certain extent. Having a certain hairstyle or look gives us confidence and inspiration and makes us feel like rockstars and its because its what we see and hear it feels natural to us.”

He continued, “We dont see color. We feel like we’re brothers and sisters in Hip hop which i feel like is a universal language which goes beyond race color and religion. Do we want to be black? No. Although we friends of color and are influenced by black culture and love and support it heavily we are proud to be Korean and wouldnt trade it for the world Can we relate to the black struggle? No but there are certain elements that we can relate and identify with. Every country every culture every person has some type of pain or struggle in their life. There is no other genre that portrays that so honestly other than hip hop.”

Jay Park attends 2020 Roc Nation THE BRUNCH on January 25, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Roc Nation)

Park said, “We are not the majority picking on the minority and we are not trying to steal culture,” before adding, “Over young korean dudes with dyed hair i dont see why we cant fanboy over rappers with face tats and dreads. Everybodies into what they into. Also shout out to our PR Julie who told us not to post this video. Shes the best. But i didnt wanna hide the Korean hip hop culture. This is what Hip hop kids look like in Korea and I wanted to showcase it and address it to the best of my ability to let the world know where we coming from. Ive been all over the world and hung out with everyone from criminals to billionaires and realized everyone has different perspectives and we can learn to disagree. The world would be so boring if we didnt share each others foods cultures and experiences. Dont have to support but hope yall can at least let us live our lives and give us room to grow and progress before making assumptions and bashing Peace and Love.”

But his response fired back as people on Twitter as one user tweeted, “Latino?… why does he refuse to just give credit where it do and leave us n the culture the hell alone..” Another user stated, “‘Hip hop makes us feel liberated’ but 99% of you krappers disrespect Black people and the hip hop culture every f*cking chance you lot get. Fvck out here.” “He really compared hair dye to dreads… i have no words,” a person commented. The second one added, “jay park always so loud and wrong. tired of this man leave black culture alone and just retire atp.”

Jay Park performs onstage during the 2018 Made In America Festival – Day 2 at Benjamin Franklin Parkway on September 2, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Roc Nation)

“Does jay park know you can make hiphop music without culturally appropriating someones culture, look at ph1 and youngji for example,” a tweet read. The other tweet added: “Jay Park has the audacity talking about ‘this is Korean Hip Hop culture’ as if they aren’t copy and pasting from black culture ( i.e. MY culture) and then acting like it’s their’s to claim.”

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