K-Pop, or Korean Idol pop music, is a 5 billion dollar industry whose music, fashion, stars and lifestyle have taken the world by storm. But while K-Popβs fanbase has diversified, most K-Pop idols havenβt - so what happens when white people try and become K-Pop idols themselves?
On this episode of 'MINORITY REPORTS,' VICE sent Lee Adams to Seoul, South Korea to meet EXP Edition, the worldβs first non-Korean K-Pop group. The groupβs 4 members - Koki Tomlinson, Frankie DaPonte, Hunter Kohl and Ε ime KoΕ‘ta - believe you donβt need to be Korean in order to do K-Pop. When they debuted, EXP Edition faced a lot of criticism from mostly non-Korean K-Pop fans, who claimed the group was misappropriating Korean culture. EXP Edition maintains this pushback happens to anyone trying to break into a new genre of music - but is the group going too far in their attempt to be K-Pop idols?
We explore the wildly popular world of K-Pop and raise questions of where the line is drawn between cultural appreciation vs cultural appropriation and who should actually draw it.
WATCH MORE MINORITY REPORTS: https://vice.video/2NvWISr
Click here to subscribe to VICE: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE
Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/VICE-Videos
Videos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.com
More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideo
Click here to get the best of VICE daily: http://bit.ly/1SquZ6v
Like VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/vice
Follow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vice
Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/vice
Download VICE on iOS: http://apple.co/28Vgmqz
Download VICE on Android: http://bit.ly/28S8Et0
VICE Β· 8 years ago Published on 2018-07-19 15:00:04