That's a question I often wondered. Why are they, other bboys, hating on
Jay Park? "Hate" may not be the right word but the crux of the question lies in the fact that Jay Park always seem to attract ridicule from other bboys. So where did it all begin?
I asked a friend of mine what he thought of this Jay Park business and he told me: he's an American bboy who turned into a famous Korean pop star. It's just a little funny. The way he said it made me compare it to the likes of PSY becoming a bboy or Born becoming a Korean idol. It's a little unsettling actually. I was visiting Melbourne last year and came across a poster that said Jay Park was having a concert the following week. Now if you stick, say Physicx, on that poster, there's a little something odd about it.
I needed objective reasons not opinions or "weird" feelings so I scoured the internet but came across no particular "hate" towards the guy. There was nothing legitimate considered big enough to have caused actual hostility and hatred. What's there to a famous guy with the usual entourage of fans and haters, right? So after a little investigation I found three things about Jay Park.
I asked a friend of mine what he thought of this Jay Park business and he told me: he's an American bboy who turned into a famous Korean pop star. It's just a little funny. The way he said it made me compare it to the likes of PSY becoming a bboy or Born becoming a Korean idol. It's a little unsettling actually. I was visiting Melbourne last year and came across a poster that said Jay Park was having a concert the following week. Now if you stick, say Physicx, on that poster, there's a little something odd about it.
I needed objective reasons not opinions or "weird" feelings so I scoured the internet but came across no particular "hate" towards the guy. There was nothing legitimate considered big enough to have caused actual hostility and hatred. What's there to a famous guy with the usual entourage of fans and haters, right? So after a little investigation I found three things about Jay Park.
Kicked out of Korea. Jay Park was born in Seattle and grew up as a lover of hip hop and breaking. He was a member of the Art of Movement bboy crew and later went to Korea to join JYP Entertainment's sensational Kpop Group, 2PM, which he became the leader of. However, after the Korean media found a statement written by Jay stating quite antagonistic claims about the Korean Culture, he was immediately kicked out of the country by the patriotic Korean Government. Despite that, Jay Park still kept in contact with his fellow band members and resumed bboying with Art of Movement back in Seattle.
Verdict: I don't see a reason to hate Jay Park because those anti-Korean claims were apparently written when he was young and didn't know better. So a teenager says the wrong thing, when was that ever news? I don't know what he wrote so I won't dwell on that matter further. In relation to bboying, well - Jay Park came back to the bboy scene as a superstar. A bboy becoming a pop idol is quite a statement - and getting
kicked out of one's country - that's an even bigger statement. Either way, Jay was trembling a whole circus of headlines, but created nothing to really hate him for.
 |
| Jay Park with 2PM |
Selling Out. Jay Park released a YouTube video in 2010 of a cover of "Nothing on You" originally by B.oB. which he recorded in the bathroom - quite the opposite to his former glamorous days with 2PM. His video went viral and that garnered him a lot of attention. Soon he was signing with labels as a solo artist, releasing tracks and albums and was even welcomed back to Korea. Bboying in Korea was slowly becoming part of the culture, and bboys could even be given endorsements for breaking, e.g. Rivers Crew sponsored by Nike. Jay Park was the host of 2010's Fever Seoul which was an international call out to bboys and bgirls to battle him and his makeshift crew of renowned Korean bboys (e.g. Pocket, Vero, Bruce Lee etc.). This created a division of opinion; was he commercializing bboying or promoting the culture of bboying?
Verdict: The concept of commercialization is such a trivial topic. Bboying had come across commercialization in the past and things got ugly, so modern bboys tend to steer clear from all of that. However, as bgirl Rockafella once noted, it is an issue that is approached differently internationally. Americans try not to commercialize it because of how it may become appropriated from the Latinos and Afro-Americans, but in Asia, where the roots of bboying remain grounded overseas, how else will the bboying culture grow if not to advertise it. In Jay's case, he made it to stardom as a kpop idol, not as a bboy. The way I see it, he doesn't need to sell bboying to feed himself so I truly believe hosting Fever Seoul was his bid to spread the breaking culture in Korea.
Verdict: The concept of commercialization is such a trivial topic. Bboying had come across commercialization in the past and things got ugly, so modern bboys tend to steer clear from all of that. However, as bgirl Rockafella once noted, it is an issue that is approached differently internationally. Americans try not to commercialize it because of how it may become appropriated from the Latinos and Afro-Americans, but in Asia, where the roots of bboying remain grounded overseas, how else will the bboying culture grow if not to advertise it. In Jay's case, he made it to stardom as a kpop idol, not as a bboy. The way I see it, he doesn't need to sell bboying to feed himself so I truly believe hosting Fever Seoul was his bid to spread the breaking culture in Korea.
Pop Star Bboy. Need I emphasize it even more? I'm sure by now we've got it drilled into our heads that Jay Park is a Korean idol mega pop star who's also popular in the bboy scene. That's mainstream and underground coming together. It's a bit hard to get our heads around but what exactly do we get from those two things coming together?
Fan girls in cypher battles. Check this video out - it's like a concert take of a bboy battle. A full body shot is always necessary when watching battles, so when I suddenly watch something like this, it's like wtf. Lol, literally.
Annoying much? Check that picture below, it's basically a crowd of starstruck girls. I don't think there's ever been a time girls outnumbered guys in a bboy event meaning during breaking events, bboys wanting to watch the battles miss out because Jay Park's fans - the Jaywalkers - come jaywalking into an event meant for bboys and bgirls. All the tickets get sold out to the wrong crowd. Half the building is literally evacuated once he's through his gig. And I'm not even hating, just stating the facts.
Verdict: It's not Jay Park, it's his fans. His fans are crazy. A certain video posted in this blog earlier showed Profo Won asking Born to do a rap like Jay Park. Probably the only link between them is that both Born and Jay Park are Koreans. Profo Won is American and probably lacked knowledge of Korean rappers but only knew of Jay Park. Born himself doesn't rap. There was no hate intended, only reference to someone famous. After that video was posted, Park's fans shook up the comment boxes to exercise their eternal over-protectiveness of their idol. This led to an intervention by strifetv (original uploader) and Spen One. Park's fan comments had since been deleted.
My Overall Verdict
After all that I still can't put a finger on it. I did come to the realization that maybe bboys or members of the hip hop culture are simply putting Jay in a box of expectations. Like, why does he sing pop songs? He should rap! That's hip hop. Kpop is not hip hop, what is he doing?! Who said all bboys were hip hop to the core? And because of this, some people call him a joke. I think that's a little unfair. It's like being told I can't draw or paint anymore and that I need to pick up a can of aerosol instead.
His shining road to stardom had also made him quite a superstar in the bboy scene. Bboys make jokes about him because well, he's a superstar and he stands out in a crowd. It's the tall poppy syndrome - when you stand out everyone picks on you. But I believe the methods in which they picked on him are quite the friendly sort. Check out Atomic Goofball's response to the Fever Seoul call out which also parodies Jay Park's bathroom performance and pop idol lifestyle. It's also an example of how bboys joke about Jay, but all in good fun.
I believe at the end of the day all that "hate" and joking around are simply a good-natured poke at humour and a mere friendly push to a fellow bboy. But with so many people ridiculing him (including those that don't get the joke) it culminated to a degree where push turned to shove and created actual hatred. Some bboys know nothing about Kpop and therefore do not understand the jokes. The fact that these bboys are at the end of the Chinese whisper line also doesn't help when they spit out crap like they know it all.
Jay Park's fans are also an issue and probably a huge factor to all the hate and misunderstanding. Some of his fans who know nothing of the bboy culture have blown his skills and abilities out of proportion. Fans putting him up on a pedestal and calling him the "best" breakdancer will get Jay Park the attention of bboys who think otherwise. They will flock like sharks to take Jay's "self-professed" reign on the throne. In bboying where reputation is earned, having a claim as such need to be backed up. It's been said that Jay has already become the target of so many bboys in Seattle, primarily seeking him to back up his claim. Like they say, the nail that sticks out gets hammered back down.
Of course bboys who have met him know to pay respect where it's due. They will battle to get him to prove himself or simply for the opportunity to battle someone famous. After all, how often can someone claim to have battled a famous korean pop idol? In the end, there's still respect. Jay Park, having been a bboy before a pop idol, can hold his own in a cypher. He's not all too bad. There are still those who call him a joke though, probably e-boys and trolls. This two sided story is simply a result of having your feet in both sand and water, Jay.
I'm not entirely a fan of Jay Park but I still have respect for any kind of bboy who can hold his own in a battle. For Jay, however, all the hate don't seem to faze him. Haters will keep hating and he's got one advice for them: go do something productive. I think that's advisable to just about any kind of hater.
Fan girls in cypher battles. Check this video out - it's like a concert take of a bboy battle. A full body shot is always necessary when watching battles, so when I suddenly watch something like this, it's like wtf. Lol, literally.
Annoying much? Check that picture below, it's basically a crowd of starstruck girls. I don't think there's ever been a time girls outnumbered guys in a bboy event meaning during breaking events, bboys wanting to watch the battles miss out because Jay Park's fans - the Jaywalkers - come jaywalking into an event meant for bboys and bgirls. All the tickets get sold out to the wrong crowd. Half the building is literally evacuated once he's through his gig. And I'm not even hating, just stating the facts.
Verdict: It's not Jay Park, it's his fans. His fans are crazy. A certain video posted in this blog earlier showed Profo Won asking Born to do a rap like Jay Park. Probably the only link between them is that both Born and Jay Park are Koreans. Profo Won is American and probably lacked knowledge of Korean rappers but only knew of Jay Park. Born himself doesn't rap. There was no hate intended, only reference to someone famous. After that video was posted, Park's fans shook up the comment boxes to exercise their eternal over-protectiveness of their idol. This led to an intervention by strifetv (original uploader) and Spen One. Park's fan comments had since been deleted.
My Overall Verdict
After all that I still can't put a finger on it. I did come to the realization that maybe bboys or members of the hip hop culture are simply putting Jay in a box of expectations. Like, why does he sing pop songs? He should rap! That's hip hop. Kpop is not hip hop, what is he doing?! Who said all bboys were hip hop to the core? And because of this, some people call him a joke. I think that's a little unfair. It's like being told I can't draw or paint anymore and that I need to pick up a can of aerosol instead.
His shining road to stardom had also made him quite a superstar in the bboy scene. Bboys make jokes about him because well, he's a superstar and he stands out in a crowd. It's the tall poppy syndrome - when you stand out everyone picks on you. But I believe the methods in which they picked on him are quite the friendly sort. Check out Atomic Goofball's response to the Fever Seoul call out which also parodies Jay Park's bathroom performance and pop idol lifestyle. It's also an example of how bboys joke about Jay, but all in good fun.
I believe at the end of the day all that "hate" and joking around are simply a good-natured poke at humour and a mere friendly push to a fellow bboy. But with so many people ridiculing him (including those that don't get the joke) it culminated to a degree where push turned to shove and created actual hatred. Some bboys know nothing about Kpop and therefore do not understand the jokes. The fact that these bboys are at the end of the Chinese whisper line also doesn't help when they spit out crap like they know it all.
Jay Park's fans are also an issue and probably a huge factor to all the hate and misunderstanding. Some of his fans who know nothing of the bboy culture have blown his skills and abilities out of proportion. Fans putting him up on a pedestal and calling him the "best" breakdancer will get Jay Park the attention of bboys who think otherwise. They will flock like sharks to take Jay's "self-professed" reign on the throne. In bboying where reputation is earned, having a claim as such need to be backed up. It's been said that Jay has already become the target of so many bboys in Seattle, primarily seeking him to back up his claim. Like they say, the nail that sticks out gets hammered back down.
Of course bboys who have met him know to pay respect where it's due. They will battle to get him to prove himself or simply for the opportunity to battle someone famous. After all, how often can someone claim to have battled a famous korean pop idol? In the end, there's still respect. Jay Park, having been a bboy before a pop idol, can hold his own in a cypher. He's not all too bad. There are still those who call him a joke though, probably e-boys and trolls. This two sided story is simply a result of having your feet in both sand and water, Jay.
 |
| "Jay Park turns my gears on," Atomic Goofball said before realizing how wrong it sounded. Heh. |
