Lisa from BLACKPINK is “Playing with Fire” in Recent Cultural Appropriation Scandal
Lisa, the lead dancer and rapper from BLACKPINK, released her performance video for her solo track “Money” on September 23, 2021. The catchy melody, flashy costumes, and sets fit right into the rest of BLACKPINK’S discography, a “girl boss” anthem with all the drip and dazzle of a K-pop girl group music video. Less exciting, however, was the Black cultural appropriation, which, unfortunately, also fit right in with the drip and dazzle of a typical girl group music video.
The performance video for “Money” marked Lisa’s second major cultural appropriation scandal. “Money” is a hip hop dance track that’s rap heavy, Lisa’s specialty. This song and video is an example of why I got into K-pop in the first place: because of its roots in hip-hop and R&B. K-pop takes clear inspiration from Black culture and music, with CEO of BTS’s company Hybe Labels, Hitman Bang, even crediting that “Black music is the base.”
This inspiration isn’t always a good thing, though. As soon as Lisa’s first outfit for “Money” popped on the screen, I got flashbacks to Lisa’s previous scandal. A minute into the group’s 2019 comeback “Kill This Love,” Lisa bursts onto the scene with huge grey box braids. For “Money,” she sported a head full of bright red box braids in a ponytail over her blonde bangs. It was as if she had learned nothing from “Kill This Love.” Or, if she had learned anything, it was that cultural appropriation is okay.
Am I really upset that a non-Black woman wore box braids? Don’t get me wrong, I thought they looked good. Just like I thought Kim Kardashian’s Fulani braids looked good. But how well they pull it off isn’t the point. The point is they do not give credit or acknowledgment to where this style came from. It contributes to the erasing of the style’s Black roots, and the re-imagining of the aesthetic to be non-Black. In some cases, perpetrators argue that their looks or influence is appreciation, not appropriation. But I believe that appreciating something does not involve miscrediting and erasing the cultural roots of the item of admiration. Furthermore, there’s privilege. When a Black girl wears box braids, to this day she runs the risk of being called ghetto. Not even that. Even if no one says a word to her, the subconscious associations with Black hairstyles put her in a position where she is susceptible to bias and discrimination. Lisa escapes all of this. Her privilege comes not only from her not being Black, but from her being one of the most recognized and adored faces of one of the largest entertainment industries on this planet. She not only displaces our culture, but her privilege prevents her from even realizing it.
One thing that complicates the matter is agency. How much control Lisa has over her track, lyrics, outfits, back-up dancers, and appearances is difficult to know, but we definitely know that it is not one hundred percent. Not even close. YG needs to take accountability. However, this still does not absolve Lisa of her own responsibility and, from where I’m standing, neither party is taking accountability at all.
We have Blinks, BLACKPINK’S fan base, to thank for that. Blinks defend their idols to the death. They can do no wrong, and if anyone tries to say otherwise, they will likely be harassed online. In fact, part of me is afraid of a Blink stumbling upon this article. As a Black Blink, this silence is frustrating. Especially as a Black Blink who once considered Lisa their bias (favorite member). It’s crazy how it is more dangerous for a Blink to speak out against controversial occurrences than it is for the idol themselves to commit scandals. Celebrities are also put on pedestals in the Western music industry, but K-pop idolatry is a different breed. What makes a K-pop idol an idol is the years before their debut spent as a trainee, where they study singing, dancing, rapping, modeling, and acting. The trainee system molds the artists into the perfect pop stars to the point where it is impossible not to idolize the artists beyond proportion. The standardization of this process gives the industry a factory/product relationship that makes idolization in K-pop different from the Western music industry.
But that’s the thing - the K-pop industry, or at least YG and Hybe Labels, are trying to become the Western music industry (don’t get me started on the Hybe/Ithaca merge). And they’re not just taking on the style of rap or release frequency, but all the cultural appropriation baggage too. The appropriation is beyond visual. K-pop soloists and groups capitalize off of the AAVE vernacular and “blaccents” popularized by rappers such as Nicki Minaj and Cardi B in their own verses. “Money” is a prime example of this. The concept of the song is a nod to the most recent trends in female rap culture. Navigating this type of inspiration is tricky. It can be done ethically, but usually the non-black artists do not recognize the discrimination or backlash that black artists experience for using this language and style, nor do they credit their inspiration. Nicki Minaj faces racist and misogynist criticism for expressing herself as she does to this day. It took a long time for her to gain respect, while K-pop artists now take the same style and profit from it without ackowledging the discrimination black artists faced while paving the way for others.
And to make it worse, Lisa’s response to “Money” was less than subpar. At a fan sign (K-pop fan meeting), she “explained that she had no ‘bad intentions’ and she only thought that the hairstyle was ‘cool.’” Lisa only addressed the issue because a fan mentioned it, and even then, she did not address why what she did was wrong or promise to refrain from appropriating in the future. When these apologies are widely accepted by non-black fans, not only does the situation blow over without proper recognition, but there is no real reconciliation with the appropriated community. Beyond BLACKPINK, I’ve seen scandal after scandal in just the past year from talented and adored acts like Enhypen, Jay Park, and Stray Kids. All of this goes to show that the industry does not care. They will appropriate as long as it is profitable. Replicating successful techniques is a common business strategy in any industry, but it gets problematic when the “successful technique” is someone else’s culture.
As fans, I think it’s our job to see these stars as humans and not as idols - humans that make mistakes, but are also capable of redemption. Idolizing Lisa is a glorified form of dehumanization. All of a sudden everything she does is admired, even if it is wrong, and she is robbed of the ability to grow. And even worse, this idolatry makes her fans insensitive to the people she harms, dehumanizing them at the same time, and not in a glorified way. As for the industry, do not give any problematic content the views or streams that would incentivize companies to make more. Ignoring these issues is normalizing them, so even talking about them and acknowledging the harm helps. In fact, I changed my mind. I hope other Blinks do find this article.
Edited by Jennifer Morse, editor of Bird’s Eye View
Cover art by Daniela Brigatti