During the presentation on Friday, there seemed to be an emphasis on how K-pop was generated by it’s respective studios. But I could have sworn that in the various songs I’ve heard in the background of my friend’s car were the exact same as rap samples. I did some more research and I found this Article:

How American R&B Songwriters Found a New Home in K-Pop by Elais Leight, Rolling Stone Magazine

I found it interesting that R&B producers and writers were working with K-pop studios to develop music. The respect that K-pop artists give to their R&B roots was also surprising. When I hear about K-Pop music, I tend to hear about how great and “original” it was. The piece that was covered by American news outlets we watched in the presentation today, kind of hinted towards K-pop developing something that hasn’t been done before (At least that was my interpretation of it) But it stems from the routes of American Hip Hop and R&B, which is clear in it’s presentation.

What I also found interesting was the current popular groups actually buy the rights to use songs that American artists had created. It’s been criticized as plagiarism which can be valid in some cases like with Caro Emerald and Primary, but this is something that Hip Hop, Rappers, and R&B singers have been doing since the beginning. Paying to sample or acquiring the rights to use a song has been a staple of early and even modern day Hip Hop (although some people fail to recognize it and blame artists who legally acquired music) I just found it really interesting that the connection between American and Korean pop music are so similar and in most cases directly working together. It’s not so much of an separate industry as I thought. The other Article I am posting is a list of K-pop songs that sampled and even bought original demo songs from popular american artists.

18 K-Pop Songs And Their Original English Demos/Singles by Brookenicole, Soompi