Cultural Appropriation vs. Appreciation: Where Does Chicken Noodle Soup Stand?

We live in a society where mainstream media outlets are becoming more aware and accepting of different cultures. Even in everyday life, the likelihood of people eating different foods, wearing traditional clothing in public, and consuming foreign media has increased. Where such actions would have resulted in a public shaming in the past, that’s not necessarily the case these days. We are becoming more open and accepting of different cultures.

Though we experience these small victories in our day to day lives, we also must be aware of the elephant in the room that has been here for decades, centuries even.

Cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation.

Recently this topic was reintroduced into the realm of K-Pop after J-Hope released “Chicken Noodle Soup,” a track that hadn’t made the final cut of J-Hope’s 2018 mixtape “Hope World.” The song samples DJ Webstar, The Voice Of Harlem, and Young B’s 2006 hit “Chicken Noodle Soup,” who have both publicly expressed their excitement and enthusiasm for J-Hope’s take on their song, and for the support from ARMY.

“This track has been around for a while,” J-Hope shared on his most recent V Live stream. “I’ve been working on it for a long time. When I was working on ‘Hope World,’ this song was going to be a b-side on it. Also, there was another artist I was going to do it with, but it didn’t work out so I ended up releasing Hope World while feeling a bit sad about this song.”

He also shared his personal connection with the original track, revealing that “Chicken Noodle Soup” was a song that he danced to when he was first getting into dance.

To help bring J-Hope’s vision to life, Mexican-American singer Becky G joined J-Hope’s project, resulting in a trilingual mesh of Korean, English, and Spanish, reimagining a song that was originally created by two Black-American artists from Harlem.

The unexpected collaboration received an outpouring of love from ARMY and Beasters around the globe.

However, despite all the support “Chicken Noodle Soup” garnered, there were critics who voiced their outrage and disappointment in the collaboration. Most criticisms stemmed from J-Hope’s hairstyle in the final dance section of the music video where he was seen sporting gel twists. Twists, also known as coils, are protective hairstyles worn by Black people.

Black hairstyles worn by non-Black people have become a hot button topic these days. Due to anti-Black racism, Black people have been fired from their jobs, assaulted in schools, and systematically discouraged from styling their hair in a way that does not adhere to Eurocentric beauty standards.

To add insult to injury, many non-Black media figures who do choose to wear culturally Black hairstyles are accepted in society and even praised.

The style choice seen in “Chicken Noodle Soup” sparked yet another discussion of cultural appropriation, a topic that has been discussed on numerous occasions, especially among K-Pop fans.

Cultural appropriation is the practice of a group or individual adopting a tradition or practice from a different culture. In Western society, the term is typically associated with members of dominant groups appropriating minority groups’ cultures. This problem has remained unresolved in the K-Pop community, as dozens of artists have in some way, shape, or form appropriated a different culture.

Recently, critics of J-Hope’s hairstyle in the music video started a petition, demanding an apology from both Big Hit Entertainment and J-Hope for his gel twists, in addition to the cover art of “Chicken Noodle Soup.”

One commenter stated, “[J-Hope] needs to be aware, educated, and held responsible for his own actions.” Others insisted that the style was reminiscent of dreadlocks and, though they didn’t technically classify as dreads, the intention was clear and worthy of scrutinization.

Either way, the history of cultural appropriation in K-Pop, J-Hope’s own story with the original “Chicken Noodle Soup”, and his intentions for his own version beg the question: when is something considered cultural appreciation instead of cultural appropriation?

J-Hope has been very vocal about his respect for Hip Hop, as it is the movement that allowed him to grow into the artist that he is today. His work speaks to his love and respect for the art, as well as his dedication and commitment to it. Furthermore, he hasn’t made a mockery of Hip Hop in his work.

Never once did J-Hope make fun or use the hairstyle in a flippant way, nor is he acting like this is a new hairstyle. J-Hope has a history with hip hop, and the video was an example of what that time period meant to him. There’s a word for this: homage.

As a culture, we need to learn that not everyone is out to steal from us. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. To imitate someone is to pay the person a genuine compliment, following this definition. The MV for “Chicken Noodle Soup” was a tribute to the movement that inspired J-Hope’s entire career and his calling. To J-Hope, this song was his start and to reduce his efforts to just one hairstyle, regardless of its origin (dreadlocks have been worn by nearly every culture at some point in time or another), is to do him and the song itself a disservice.

Given the sociopolitical climate around the subject of racism, in addition to “cancel culture”, it is common for people to jump to conclusions, skip doing the research, and immediately start pointing fingers.

Hairstyles have been shared globally from the beginning of time. See below

Cultural appreciation is comprehension and understanding of the culture from which you are experiencing a tradition. Appreciation is respecting and accepting history, regardless of how tragic it may be, and sharing all aspects of it to spread knowledge.

Appreciation is paying your respects and never forgetting or being quiet about where these traditions came from.

Appreciation is a celebration of the cultures that inspire us, and is ultimately what J-Hope has worked hard to convey in “Chicken Noodle Soup.” Remember that not everything someone does is cultural appropriation - yes, there is a fine line between appropriation and appreciation, but the two are different, and sometimes we need to take a step back and assess before we make a conclusion.

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DISCLAIMER: I do not own any audio & visual content in this video except for the editing. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS. No copyright infringement intended.

Written By: Miranda

Edit By: Anna