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Zico Gets Bad Rap
In one of those cross-lingual faux pas that often occurs when non-native speakers tackle English in music, Korean rapper Zico apologized for using the homophobic f-word in a lyric on his recently released debut single.
Photo: Jinho Jung
rapping in 2011.
A member of boy band Block B, Zico’s new song, “Tough Cookie” contains several lines in English. In one he disses “rappers these days [who] don’t have the skills” and calls them the slur.
K-pop fans who know English and understand the impact of the word were quick to express their displeasure, and Zico apologized through his record label Seven Seasons.
As translated by the KpopStarz fansite, the message read, “The song was used in a musical sense. If we had known exactly that the word has the meaning of looking down on homosexuals, we would not have used it.”
The same fans who pointed out the slur also noted that in the music video for the song, Zico is wearing a Confederate flag on the sleeve of his jacket. The rapper has his defenders, though, who say that since he doesn’t speak English, he can’t be blamed for his language. He is just copying American hip-hop.
As if to bolster this claim, his bio on the Block B website says, “Zico is considered something of a bad boy in South Korea, although by American hip-hop standards, he’s pretty tame.”