A ‘Tough Cookie’ apologizes for using bad words and other K-Pop news for the first half of November

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Don Mills, Zico and Jay Park take on a “hardcore” look for Zico’s new single ‘Tough Cookie.’ International netizens quickly took offense to the lyrics and overall appearance of the song and video.

Uh-oh. Looks like Zico, rapper and leader of Korean boyband Block B, is creating a rift between himself and his fans.

Zico started out as an underground rapper in Japan and was promoted under the name “Nacseo,” meaning “doodle” in Korean. After joining the group Block B, many regarded Zico as a “sell-out” who’d lost his bad boy, hip-hop roots. In response, Zico decided to release a song entitled “Tough Cookie.”

The music video literally made my jaw drop. It featured 90’s gang member clothing, machine guns, a bathtub full of cookies and some futile attempts at twerking. And I’m not going to lie, I seriously enjoyed watching Zico trying to be gangster because he’s just so darn adorable!

But maybe the obscenity of the video drew too much of my attention because, apparently, Zico threw in one too many derogatory terms. Besides the blatant profanity, Zico used a derogatory term towards homosexuals that sent international fans into a frenzy.

Since the incident, Seven Seasons, the group’s entertainment label, issued an apology on Zico’s behalf. On November 11, Seven Seasons issued this statement:

“The lyrics were borrowed only for musicality purposes to be used as a musical narrative. Had we known exactly that this word carried a deprecating meaning toward homosexuality, we would have strictly censored it. Zico himself has stated that just as he has continued to do music freely, he holds absolutely no kind of prejudice or negative intentions against anything regarding homosexuality, and respects sexual minorities. We would like to once again let you know that there was no objective to belittle homosexuals at all. We offer our deepest, sincerest apologies to everyone who felt offended by this.”

In other exciting news, GOT7 (I know we’ve been talking about them a lot lately) is gearing up for their third comeback this year! So far, four teaser videos have been released for the first single on their first full length album ‘Identify.’ The music video for their song, entitled ‘Stop Stop It’ will be released on November 17, the same day as the group’s showcase. The album will be released to netizens on November 18, and offline November 20.

Now, for way, way, way, less exciting news, Nick Cannon is making an attempt at bringing K-Pop mainstream…again.

Nobody remembers this, but Nick Cannon previously tried to bring the Korean girl group the Wonder Girls to the forefront by giving them their own, self-titled movie. It premiered on Teen Nick on February 4, 2012 (an unfortunate birthday president for me) and did horribly with American fans.

This time, instead of trying to promote a group, Nick will attempt to promote the genre as a whole, or so I assume. The official release date of The Drop, or what is quickly becoming known as K-Pop High has not been revealed, but the premise has. And boy does it sound like an immediate trainwreck waiting to happen.

The show will take place at an international boarding school where three friends meet and bond over the fact that they all love K-Pop. Okay. I’m sure every K-Pop fanatic can relate to this storyline. But get this: it’s going to be a musical! A half-hour musical about the love of K-Pop!

I seriously want to be somewhere under a rock when this show premieres. Seriously. I’ve seen some straight-up Korean pop disgraces on television, like 2NE1 performing on the Bachelor and that freakin’ Wonder Girls movie. But this I don’t think I’ll be able to handle. Production is said to start mid-March.

Recently, there’s been some speculation that the Korean Hip-Hop GD&TOP might be making a comeback. It’s been four years since the duet has performed and fans have been starving from a comeback for either the duet or BigBang, the group that GD&TOP originated from.

And, speaking of YG artist, CL, leader of the K-Pop girl group 2NE1, is preparing for a solo, U.S. debut. She’s currently working with Scooter Braun, current manager of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, and prepping new music for early 2015.

This is not CL’s first time working with American musicians. 2NE1 has working with Will.I.Am on several songs including “Gettin’ Dumb” and “Take on the World.” He has even referred to them as “the biggest girl group in South Korea.”

YG artists have made several appearances in America, the most notable star to come from them the Big Three label being Psy. However, becoming and staying relevant has often become quite a task for all Korean pop artist. Hopefully, there will be some amazing U.S. debuts to look forward to in December.

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