Although items of materialism dominated the visual content in popular Korean hip-hop and rap music videos, the lyrical themes instead revolved around consumption of alcohol and artists bragging about their skills. While globalization helped bring numerous thematic elements from American music, the common themes of drugs and violence are nearly non-existent because of Korea’s culture and music industry standards. Korean hip-hop and rap music has been making small steps toward developing their own identity but hasn’t quite broken itself from being a clone of American rap. For rappers gripping the mic in America, it is important to understand the affect their aggressive music content has on a global level. While a young hybridization of hip-hop, Korean rappers’ should evaluate how negative representations of women and materialism in their work can potentially affect their audience on a local level.

 

Limitations of this study included the sample. Selecting the four record labels neglected other music videos and artists. As Korean hip-hop and rap continues to develop in popularity, future research can include exploring the representation of Korean women artists within the genre and analyzing the differences between content in hip-hop and K-pop music videos.