Most of the exchange was between B-Free and the BTS members. Although the atmosphere started off lightheartedly, it soon became a bit tense, as B-Free took quite a few jabs with difficult questions aimed at the boys. Let’s find outw the details of how B-free disrespected BTS!
Rapper B-Free Disrespecting BTS in 2013
The fancam video taken by a BTS fan begins with mild banter about whether the idol rapper and other rappers present could be considered part of the same hip-hop scene. After a little discussion with the other rappers in attendance, the MC, who seemed to want to have more discussion from everyone present, asked the boys about what they thought when people asked questions about whether idols and hip-hop were two things that go well with each other, To answer that question, RM said, “I know when people think of idols, they think of the makeup and clothes. But honestly, if you just listen to our album itself, our album is very hip-hop.” In response, another rapper commented, “Hip-hop is not just the name of a genre, it’s bigger than that. So I think it’s more of a rap album than hip-hop.” B-Free went on, “It’s just an album that has rap.” Rap Monster calmly responded that he understands what the rappers are trying to say, since he had previous underground experience, as well. He expressed that he understood the points of view of both rappers and idols, and is also trying to figure out the balance, himself. Then the conversation changed to talking their style (as an idol,) which tends to be different from the hip-hop style. When the host commented, “So when you put on ‘makeup or disguise for the stage“, B-Free interrupted to joke, “No that’s not’ boonjang, it’s yeojang’ (males disguising themselves as females).” Rap Monster tried to explain that he feels awkward about it and is still trying to get used to the makeup, and understands why they would point out things like that, once again emphasizing he understood both worlds. B-Free then interjected, “So what is it that you want to do, really? You say you understand both worlds and if you want to do both and say you understand both, then what is it that you really want to do? If you say it’s awkward and you don’t like it, then what is it that you want to do? ” At this point, Suga took his mic and responded, “I just want to be able to reach out to a lot of people with my music, I know he [Rap Monster] wants that too … I think you might take this the wrong way, but personally, I want to be the bridge between underground and major. The reason for this is I’ve been in underground before in Daegu, and went through a lot of hardships myself. I finally released a track and tried to sell it, but couldn’t earn a dime off of it. Doing music like that, it was really hard … ” B-Free then asked, “So you went up to Seoul because you didn’t want to experience hardships?” to which Suga responded, “No, it’s not like that. I eventually came up to Seoul because I wanted to continue doing music with my crew hyungs, and I thought to myself that it’d be good to first build up more recognition, and that would be a way to continue doing music with the hyungs.” B-Free once again interjected, “So then being an idol is a temporary thing to make money?” Suga said that was not the case, and that he was happy to be able to reach out to a large audience with his music and that he felt grateful for it. As the atmosphere started to get a bit heated, the host tried to peacefully wrap up the subject, but B-Free wasn’t done expressing himself as he commented, “I’m not trying to say that just one way is right. But since I don’t know SUGA, or ‘sultang-shi’ [‘sultang’ means sugar in Korean] and RapMon, and they don’t know me and probably haven’t listened to my music, and I haven’t listened to BTS’s music, I just have some questions that I’m curious about. ” He did not stop there. B-Free then asked about how the members of BTS came together, and Rap Monster explained that the group originally started out as a hip-hop group with no dancing involved, but eventually, members were changed out and other members with different strengths were added to the BTS form we know today. B-Free commented, “You know, like Suga said before about how he faced hardships, and that he couldn’t make a dime, well, that was the case for all of us too. It’s like that for everyone, but the difference is, are you able to stand with it until the end …. I just feel like you and I are people who could have been walking the same path, but you weren’t able to resist the temptation. ” Suga responded by saying, “I can’t really understand why you’d describe that as temptation.” The host tried to once again cut off the conversation, but B-Free interrupted again to ask about the BTS’s concept trailer for ‘O! RUL8,2?‘. He stated, “Oh there’s something I’m curious about. Someone told me that there was a group out there using Kanye West’s ‘Black Skinhead’ as their own, so I searched it up and it was you guys. I listened to it, and the beat and the rapping style were the same. I want to know why that was the case. I know I was really upset at the time and cussed about it online, so I’m sorry about that, and your fans tried to tell me that the producer for that song had mixed it for you. ” Rap Monster responded, “I think you might have misunderstood about all that. Yes, it was mixed for us, and that was a concept trailer, just trying to showcase our dance. That dance was actually choreographed to Kanye West’s song and we really did want to use his original track, but the song has a lot of strong language that wouldn’t pass the inspection, so we weren’t able to use it. I would have personally liked to have used the original track myself, then this would be a lot clearer. ” B-Free, however, didn’t seem to be very convinced by Rap Monster’s response and said that he doesn’t understand how someone who claims to respect Kanye West could agree to something like that, and present something like it’s his own by putting his own rap over the MR of the track. He also said, “To me, it feels like being respected to copy things from an artist that you like and present it as your own.” Rap Monster asked him to explain a little more about what he meant by copying, as they were just dancing. However, as B-Free started to respond, the host, feeling that things were going too far, firmly ended the conversation to the frustration of B-Free, who insisted that he was simply asking questions and hearing the answers to them.
Although not directly aimed at B-Free or the situation, Rap Monster dropped a track with some strong lyrics that look like it’s his way to expressing his current state of thoughts, some of which many fans believe were pointing out B-Free’s comments that allegedly came off as him not taking idol rappers seriously. Rap Monster uses Drake’s ‘Too Much’ as the base, and adds in lyrics like “I just wanted to rap, you said I’m a puppet, fck I’m not. There are so many, too many thoughts. I’ll pause and wait, these unceasing waves of past thoughts. Yeah, I’m a monster, once I’ve become a monster, I can no longer be human. I can never be human like you again. Even if that’s the reason that people diss me, whether I’m an artist or an idol, don’t give a fck this is my life. Whether this becomes porridge or rice, it’s the table I laid out for myself.” “Yeah, I’m a fcking monster idol. young fans hate me cuz I’m a fcking monster. Hip-hop fans also hate me cuz I’m a fcking idol rapper who can’t come to their concert. Yeh right? Relieved now, right? So how you doin’ btches. I make quite the money fine thank you and you b*tches. Every time there was an interview you said to me ‘find your happiness’. But even now, I’m still sometimes confused about whether I’ve found my happiness. Doing music that I wanted to do, being able to say the things I’ve wanted to say, the moment I waited for, the fact that I can attain the dream I was desperate for… I clearly achieved my dream, yet I stand there hesitating. I’ve included here the thoughts of mine, of someone who’s just had a lot on his mind and has been craving for something.”
