Korean rapper, Woo (Woo Wonjae), is one of the many leading figures in the Korean hip-hop scene right now. Ever since his surprise run on Show Me The Money 6, he has maintained a loyal fanbase towards his raw lyricism. Being explicit in his battle with mental health, South Korea’s youth began to see something different for once in the culture.

Woo’s struggle to accept himself does not last too long. His lyrics have evolved as his relationship with himself changes in a positive manner. With his releases under AOMG, he has stated that he will write what his current feeling is. It has reached a point where Korean fans even yearned for the “old” Woo.  

This asks the question of whether us as listeners are consuming the art and responding to it well. Artists suffer from being trapped with the identity they have crafted for themselves. Mental health and drug use go hand in hand with each other in this industry. In Woo’s case, we must be accepting of him as a person over the artist in this case.

2020 is the year the hip-hop scene takes a serious stance towards mental health discussion. Specifically in the birthplace of hip-hop, America has had the most deaths related to drug use for mental health in the industry. Rappers are raised within the age of social media and lyrics promoting drug use. The youth of this age have grown up with conflicting beliefs of remaining in trend while also being addicted to the substance in subtle ways. The glorified rappers are constantly feeding us the same messages while shedding light on its drawbacks. However, its common to see the shared pain the rapper might have with us and be influenced to want the drugs itself. Rap is beautiful in that that having raw lyrics increases the likelihood of relating to the feelings. Thus, it makes sense how rap ended up here if we take that into account as influence.

As listeners and fans, we must be able to find distinction between the aesthetics of feeling empathy and relating with it. There should not be an aesthetic beauty in feeling sad. Our connection with one another in sharing that pain can be expressed without needing to follow a similar lifestyle. Different people walk different paths in life, but we can all find solace in that we all experience similar emotions.

featured photo courtesy of Finn