Taeyang romanticized the struggles of black people for the sake of his music

For the 10th anniversary of Big Bang‘s debut, a photobook called ‘BIGBANG10 THE COLLECTION: A TO Z‘ was released on October 25 of this year. Sounds good.

Recently though, an image started spreading around Twitter of a Taeyang quote in said photobook … and it’s cringy at best and terrible at worst.

If you squint, you can understand what he was going for with this, and he probably thought to himself as he said it, “Oh fuck yeah, my black international fans are gonna love this shit.” Unfortunately, he ends up romanticizing the struggle of black people and black artists, and essentially thinks that if he suffers more he can become more black and thus make better music.

With Taeyang’s history, it’s hard to dispute that he feels that way, honestly.

Also, it’s worth noting that as a Korean, if he wanted to channel a history of pain and suffering, it’s right there in his own people’s story. But no, he won’t do that, because it’s clear he just wants to be seen as black, at least in terms of his artistry.

It’s just … what are you doing?

Everything went downhill for Taeyang after he ditched the mohawk. — Asian Junkie (@asianjunkiecom) December 9, 2016

Maybe that’s because until that point he had a company-crafted image, but this is him doing what he actually wants.

Tragic.