Anderson .Paak and son Soul Rasheed on set. Photo courtesy of AURA Entertainment.
In Anderson .Paak’s 'K-POPS!' Music Bridges Divide Between Family and Cultures
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In his directorial debut, Grammy Award-winning artist Anderson .Paak brings us K-POPS!, a feel-good film which he also co-wrote and stars in opposite his son Soul Rasheed. It’s a sweet and funny family movie that delves into the world of K-pop, while capturing how music has that unique ability to bring people together across cultures, heal relationships, and ultimately help us understand each other. The film is also a celebration of Black and Korean cultures, a perspective that has been sorely missing in storytelling on the big screen.
K-POPS! tells the story of BJ (.Paak), an LA musician who’s down on his luck but gets the opportunity to move to Seoul and play in the house band of a K-pop competition show. He soon discovers he has a son he didn’t know about, Tae Young (Rasheed), who is competing on the show. We see what unfolds as BJ learns to be a father, teaching Tae along the way about his mixed heritage and the connections between Black music and K-pop.
We asked .Paak about what he’d like audiences to better understand about that blending of cultures. “I think it'd be cool for people to understand that we have a lot in common. There's a lot more things that could unite us, and I think that it's important to show and shed light on the history, and the things that K-pop in general has pulled from within Black music. And to show how awesome that is that they can pull from that and use it and create their own interpretation of it and take it to new places,” .Paak said. “Having been raised with my Black culture and then being introduced to my Korean culture through my two sons’ mom…I had a lot of fun bringing those two things together and hopefully my son takes that in.”
The film excels in representing authentic Asian American experiences as well. Jee Young Han, who plays Tae’s mother Yeji, was grateful to work on a film with characters who are realistic portrayals of Asian Americans. “Unfortunately I've read many a script with Korean characters and most will be like, ‘You're the only Asian in the world, or you're an Asian in an Asian world.’ It was so clear in this film that these are women I know. I know Yeji, that girl with that jellyfish spiky haircut in 2009 from Koreatown…and it's really wonderful to see these very rich [characters] that reflect the Korean people I know, and that don't get seen."
K-pop singer Kevin Woo, who plays Tae’s rival, Kang, spoke about the need for this representation for young people in particular. “As someone who struggled with dual identities, being both Korean and American, I didn't grow up with representation at all on screen or in the media. So for me to be that role for my younger self and for the next generations to come, it is something so special.”
Anderson .Paak worked with Dem Jointz, a K-pop music industry veteran, to create original music for the film—a perfect collaboration for the film’s theme of bringing cultures and people together.
K-POPS! is out in theaters nationwide on February 27.
