Across its history, K-pop has put traditional Korean elements to a diversity of uses, including in music, dance and visual style. This article investigates the use of traditional elements in the sub-genre of Korean hip hop and rap performance. In this strongly masculine sub-genre, the cultural meanings invoked in the incorporation and remediation of traditional Korean elements take on a more particular generic significance, one that highlights the hegemonic masculinity enjoyed by the referenced figure of the ‘gentleman scholar’ ( seonbi). With this narrower scope of investigation, I argue that the use of traditional cultural elements in Korean popular music can simultaneously function as an element of attraction for global audiences, as has previously been argued, while still maintaining local, genre-specific meanings. In particular, I argue that the gentlemanliness of the ‘gentleman scholar’ comes from and expresses a position of power and privilege.

中文翻译：

---

绅士说唱歌手：韩国流行音乐表演中的阳刚与传统风格

纵观其历史，韩国流行音乐将韩国传统元素应用于多种用途，包括音乐、舞蹈和视觉风格。本文研究了韩国嘻哈和说唱表演中传统元素的使用。在这一强烈男性化的亚类型中，韩国传统元素的融合和修复所唤起的文化意义具有更特殊的一般意义，突出了“绅士学者”（seonbi）这一参考人物所享有的霸权男性气质。随着调查范围的缩小，我认为韩国流行音乐中传统文化元素的使用可以同时作为吸引全球观众的元素，正如之前所争论的那样，同时仍然保持本地的、特定于流派的含义。我特别认为，“君子”的绅士风度来自于并表达了权力和特权的地位。