2NE1’s title song “Can’t Nobody” in their debut album To Anyone (2010) seems to truly define this group’s identity: to challenge the industry while attracting listeners through uniqueness and musicality rather than through beautiful appearances that are common amongst idol groups. It could be argued that 2NE1, or at least “Can’t Nobody”, did not reinforce stereotypical gender norms/roles, described by scholars Xi Lin and Robert Rudolf (2017) in Korean culture where neo-Confucian beliefs state that the mother is to participate in housekeeping but also inferior to the man as men are the main income earners (Ibid., 46). In this essay, I will analyse the lyrics and the MV (music video) of “Can’t Nobody” to argue that 2NE1 challenged the conventional gender roles of the South Korea through unconventional messages revealed in their lyrics and dance choreographies.

​

     In the beginning of the video, CL, the leader of 2NE1, enters the scene and gets on a glass elevator while the frame quickly alternates between her and herself driving a two-door Lamborghini. This shot challenges the neo-Confucian idea of male superiority in the family/workforce (Ibid.). Unlike the neo-Confucian beliefs that prevail in Korea, however, the music video redirects financial power to the idol group composed of four female hip hop artists.

 

     Unfortunately, there exists forms of patriarchy within many hip hop songs. Sociologist Ronald Weizter and criminologist Charis Kubrin state that hip hop lyrics may justify derogatory shaming, sexual objectification, distrust, legitimation of violence, and the celebration of prostitution and pimping of women (2009, 11). Although 2NE1’s usage of hip-hop and reggae was a factor of standing out, they utilized role distancing to communicate that the performing artists do not identify with the roles assigned, rather than refusing to perform the given role (Auslander 2016, 326). What this means is that 2NE1 incorporated the aspects of hip hop but refused to reinforce hip hop’s misogyny, reflected in the lyrics of “Can’t Nobody”:

 

     With a reassured attitude,

     Confidence reaching the sky.

     Shameless and proud,

     Even if you want it, / Can’t touch this (To Anyone,       2010).

​

     This braggadocio seems to direct the power to the female artists unlike the male-dominant genre of hip hop, shown through Weitzer and Kubrin where female rappers accounted for 12 of 403 songs in the sample batch (2009, 11) which may allude to gender inequality or “present more muted criticisms of women” (Ibid., 25). In the case of “Can’t Nobody” 2NE1 boldly states that no one can hold them down as they dance in accordance to the lyrics.

 

     The chorus repeats that nobody could “hold [them] down” and that they cannot be stopped no matter how hard one may try (“Can’t Nobody” To Anyone, 2010). The dance choreography illustrates an X with their arms while stepping left and right with the beat, then points the pointer finger downwards and moves it as if pressing a button, emphasizing the impossibility. The hand gesture could symbolize the imagery of someone suppressing another with just a finger with a supernatural physique or, metaphorically, through gender privileges. 2NE1’s contemporaries may be lyrically empowered but also disempowered through revealing dance moves and/or the erotic display of body parts which becomes “a point of consistent surveillance” beyond a selling point (Epstein and Joo 2012, 14). Because the MV does not objectify the body parts of the members, the constant international gaze is prevented which rejects the possibility of dollification and the negative trickle down effect from “stars to fans who [may] wish to emulate” such objectification/dollification (Ibid., 15).

 

     While Korean popular culture may have been depoliticized through transnational marketization with an approach of global appeal (Lee 2013, 196), based on the analysis of lyrics and choreography, 2NE1 did not reinforce the gender roles of the K-pop industry consumed by both Korean and the international audience, misogynistic values of hip hop, and sexual objectification, truly empowering the performing artists and the audience.

 

Auslander, Philip. “Everybody’s in Show Biz:   Performing Star Identity in Popular Music.” In Sage   Handbook of Popular Music, edited by Andy   Bennett and Steve Waksman. 317-331. Los   Angeles: Sage, 2015.

​

Epstein, Stephen and Rachael Joo. “Multiple         Exposures: Korean Bodies and the Transnational   Imagination.” The Asia-Pacific Journal 10, no. 1   (2012): 1-19.

​

Lin, Xi and Robert Rudolf. “Does K-pop Reinforce   Gender Inequalities? Empirical Evidence from a   New Data Set.” Asian Women 33, no. 4 (2017): 27-54.

Weitzer, Ronald and Chris E. Kubrin. “Misogyny in   Rap Music: A Content Analysis of Prevalence and   Meanings.” Men and Masculinities 12, no. 1 (2009):   3-29.