[Full Translations] 200531 Big Hit Entertainment Releases Statement About Suga’s Mixtape Sampling

[satoori]

Hello, this is Big Hit Entertainment. This is our official statement on the issue of BTS’ Suga’s mixtape.

The vocal sample of the speech in the introduction of the song “What Do You Think?” on the mixtape was selected without any special intent by the producer who worked on the track, who was unaware of the identity of the speaker and used the sample for the overall atmosphere of the song.

After the speech sample was selected, the company followed our internal process and carried out procedures for reviewing the appropriateness of the content. However, in both the selection and review processes, we committed an error in not recognizing the inappropriateness of the content and including the sample in the song.

Big Hit Entertainment has processes for reviewing its diverse content targeted toward a global audience for potential social, cultural, and historical issues. However, we are experiencing the reality that there are limits to understanding and correctly responding to every situation. In this case, we were not able to recognize the issue in advance and displayed a lack of understanding about the relevant historical and social issues. We apologize to those who felt uncomfortable or hurt because of this.

Big Hit Entertainment has removed the part of the song in question and re-released the new version.

The artist also feels embarrassed and deeply responsible for a problem that has arisen in an area that he did not consider.

Big Hit Entertainment will use this incident as a lesson to conduct its production process more thoroughly.

source: https://www.soompi.com/article/1403720wpp/big-hit-entertainment-releases-statement-about-sugas-mixtape-sampling-controversy

 

Spoiler

 

 

[satoori]

Welp, now some people are complaining about Bighit not having a backbone. No matter how this situation was handle there was going to be mixed reactions. Some people wanted an apology, some people just wanted a clarification explaining the meaning for the sampling, and then there were others that didn't see the need for any announcement.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2020 by satoori
a word

[satoori]

51 minutes ago, Fourever said:

explanantion given, apology offered, problem rectified..

if people have problems with the fandom so be it but the people who made the actual mistake are attempting to solve the problem

 

35 minutes ago, IAmNochu said:

it's a good thing that BH issued a statement on this issue and removed the speech from the song!

they also acknowlegded their mistake and limits, so i guess they will be a lot more careful with their reviewing process in the future!

 

exactly. growth. now their process can include more then translating but researching the full background too. then decided if they still want to move forward.

[satoori]

14 minutes ago, BlessMeAchoo said:

I deliberatley waited until Bighit or Yoongi addressed this situation before commenting on it myself because I wanted to hear both sides.

I'm sorry, but it just sounds like an excuse to me. They're trying to pass it off as a mistake. I really don't see how someone can put the sermon of a mass murderer in a song by mistake. You'd have to specifically search for it to find it and if they wanted to include some kind of speech there are plenty of speeches that aren't from mass murderers that could have been used instead.

I'm glad that they took that part out of the song though.

 

lol damned if they do damned if they don't..

1. if they had a deeper reason for using the speech, it seems they decided to make the executive decision not to release a clarification explaining. 

2. however we don't know how exactly this sample was found. bighit and bts listen to a lot of music. mixtapes specifically can sample other music. so it's possible the producers didn't know the background and there was not deeper meaning for using it.

Edited May 31, 2020 by satoori
clean

[satoori]

6 minutes ago, BlessMeAchoo said:

Just because they issued an apology it doesn't mean people have to accept the apology when it seems they're being dishonest and just trying to make excuses and shift the blame.

1.) It's clear from reading the lyrics that there is no deep meaninginful reason for including it...

2.) It doesn't matter how the sample was found, they still have the responsibility of researching it before putting it in the song.

 

I'm not hating on Yoongi or saying that he's a bad person because I don't think that's the case at all. However, he's clearly ignorant in this situation (along with whoever else produced this song) so criticism is deserved.

"I'm sorry, but it just sounds like an excuse to me. They're trying to pass it off as a mistake. I really don't see how someone can put the sermon of a mass murderer in a song by mistake. You'd have to specifically search for it to find it and if they wanted to include some kind of speech there are plenty of speeches that aren't from mass murderers that could have been used instead."

My reply was due to you saying you couldn't understand how some one could use a sample. The reason is by not doing their research. Bighit already in their statement literally apologizes for their lack of research. So..?

No one is saying he can't be criticized. It's exactly due to him being criticized that apology has been released. 

What more do you want?

[satoori]

33 minutes ago, BlessMeAchoo said:

 

They could start off by actually being honest. I don't buy for one minute that it was just a mistake putting that sermon in the song.

It was a poor decision not a mistake.

If they handle the situation badly, of course people aren't just going to move on.

Then this sounds like a personal problem. You recognize how it can happen, but you don't believe that was the case here. Nothing more I can say..

 

They handle this situation fine, in my opinion. 

1. It wasn't getting much attention in Korea to begin with and internationally it didn't either other then some Kpop fans. But they still released a statement officially rather then remaining silent.

2. The fandom is overall fine with the apology. And the fans who didn't want an apology, are not blaming Yoongi but rather Bighit. 

In conclusion, this shall pass too.

[satoori]

1 hour ago, BlessMeAchoo said:

It's not a personal problem. I don't just have to take their word for it if I don't agree.

 

1.) It didn't get attention because Armys tried to bury it.

2.) The fandom clearly isn't 'overall fine with the apology' I've seen plenty of tweets with over 10k likes still refusing to admit that there's even a problem. There are plenty of users even on this site who jumped through hoops in an attempt to justify this situation too.

 

But yes, I'll be glad when this situation passes over too because it's a mess.

and that's why it's a personal problem. each person can decide if they believe the statement or not.

1. nah most armys didn't even know about it. majority are not educated about jim jones. and of course, koreans are not as focus on this. plus it was those armys who didn't like the sample who were the main ones emailing bighit.

2. "overall fine" meaning the fandom will move on eventually - not cancelling bts/yoongi. besides i addressed those fans who didn't like the apology. again they will blame bighit not yoongi. so..

 

yea it will pass eventually. that's the best part about releasing an official statement asap

 

Edited May 31, 2020 by satoori

[satoori]

12 minutes ago, Timur Sharapov said:

Yes, I have zero idea about Jim Jones

there are many westerners who don't either tbh

however now a bit more people in this word will know. so i guess this mistake will educate more people in the end.

[satoori]

fyi - Bighit always include all the producers that help BTS with their songs even in mixtapes. Since day 1 the mixtape was released everyone knew Yoongi wasn't the "only" producer of this specific song. It's not like Bighit suddenly came up with that for this statement. BTS and Bighit have never said BTS self-produce every single one of their songs "alone". They've constantly talk about the producers who are part of the team too. The Korean in--house producers are popular in the fandom for a reason. Western producers are always proudly tweeting when they work with BTS too. They communicate with fans and promote the song they worked on all the time too. However I guess all this is new to non-fans. 

Yes, there is a clip from a movie of Yoongi working on a demo that "already" had the speech in it. He could of been working on the lyrics at that point or re-arranging some parts or etc. Western producers who have worked with BTS have said similar things. They send BTS stuff, and Bighit/BTS will sometime re-arrange or change some parts. Bighit is not the only company that do this. The final song is not always the exact same as the demo(s).

[satoori]

46 minutes ago, sasha said:

it was BH who didn't do their job. If they do have a procedure and it got past them what a fuck-up though

In the statement they said exactly this. Which is why they apologized.

[satoori]

23 minutes ago, sasha said:

Yeah, I know. But it's a PR-statement, not "the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth". And even that doesn't absolve YG from partial responsibility because he is still one of the idiots in this chain of idiots who allowed it to come out. All the more so cause it's his name slapped on it.

The lately raised level of "dumb&careless" from BTS is upsetting, you gotta admit it.

It's a PR statement and not the truth because "you" want to believe that. 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2020 by satoori

[satoori]

21 minutes ago, sasha said:

No? It's literally a statement from BH's Public Relations people?

And anyway what "I" want to believe is that YG would be prudent enough to ask whose words they put in his song, why and what's the translation but alas

Sorry, I forgot to add "just" in front of "a PR statement"...but my point is still the same. Yes, it's an official statement from the company however everything they're saying is assumed to be the "truth" unless a person themselves do not want to believe it. 

"You" want to believe that Yoongi is different, tho Bighit and Yoongi is saying that was not the case here. But the statement do say they will do better. 

[satoori]

2 hours ago, sasha said:

I don't understand.

The statement(that is not liable to disclose the whole truth) is out so I should stop pondering, however briefly, over any scenario but presented? 

And "different" means "has any interest in his own work"? However you twist it it's negligence on YG's part too imo.

 

All I'm saying is there's nothing that suggest the the statement is false. No evidence. Instead some people are creating all these reasons within their own heads as to why it should be false. 

Why not take the statement at face value? Why not just believe it? Because "you" don't want to, not because it's not true.

Edited June 1, 2020 by satoori

[satoori]

28 minutes ago, sasha said:

Are you trying to hypnotize me?  because "you" don't want to believe it~

BH isn't some unbiased third party. You can take their statement at face value or you can treat it as an added bit of info that too can be a subject to critical examination.

The statement is perfectly plausible, I never said it should be false.

Am I?..

I agree no one is unbiased lol. We all are..

Anyways that last part is all that matter. tbh I wasn't 100% sure your thoughts. Now I know.

[satoori]

1 hour ago, meonji said:

yeah i'm the last one and people denying it started by an anti needs to check their account and how they were laughing at this and making jokes with kool aid lmao to not talk about other things they have done in the last weeks all being around bts and a way to screw them up... even the korean forums used that person as a source, but if black armys were offended and hurt then it's another story and even if it started as a """smear campaign""", it was worthy and addressed

i knew about jim jones for a long time because it's an interesting cultural moment, a reference about cults and manipulation, but i did not know about the color of the people in his cult being predominately black, i just knew it happened in latin america. i listen to lil uzi and lana del rey and grew up with rock bands so lol what i took from this is that i feel like people consume things without knowing the references being made (bonnie and clyde is just an empty pop reference, right?), but i digress 

at first i thought the statement was weird since i could see a reason to be there, but if it wasn't 100% true it could bite them back and this is one of the few songs he isn't credited as producer indeed, he could be checking the beat in that episode and of course he checked the song multiple times before release and the historical figure wasn't considered in the big picture for any of them, this i can buy, none of them knowing it was offensive when it never caused this reaction before since it's a popular reference used in other rap songs as well but not knowing the identity of the speaker was weird for me, so i'm trying to listen to other opinions about this specifically (if someone /really/ wants to know a view about sampling and hip-hop culture from a black man: here)

thank you for sharing this video

you know, what i find most astonishing about this entire situation is that it has gotten mix reaction from black-armys too. the ones who seem to have understood the most have been black guys who follow hip hop.  i also see black women too. anyways thanks again for the video, i'll try to watch it later.

Edited June 2, 2020 by satoori