First generation group Shinhwa have been accused of stealing rap lyrics from hip-hop artists during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The songs include Wedding, I Pray 4 U, S.O.S., Perfect Man, and Egotism. Supposedly, lyrics from artists like Da Brat, Remy Ma, OutKast, AZ, Mase, and Naughty by Nature were used with only minor changes. The only difference is the removal or addition of certain words. Some songs even have the N word, despite the fact that the original lyrics didn’t include that word.
The Evidence
The claims began circulating via viral posts on Korean community platforms. Comparisons juxtapose Shinhwa’s verses with original rap lyrics, showing near-word-for-word matches except for small edits. YouTube channel TrnBck has 22 videos on their channel comparing Shinhwa’s rap verses to the originals. The insertion of the N-word drew criticism for its offensive nature and because it often wasn’t present in the original lyrics.
In Wedding, a line allegedly lifted from Foxy Brown’s Get Me Home is “Hold up, let’s take it from the top, I Fox.” Shinhwa changed it to “Hold up, let’s take it from the top, hot box,” while preserving the rest of the line. In Funkdafied by Da Brat, Shinhwa allegedly replaced “Brat and J.D.” with the N-word.
Why Didn’t Anyone Notice This?
So how was Shinhwa able to get away with copying rap lyrics for over two decades?
Well one, many Koreans weren’t familiar with the English language back then. In fact, the N word actually sounds similar to the Korean word for you (niga). Second, the internet as we know it now didn’t exist 20, 30 years ago. Social media, search engines, and even AI have made it easier to learn about other cultures.
One of the members, Eric is credited as helping with “rap making” with a lot of the songs mentioned. It’s very possible that the rest of the group had no idea these lyrics weren’t original. Maybe SM Entertainment (Shinhwa’s original agency) failed a spot check. Maybe someone else was responsible for copying rap lyrics and they were never credited.
What Accountability Looks Like
Shinhwa & SM needs to acknowledge the situation. They should apologize to the artists whose work was taken. They should also give all of the artists and songwriters co-writing credits for the songs that were copied.
You can’t undo the past. The least Shinhwa can do is recognize the creators whose voices shaped those verses in the first place. Doing so wouldn’t erase Shinhwa’s accomplishments. It would demonstrate an overdue respect for the Black artists who inspired much of K-pop’s creative DNA.
