By Ashley Cruz
With the May 18th Minjung Memorial Tower as the focal point of the opening video, what seemed to be a remake of a favorite childhood song has now cemented its cultural impact with a version made by the people for their own city.
Citizens of Gwangju in South Korea, hometown of rapper-dancer j-hope of BTS, created their own version of the music video of “Chicken Noodle Soup” by j-hope that featured the Latin-American artist Becky G.
Each clip featured different groups of people including local dancers, traditional musicians, MRT personnel, government employees and students from SEOIL Elementary School where j-hope studied, and Kukje High School where his father teaches Literature. Other participants were from the Disabled Sports Association, Civil Servants, Firefighting School of Gwangju, Gwangju Senior Center and Gwangju Jeonnam Event MC Association.
The video also highlighted many tourist spots in Gwangju such as the House of Lee Jang-woo, Mudeung-san National Park, Yangdong Market and Gwangju National Science Museum (featuring dancing robots).
One of the main highlights were the dancers at the famous Chungjang-ro Street which was mentioned in j-hope’s lyrics, calling it his own “Harlem” where his career as a streetdancer began.
‘From Gwangju, one gang of you-know-what / Geum-nam Chun-jang Street, that’s my Harlem.’
It is also worth-noting that Chungjang-ro Street, before it was known as the fashion district of Gwangju, carries a rich history as it was the site of the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement also famously known as “The Gwangju Uprising.”
This is not the first time that j-hope paid tribute to his hometown and mentioned the historic uprising of May 18th. In 2015, in their song “Ma City” from their album “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life pt. 2,” the Gwangju Uprising was symbolically referenced in his verse: ‘Everybody dial it, 062-518.’ (062 is Gwangju’s area code and 518 is the date of the uprising, May 18.) Through this, many international fans of BTS were able to learn about this significant event in the history of Gwangju.
The constant tributes j-hope pays to his hometown is now rewarded by an homage through the remake of this video which was not only relevant to culture and history but also to tourism.
Watch the full video below: