Grammy-Winning Artist Anderson .Paak Makes His Feature Film Directorial Debut with “K-Pops!,” Starring Alongside His Son Soul Rasheed
Anderson .Paak, the Grammy-winning Hip-hop/R&B artist with a resume that includes being an alumnus of the XXL 2016 Freshman class, has recently wowed fans and skeptics alike with his most recent project – a feature-length film called “K-Pops!” that explores the intersection between Hip-hop and K-pop, through a very personal lens.
.Paak’s foray into directing began during the pandemic, when he wanted to connect with his two young sons through their two biggest obsessions – K-pop and YouTube videos. “My son was 8 and BTS took over the whole house,” .Paak admitted to the LA Times.
Around this time, one of .Paak’s sons, Soul Rasheed, began aspiring to become a Youtuber, and .Paak started making funny skits with him as a way to bond, which soon developed into amusing, lighthearted videos of the duo educating one another on their music interests. From there, the seedlings for “K-Pops!” were planted, which stars .Paak alongside his son.
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A film that had been five years in the making, “K-Pops!” is not just a correspondence between father and son, it’s also an exploration of .Paak’s own heritage (his mother is half South Korean and was adopted from the country at a young age, and his sons are Korean through their mother, Jae Lin Chang), and an examination of the intersection between Black American and South Korean culture. The film centers on BJ (.Paak), a down-on-his-luck L.A. musician who gets an opportunity to revive his career by moving to South Korea to join a K-pop band and compete in a live music competition.
While in Korea, BJ reconnects with his ex-girlfriend, discovering that he is the father of her young son (played by .Paak’s real-life son, Soul), who happens to be a budding K-pop star. BJ decides to use this as an opportunity for a last-ditch effort to restart his career, only to discover that fatherhood is more important to him than superstardom.
The film also hones in on the ways K-pop has its roots in Black American musical traditions, and the overlap between these two music spaces, which is ultimately summed up by a playful line in the film: “The Jacksons walked so BTS could dance.”
Though the Jackson Five did a bit more than walking, their influence on BTS is clear, and many of the K-pop band’s dance routines and choreography draw obvious influence from Michael and the Five. “In the movie, initially, BJ doesn’t really have any connection to his Korean side and doesn’t really care to know, but then he finds a bridge [through music].”
“K-Pops!” first premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, but it celebrated its U.S. theatrical release just a couple weeks ago and is currently available for viewing.
