Black Happiness - Yoon Mi-Rae by Milena Marinov

milenamarinov — 2025-01-29 13:34:00 UTC

https://youtu.be/1DK-MPh7vKk?si=upO-jw_Mw-p89vBJ

Who is this rapper?

milenamarinov — 2025-01-29 13:42:16 UTC

Her name is Yoon Mi-Rae 윤미래 otherwise known as Natasha Shanta Reid or Tasha

When and where was Tasha's song "Black Happiness" released?

milenamarinov — 2025-01-29 13:43:47 UTC

Her song was released in 2007 in South Korea.

Why did she make this song?

milenamarinov — 2025-01-29 13:48:22 UTC

The purpose of "Black Happiness" is to draw attention to the racism and prejudice that Yoon Mi-Rae faced as a child in and outside of school for simply her skin color and when becoming a woman.

How she was taunted and mistreated by others for sticking out. Being a biracial mix of Korean and African American in South Korea was the hardest struggle she ever had to overcome, not being able to fit into societal norms and beauty standards for young women then.

Yoon Mi-Rae states, “In the U.S., I wasn’t black enough. In Korea, they call me yankee,” her constant struggle to find the right spot for her in society was a never ending battle.

“I wash my face dozens of times a day; White soap dissolves in my tears; I secretly resent my black skin”

milenamarinov — 2025-01-29 13:50:12 UTC

These lyrics reflect the purpose of the song very well in Yoon Mi-Rae’s struggle as a half-Korean half-African American woman and rapper. These three specific lines draw the attention of her audience to her insecurity of being a darker color to her peers, how she would try to wash her face of its color to be seen as a “normal” Korean girl in her country. She resents her skin because of how she sticks out from everyone else.

How does the activism connect to her song?

milenamarinov — 2025-01-29 13:51:04 UTC

This represents the concept of activism as her song celebrates how her heritage brought her to making it uplifting (despite lyrics), aware and specific. As the song had been released, “pale-colored” Korean idols had begun doing covers of her activism song, only going to show how shallow in knowledge these celebrities were when they carelessly did this on a song about a biracial Korean rapper. Her song was meant to bring attention to her struggle in life, and idols used it as a way to show respect to Yoon Mi-Rae, but only disrespected her and her song’s deep meaning.

Popularity

milenamarinov — 2025-01-29 13:54:44 UTC

It was an instant hit across Korea. Her popularity in the song actually has made her become an advocate for multiracial families in South Korea, and this allowed others to feel connected and close to her.