History of K-Pop: Block B
Recent K-Pop fans may not be familiar with them, but in their heyday, Block B was on top of the K-Pop world. Some would argue that if the boy group had peaked a few years later, they would have made an even bigger and lasting impact on the K-Pop industry. Although the group has yet to formally disband, military enlistments and lack of contract renewal have left their future in question.
Block B’s journey began in 2011 with their first single “Freeze!”, a song that for the most part is forgettable albeit one aspect: it was deemed inappropriate for broadcast by the Commission of Youth Protection under the ruling that it was “too sexy” for Korean television (which is particularly hilarious when put up against TVXQ’s “Mirotic”). Their second release, “Tell Them,” didn’t create much of a stir either. Not unlike fellow boy group VIXX, Block B faced relative obscurity at the beginning of their career for a lack of memorable tracks and concepts.
Things seemed to only get worse from there, though. Their second mini-album, Welcome to the Block, had two songs banned for minors upon its release, despite the decent popularity of title track “Nalina.” Stack on top of that a controversy about the group’s bad behavior in Thailand in early 2012, and you’re headed for what seemed to be a guaranteed disaster.
Enter “Nillili Mambo.” Arguably the saving grace for the group, the track peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard World Albums Chart and brought the boys relative success and recognition in Korea. Block B was founded on the premise of being “Korea’s Eminem Project,” placing a heavy focus on hip-hop influences. Despite that, it seems that this was missing from their debut and only came into play around “Nalina,” absolutely solidifying with “Nilili Mambo.” Keep in mind, this was 2012. As such, some of the “hip-hop” fashion involved problems with appropriation; this wouldn’t be the first or last controversy of leader ZICO having dreadlocks.
Despite finally finding some success, Block B was not immune to the well-known problems of the industry when it comes to relations between agencies and their artists. At the beginning of January 2013, the group filed for nullification of their contracts on the grounds that their agency at the time, Stardom Entertainment, had not paid them for over a year. The controversy only grew in noteriety as news came out that the CEO of the agency had taken approximately 70,000,000 KRW from the members’ families and then committed suicide. The court ruled in favor of Stardom, stating that it appeared the agency did not “intentionally” choose to withhold money from the members. After nearly a year-long dispute, the group informed fans in late 2013 that they would be leaving the agency and promoting together independently.
The members managed to negotiate their contract, moving from Stardom over to Seven Seasons, resulting in the release of album Very Good, now a staple part of their discography that debuted at No. 1 on the Gaon Album Chart.
Climbing higher in popularity into 2014, the group released their next title, “Jackpot,” in April, though promotions were cancelled due to the Sewol Ferry Disaster. The boys also became one of the first K-Pop groups to hold a solo tour in the United States, hitting New York, Miami, and Washington D.C. in May of 2014. They traded in their “bad boy” formula with the release of “Her,” a bright and cheery retro track that showcased a new side of the septet to the public—a bit more matching to their true personalities as the hyperactive boys everyone knew and loved behind the scenes.
As 2015 rolled in, so did new solo activities for the group. ZICO was the first to go solo in 2014 with his single “Tough Cookie” featuring Don Mills, and used his solo career to focus more on his hip-hop roots and establishing himself as a strong songwriter. Taeil came next in 2015 with his first solo release, followed closely by the subunit BASTARZ composed of B-Bomb, U-Kwon, and P.O. Their first release, “Zero for Conduct,” gained quite a bit of popularity and showcased an even darker side than Block B had expressed in their mainstream releases.
Park Kyung also began establishing himself as a singer-songwriter at this time, just before the full group went on their second U.S.-bound tour on the west coast in late 2015. As the group came together to prepare for the release of a new album in 2016, all of them starred in a skit on Saturday Night Live Korea that parodied a fanfiction in which ZICO and Kyung fall in love and kiss. This was unprecedented for male idols, even in this day and age, and the episode ended up being sanctioned by the Korea Communication Standards Commission for promoting homosexuality to minors. Seems a little hefty for a two-second long on-screen kiss. Regardless, it shed some extra light on the group upon their return. Mini-album Blooming Period was released not too long after, with singles “A Few Years Later” and “Toy,” debuting at No. 1 on the Gaon Albums Chart.
BASTARZ released their second album in October of 2016, with singles “Selfish & Beautiful Girl” and “Make It Rain,” P.O composing the former. Each member’s different musical styles came out during this time, with ZICO’s heavy hip-hop focus taking center stage while Kyung built up his reputation for creating brighter tracks, and P.O focused on the more retro side of things.
Early 2017 saw the single release of “Yesterday,” a song produced by Kyung that gifted the group their first certified all-kill, topping six of Korea’s real-time music charts. The full group would not be heard from again until late 2017, with the release of mini-album Montage and lead single “Shall We Dance,” composed by ZICO.
2018 was the final word from the septet. The repackaged version of Montage, RE:Montage, was released in January with the ballad title “Don’t Leave,” produced by Kyung. In November of that year, Seven Seasons announced that leader ZICO had not renewed his contract with the company, and instead had chosen to leave to start his own agency, now known as KOZ Entertainment. The remaining members resigned with a shift in focus on solo and sub-unit activities, and the company announced possible negotiations for seven-member group activities in the future, though that has yet to come to fruition.
December saw first member Jaehyo enlisting in the military, followed by Taeil and B-Bomb in 2019. Before B-Bomb’s enlistment, BASTARZ released mini-album I’m a mess with its title “Help Me.” Since then, a number of things have happened to the members individually, least of which being Kyung’s accusations of sajaegi from other artists that has him currently speaking with the Seoul Police.
Though having dodged “official” disbandment thus far, it seems unlikely that we will see the full seven-member lineup of Block B once again. ZICO, U-Kwon, and Kyung will be required to enlist for their required military service sometime this year, with P.O. due next year. That leaves a significant amount of time before all members return from their duty, and history has proven that maintaining fame after enlistment is a daunting task.
Despite early controversies that seemed to continue to pile up, Block B remained strong and succeeded in not losing any members in the process. As we’ve seen with other major groups, this isn’t the norm by any means, and for that they should be given credit for their perseverance. While we may not see all seven together once again, there’s no denying the impact the group itself, as well as the individual members, have made on the state of the industry.