An essay, by u/PerspectiveFit5869, published November 6, 2022.
Jopping: A Loosely Disguised Call to Class Warfare
Hello fellow joppers. Last night as I was laying awake in bed staring into the depths of my internal Kwangya, I came upon a realization. Within the venerable lyrics of kpop's most cicle-jerked piece of media, there lies a blatantly obvious call to class warfare.
Now, you may be thinking Proposterous! Jopping is a wholesome party anthem about simultaneously jumping and popping, produced by SM songwriters! These are same people who wrote the lines "jumping on my trauma, already wear pajamas" and everything given to Johnny, they would never inject a call to class warfare in one of the most heavily advertised SM productions!
But you would be a fool to think that. A stupid little fool and a baby too. The evidence is paplable and I am willing and prepared to show all of you the Truth. Follow me into the abyss.
Article I:
"Step on the floor (start a riot)
Where the competition man, it's looking one-sided"
Come on now. ty-track oppa is straight up telling spermies to start a riot. This phrase in itself alludes the listener, who, at this point in the full-body experience of listening to Jopping would, naturally, be curious as to the purpose of this proposed political protest. Very conveniently, what follows is an explanation of the statement, in which ty states that the competition is looking "one-sided". To me, it's obvious that this is in reference to the current economic state of many modern capitalist nations, including South Korea. Wealth is so unevenly distributed that those not born into generational wealth barely stand a chance against the "other side", the proliteriat don't have sufficient political power to either join or overrule the bourgeoisie. Unless, that is, we use more aggressive tactics (i.e. start a riot).
Article II:
"Champagne life, that's all you want
Don't stop letting it go 'cause we got that glow"
This example is slightly more subtle than the last, but also presents strong evidence that Jopping is, indeed, a call to class warfare. Taemin states, presumably speaking to the listener, that they desire something he refers to as "Champagne life". As the beverage champagne is often associated with frivolity and wealth, we can only assume that what Taemin is referring to here is a bourgeousie lifestyle. Indeed, this is something that many people aspire to. He then states, "Don't stop letting it go". Here, Taemin is telling us to never cease to attempt to separate oneself from the bourgeousie ideal. He is essentially re-iterating Taeyong's statement, affirming that the proliteriate cannot achieve political and economic power by joining the bourgeoisie, but only by entirely dismantling the system that created such class divisions.
Article III:
Ladies and Gentleman and Baddies and Porsches, may I present to you, my final piece of evidence,
"Uh, you think ya big boi, throwing three stacks
I'ma show you how to ball, you a mismatch
Opinionated but I'm always spitting straight facts
Throwback, I might throw this on an eight track"
In the first line of this stanza, morkly is clearly mocking the superwealthy, saying "oh, you think you're a big boy, Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos/Mark Zuckerberg/Jaywhypee?? You think you look all cool throwing around your stacks of cash???" Then he ruthlessly disses them by saying he will "show them how to ball". Now, as previously gathered evidence would indicate, mokly is not a professional basketball player. In fact, there is little evidence to support the notion that morlkl is even a "good" basketball player, although I am open to arguments to the contrary. However, if we are operating on the assumption that markle is not particularly good at basketball, him saying that he will "teach" a person how to ball must be a biting critique on that individual. Additionally, to add insult to injury, mak calls his aformentioned targets a "mismatch", which can (and I argue, should) be interpreted as him saying that the superwealthy (who he is clearly talking to here) should not exist in this world. I will not elaborate. In the next line, Mark testifies to his reliability, stating that he always spits straight facts. Not sometimes, not mostly, always. What msjk says is prophecy. The last line is a statement on how the modern global economy currently resembles the early eighties, when eight tracks were in vogue and the world was facing largescale economic recession. Here, macr is emphasizing the gravity of the topic that Jopping addresses. Unless we want a repeat of the past, we must take swift, aggressive action to dismantle our current oppressive economic system.
Thank you.