B-Free

How Detroit rapper B-Free wound up in a K-pop turf war
Sherry Tucci — Feb 12 at 10:18AM | Last updated Feb 12 at 2:45PM

Like many local artists, Detroit rapper Brenton "B-Free" Freeman is just trying to make his music and maybe one day hit it big. And last month, the musician gained instant popularity overnight—though perhaps not how he had ever intended.

Waking up to a flood of hate mail one morning from seemingly out of the blue, Freeman was lost in confusion.

"My phone was just blowing up with all this hate mail," he told the Daily Dot. For someone who averages about 20 likes per tweet, he couldn't understand why he was suddenly receiving hundreds of malicious messages criticizing his music. However, a quick Google search provided the answer: It was his name.

Coincidentally, there happens to be a Korean rapper who goes by B-Free, and said rapper is in hot water for his controversial and disrespectful comments toward one of Korea's biggest K-pop names, BTS. Cue the confusion.

Korean B-Free got into a mess with ARMY, BTS's official fan club, when he dug up some old drama last month. About two years ago, the Korean rapper criticized BTS members Rap Monster and Suga for leaving the underground rap scene to become idol rappers, essentially calling them sellouts. Now, in 2016, he issued a belated apology via Twitter toward the K-pop group, as reported by Soompi.


But making such late reparations left BTS fans puzzled more than anything else, and some felt it was a ruse to ride the coattails of BTS's recent explosion of popularity. Re-opening old wounds inevitably drew comments and criticism from the fans.

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An ongoing feud between BTS fans and Korean rapper B-Free has drawn in remarks from an American rapper who goes by the same name.
Years after a public squabble between Korean hip-hop artist B-Free and K-pop group BTS, the controversy has been reignited on Twitter.
The Hi-Lite Record rapper fired back at BTS fans over the weekend after they refused to accept his public apology on Twitter for an insult-slinging incident that is said to have occurred in November 2013.
"I swear BTS got some retarded ass fans," the rapper tweeted. "Y'all did it congrats! When I see your oppas I'mma bitch slap them so hard for all of y'all thank you."
Within minutes, the tweets were met by strong reactions from BTS fans, and even caught the attention of a Detroit-based rapper who also goes by the name of B-Free.
Unintentionally drawn into the Twitter mayhem the Hi-Lite Records rapper caused, the American B-Free took sides with BTS and showed support for the group.
"You can tell by my music that im way better than @realbfree so learn to respect @BTS_twt and stop slandering my name," B-Free of Detroit tweeted.
The quarrell started during Kim Bong Hyun's Hip-Hop Invitational 1st Anniversary Broadcast on Nov. 21, 2013 when B-Free reportedly made negative remarks about makeup worn BTS rappers Suga and Rap Monster. - Lai Frances