What the Heck is 'Gangnam Style'?

Psy of “Gangnam Style” fame returned to South Korea earlier this week, but his impact is still being felt on American TV and pop culture. A funny office bit aired on “Chelsea Lately” and “Today” ran a segment on September 27 about Psy’s triumphant return to his homeland. On Friday, Psy tweeted that “Gangnam Style” has topped 300M views on YouTube. It’s all great news for the unlikely rapper who continues to take America and the world by storm.

Psy returned to Korea as a conquering hero. Back on his home turf, he immediately hit the ground running and performed “Gangnam Style” to a packed college campus. In a press conference, Psy said that America was very good to him. “Even if they didn’t know the lyrics, they just danced,” he explained on Thursday. Matt Lauer stated in a “Today” segment, “We’re looking forward to having Psy back on the Plaza at his earliest convenience.”

via PSY’s hit ‘Gangnam Style’ pokes fun at a real South Korean place – Chicago Sun-Times.

Gangnam is the most coveted address in Korea, but less than two generations ago it was little more than some forlorn homes surrounded by flat farmland and drainage ditches.

The district of Gangnam, which literally means “south of the river,” is about half the size of Manhattan. About 1 percent of Seoul’s population lives there, but many of its residents are very rich. The average Gangnam apartment costs about $716,000, a sum that would take an average South Korean household 18 years to earn.

As the price of high-rise apartments skyrocketed during a real estate investment frenzy in the early 2000s, landowners and speculators became wealthy practically overnight.

The notion that Gangnam residents have risen not by following the traditional South Korean virtues of hard work and sacrifice, but simply by living on a coveted piece of geography, irks many. The neighborhood’s residents are seen by some as monopolizing the country’s best education opportunities, the best cultural offerings and the best infrastructure, while spending big on foreign luxury goods to highlight their wealth.

Some of the Lyrics translated:

A girl who looks quiet but plays when she plays
A girl who puts her hair down when the right time comes
A girl who covers herself but is more sexy than a girl who bares it all
A sensible girl like that

I’m a guy
A guy who seems calm but plays when he plays
A guy who goes completely crazy when the right time comes
A guy who has bulging ideas rather than muscles
That kind of guy

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