Author: Min Ji Kang
Peer-Reviewers: Kathryn McClain and James Fleury
Website Developer: Kristen Figgins

Final Creative Project: Remix and Recreate!

Course: K-pop, Hip-hop, and R&B: Black, Asian, and American Cultural Interactions

Summary: This assignment positions remixing as a mode of adaptation, inviting students to transform music across genres and cultures while analyzing the racial and gendered meanings that emerge in the process. Students choose two or more songs, with at least one drawn from the latter half of the semester, and write a 1500-word essay that explores their interconnections. They are asked to identify Afro-Asian intimacies, appropriations, solidarities, or conflicts, situating these within broader contexts of race, gender, and identity formation.

Building on this critical analysis, students then produce their own adaptation in the form of a remix. Whether reworking lyrics, beats, or melodies, students create a new version of the song(s) that intervenes in, complicates, or extends the original material. A final reflective section requires them to articulate how their adaptation deepens or challenges the connections they analyzed earlier, highlighting the interpretive power of adaptation as both creative and critical practice. 

The assignment is grounded in theories of adaptation that view remix as both product and process (Hutcheon; Sanders), as well as scholarship on remix culture and sampling (Jenkins; Navas). It also draws on research into Afro-Asian musical exchanges, particularly how K-pop adapts African American musical traditions (Anderson) and how hip hop circulates globally as a mode of cultural adaptation and identity formation (Sharma; Prashad). Framed this way, the project encourages students to see music as a dynamic site where cultural forms are continually reworked, contested, and reimagined. For example, “Hybridity, K-pop’s most salient characteristic, is largely informed by African American popular music and incorporates Korean musical strategies” (Anderson 5). This research showcases how sampling and ideas of adaptation were already prevalent in the K-pop genre itself as well as how it became such a success in an age of globalization. 

In practice, this iterative process of analysis, adaptation, and reflection has proven highly effective in the classroom. Students are deeply engaged by the creative component, and the requirement to justify their remix through scholarly argumentation grounds their work in adaptation theory and cultural critique.

The project is fundamentally built on the theoretical understanding that adaptation is both “a product and a process” (Hutcheon 8) and that “remixing songs isn’t just pastiche, but a deliberate act of adaptive transformation” (Navas). The remixing that students are doing aligns with a function of adaptation that Linda Hutcheon refers to as “a process of creation … which always involves both (re-)interpretation and then (re-)creation” (8). Students preserve parts of the original songs, but then they are urged to showcase their interpretations of the songs individually, as well as the relationship between them. Only then can the students synthesize the songs by identifying commonalities or differences in how artists represent themes. Through the process of critically thinking about the lyrics, aesthetic choices, and musical elements, students exercise their creativity by re-creating the song through remixing either the lyrics and/or the musical elements of beats and melodies. This approach ensures students appreciate adaptation not merely as an academic concept but as a lived, ongoing musical practice.

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Instructions Provided to Students

This assignment invites you to explore the concept of adaptation through the lens of music, specifically by engaging with the vibrant genres of K-pop, hip hop, and R&B. You will put two or more songs into conversation, creating a remix that illuminates new cultural, racial, and gendered meanings. This project bridges scholarly writing with artistic practice, encouraging you to think about how music itself adapts across genres, cultures, and media.

Part 1: Analytical Essay (1500 words)

Choose two or more songs, with at least one drawn from the latter half of the semester’s course material. Your task is to write a 1500-word essay analyzing the connections and relationships between your chosen songs. In your analysis, pay particular attention to:

• Afro-Asian intimacies, appropriations, solidarities, or conflicts as they manifest in the musical texts.
• How these interconnections are situated within broader contexts of race, gender, and identity formation.
• The specific musical, lyrical, and aesthetic elements that contribute to these meanings.

Your essay should incorporate at least five scholarly sources from your own research, grounding your analysis in critical frameworks related to adaptation studies, remix culture, and cultural studies.

Part 2: Creative Remix

Building on your critical analysis from Part 1, you will then produce your own adaptation in the form of a remix. This remix can take various forms:

• Reworked Lyrics: Rewrite the lyrics of one or more songs to create a new narrative or perspective, while maintaining the original musical structure or melody.
• Audio Remix: Create a new audio track by sampling, layering, or otherwise manipulating elements (e.g., beats, melodies, vocals) from your chosen songs. This work could involve creating a mashup, a cover with significant stylistic changes, or a new instrumental piece inspired by the originals.
• Digital Tools: For audio remixes, accessible tools you may consider include Audacity, GarageBand (for Mac users), Soundtrap, and Media.io. 

Your remix should intervene in, complicate, or extend the original material. The goal is to demonstrate your understanding of adaptation as a transformative process.

Part 3: Critical Reflection (300-500 words)

In a 300-500-word reflective piece, articulate how your creative remix (Part 2) deepens or challenges the connections you analyzed in your essay (Part 1). Consider the following questions:

• How does your remix function as an act of adaptation? What elements did you preserve, transform, or omit, and why?
• What new meanings or interpretations emerge from your remix that were not present in the original songs?
• How does your creative process inform your understanding of adaptation as both a critical and artistic practice?

This section should highlight the interpretive power of adaptation as both a method of critique and a mode of artistic expression.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this assignment, students will be able to:

• Analyze the interconnections between musical texts, focusing on cultural, racial, and gendered meanings.
• Apply theories of adaptation, remix culture, and cross-cultural musical exchange to interpret musical works.
• Produce a creative remix that demonstrates an understanding of adaptation as a transformative process.
• Critically reflect on how their creative work engages with and reinterprets original musical material.

Integrate a minimum of five scholarly sources to support their analytical and creative arguments.

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Works Cited

Anderson, Crystal S. Soul in Seoul: African American Popular Music and K-pop. UP of Mississippi, 2020.

Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. Routledge, 2006. 

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York UP, 2006. 

Prashad, Vijay. Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity. Beacon P, 2001.

Navas, Eduardo. Remix Theory: The Aesthetics of Sampling. Springer, 2012.

Sharma, Nitasha. Hip Hop Desis: South Asian Americans, Blackness, and a Global Race Consciousness. Duke UP, 2010.

Author Bio

Min Ji Kang is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies at Denison University. Her research and teaching focus on the dynamic intersection of adaptation studies, global popular culture, gender studies, and critical race theory. Min Ji’s pedagogical philosophy centers on experiential learning, encouraging students to move beyond passive consumption to become active, critical producers of media. She regularly teaches courses such as “K-pop, Hip-hop, and R&B: Black, Asian, and American Cultural Interactions,” “Gender, Race, and Body Politics,” and “Issues in Feminism.” Her work on musical adaptation, remix culture, and Afro-Asian cultural exchange informs her classroom practice, leading to innovative assignments like “Remix and Re-create” that bridge scholarly analysis with creative production. Min Ji is currently working on a book that investigates the implications of AI and technology on gender dynamics in K-pop. 

About the Adaptation Today Pedagogy Series

Adaptation Today is a free, accessible resource for all academics and students who are interested in adaptation, especially graduate students, contingent scholars, and early career researchers. The pedagogy series creates a space of community and resource-sharing, with rolling deadlines for submission. See our CFP page to see how you can submit your own syllabi, lesson plans, assessments, and blog posts for publication.