ON BTS RAPLINE & THEIR NEXT LEVEL MASTERY OF SHADE - PART I OF A THREAD!

Wow, it's been a minute since I gave y'all a thread. The price of being so busy, but I hope this makes up for it. Anyway, this particular thread is long overdue, and with the arrival if "땡" it seems a perfect time to get into BTS rapline and their shady ways.

PART 1: Understanding Shade (What it is and what it ISN'T)

The definition of "shade" often changes depending on whether or not the speaker knows what (s)he is talking about. But one thing most can agree on is that it is NEVER obvious. The best shade is so ambiguous, you may spend years wondering if it ever really happened.

Too often, people confuse shading with reading, and I'm like, "How?"

A "read" is someone directly telling you why you ain't worth a damn because the entire point is to let you know.

I'll use this screencap as an example.

I don't know who this person is or who they're talking to. It ended up on my timeline and I figure I'd use it as an example of what shade is NOT. If you see any comments or quotes that go in like this, what you're looking at is NOT shade.

Whereas a read can be a lengthy rant, one can throw shade with a glance. That was the case with this legendary photo.

(I love you, Sophia Loren, but you were casting all kinds of shade, even if you later said you weren't. Those eyes don't lie, Sis.)

In "Paris Is Burning," Dorian Corey gave a frequently quoted explanation of what "shade" and "reading" are.

So now that we hopefully are on the same page about shade, and how it's meant to be ambiguous, sneaky, and backhanded, we can begin to understand how it can be a weaponized insult form for those who are particularly good at it

Like BTS's entire rapline.

PART 2: Shade As A Weapon For The Witty (Or When Reading Isn't An Option)

As we from "MIC DROP," "Pied Piper," (they weren't even addressing haters and they were still mad) and most recently "땡," BTS's rapline has the ability to make people mad as hell about what they THINK is being said.

But what's funny is that BTS's rapline have reached a level of the shade game where you will never know exactly who they are talking about or if they're talking about anyone specifically.

Yoongi's infamous quote about people who felt they were targeted comes to mind:

"I don’t personally call out anyone, but if they feel targeted it’s their problem."

This attitude is very useful if, for one reason or another, you've decided you have no reason to openly drag people but instead wish to shade them from head to toe and leave them guessing for the rest of their lives about whether or not you were talking about them.

Some people hate shade because it can be perceived as really passive-aggressive. But you can't read everyone all the time, especially if you're not in a position to protect yourself from the potential consequences of calling people out openly.

And in the k-industry, where idols from particularly small agencies wield little influence and aren't shielded from the repercussions of calling out those who deserve it, highly ambiguous shade is a very useful weapon of choice.

I'm not going to assume why the rapline opted to move in the direction of shade vs. openly reading people who've wronged them; only they know. But I *will* say that shade offers a lot more room for wit and creativity than outright dragging someone openly does.

Look at 땡. The song is only a few short minutes long, but everyone was on the floor for hours because there were SO MANY LAYERS. There was so much to unwrap and appreciate. At least if you weren't the subject of the shade in that song. https://soundcloud.com/bangtan/ddceremony

People are probably really mad tonight, or at least a *little* concerned. Even if BTS members won't openly admit it, they were letting people know some things throughout those verses.

If you're sucking up to BTS after trashing or looking down on them when they were rookies ... they see you. If you've got a "taskforce" together trying to figure out how to repeat their success ... they see you.

People were subtly called out, but nobody knows just how many.

땡 is BTS showing they're much smarter than some people in the industry and outside of it THINK they are. They know who is for their best interests.

They know who is NOT. But it's not necessarily safe to outright call these people out. In instances like this, shade is useful.

Anyway, this is part one of a planned thread. The next part will look at individual rapline members and their unique shade styles. :) So stay tuned for that!