I will not say that they had a "hip-hop phase". Their root is still hip-hop. They learned hip-hop and respect the culture and it's still incorporated in their works. They initially thought their name was cringy (boy-scout is a bad translation, it's more like "boy")
+1 to this! super important to acknowledge that these two are super connected...hip-hop was literally created to be the place for marginalized and oppressed people to have a voice, and bts has done this from the beginning!
Their early image and songs matched the name. Baby BTS is funny to look back on, they were a bunch of kids trying really hard to act like tough guys, but they're legitimately talented and that still shone through. Their leader goes by RM now, but when they debuted his stage name was Rap Monster.
Funny you say that because it actually is the literal translation of the name of the group in Korean - Bangtan Sonyeondan!
The BTS part is an acronym π
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A song which lives up to their name, for the uninitiated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpwe4nXCIFc
(It actually is, it's the literal English translation of BTS(Bangtan Sonyeondan))
Other band names are also available...
https://bsky.app/profile/kingbeastie.bsky.social/post/3latn7i4njs2s
(Hey, can I get a follow back please)
The BTS part is an acronym π