1st generation idol Eric of Shinhwa has been accused of plagiarizing as many as 28 rap lyrics throughout his music career.
Since January of 2023, an anonymous YouTube channel has been exposing Eric of Shinhwa for copying the rap and lyrics of numerous American rappers. As of January 2026, the channel has made 28 posts, suggesting that the Shinhwa member may have plagiarized as many as 28, or even more, rap verses.
A selection of comparison clips can be found below, including rap segments from some of Shinhwa's major hits like "Your Wedding", "Tears", "I Pray 4 U", "Perfect Man", "Liar", and more. Although the accused rap verses largely span songs released by Shinhwa under SM Entertainment (1998-2003), the inclusion of "Liar" (2004) in the list reveals that Eric may have continued his borrowing practice somewhat after parting ways with SM's production team.
In response, many netizens reacted with comments like,
"He plagiarized nearly 30 songs and no one even knew.."
"Who was the idol I liked back in those days? Was he just a lie too?"
"I bet SM was in on it. They let him do it and get away with it."
"This is a disgrace."
"YouTube channel owner, whoever you are, keep them coming."
"Did SM make him do it? Or was it Yoo Young Jin??"
"Wow in most of them he didn't even try to change up some of the lyrics.. The flow is similar or exactly the same in a lot of them too."
"For such a long time he was the representative idol who wrote his own lyrics.. it turns out, he never wrote a single word."
"Even I feel humiliated seeing how many songs he plagiarized."
"What is shocking to me is, this YouTuber has been exposing him since 2023, but he still hasn't come out to say sorry??"
"I'm ashamed that I ever liked this guy."
"If you committed a wrong, it will eventually be found out. No one can go on living guilt-free."
"'Vortex' was one of my favorite songs of all time TT."
"This is called copying and pasting.."
"Even if a lot of old generation K-Pop sampled and borrowed from overseas sounds, it was never meant to be this kind of direct plagiarism.."
"SM marketed him as the idol who wrote his own rap lyrics. He was credited as a contributing lyricist in almost all Shinhwa songs."
"To be honest, most of 1st generation K-Pop directly or indirectly copied Western sounds and aesthetics, ever since Seo Taiji. There was no awareness of plagiarism back in those days."
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