I feel like I should spend some time talking about this. It had been a day since YG gave an official confirmation that Minzy is no longer looking at renewing her contract with the company. Let me tell you that 2ne1 has been the reason why I enjoy Korean popular music. I have been with them on their first year and stunned speechless when I saw Fire (Street Version) Music Video for the very first time. I will admit to not really expanding much of my horizon within the realm of Kpop as I have stuck with YG for most of my time (and sometimes being diverted to other groups outside like Block B, Fiestar (just yezi), AOA (just jimin), SISTAR (just hyorin) or solo rap artists like Jessi, KittiB, Basick, Oltii... yeah, basically SMTM and UR participants), so I can't make sweeping generalizations like 2ne1 is the best Korean female group because I honestly just know of 2ne1 and I can't really make that comparison. And though I do not think there would be a girl group that would suite my taste and sensibiliity as 2ne1 has, I do not think it would be true to say they are the best. I mean, they do have that one song "I am the Best"... but I think everything is relative.

If you are going what the sevvy that is really rambly that's because I'm rambly, so it up. I was going to say that 2ne1 is my first love. A lot of Daralings came in liking Dara first, but I honestly liked 2ne1 as a group first and came to love Dara as a focal point. I loved CL, Bom, Minzy and Dara combination before I liked them separately, and I think that speaks highly of them as a group, I mean as a sevvy relative case, because I've always came in to liking groups from liking individuals (i.e. GD to Big Bang, Zico to Block B, Tablo to Epik High, Bobby to iKon...). But it was that 4-female group dressed to their hiphop nines that got me. The confidence of CL, the iness of Bom, the rugged, youthful vibe of Minzy, and Dara's enigmatic mix of feminine and masculine. That was 2ne1 for me.

I can tell you that I am pretty passionate about liking 2ne1 and it may come as a surprise, as I am not a teen and actually entering my 30s this year. I am not the oldest in the fandom, of course, but I am definitely not the youngest. If you knew in person, you would probably not know I was into Kpop because I am, as my dear friend Eric would say, you're really dark sevvy and I've been consistently told that I don't seem to be the type to like Korean Pop, or Korean Dramas... as I may look and seem like a sociopath.... or something. I don't know. LO L But I have like 2ne1 for the past seven years and have met friends who have successfully gotten over their infatuation over 2ne1 and kpop in general and I have stuck here and I have not wavered.

I do not believe 2ne1's concept is new as we have seen Spice Girls Girl Power sometime in the late nineties, but I liked the more hiphop roots that 2ne1 has shown. I think what attracted me and kept me with 2ne1 has always been their assertiveness of the "self". How they define themselves as beautiful and strong and not need validation from others. This is why CL's Menboong concept confused many because she did "y" moves that weren't meant to make men (or women) want her because her uality and sensuality was hers to express. I believe this is what makes 2ne1 different. The iconic "We don't need a manto p-party" will always speak to me. And I will always love them for expressing this message, that sure they can be "Lonely" and ask someone to "Come Back Home" but at the core they are defined not by love but who they are.

They love me cause I'm hot. But they are not hot because they want you to love them.

They love me cause I'm cold. But the cold is not to be cool, but hints at an deeper, social awkwardness that everyone feels.

They love me cause I'm real. Because even if they do have the sweet spice, the ginger spice, the posh, and the scary/sporty, those are not just conceptual idols, but a slice of themselves they share with their public.

They love me cause I kill. Because they do. They kill stereotypes of how women should be. They dress in baggy clothes, or skimpy clothes. They laugh. They cry. They dream really big and they chase after them at full unapologetic sprint, and this is why 2ne1 will always be my queens.

Now to get to the latest point, Minzy is leaving the quartet, and I will echo most of the fandoms reaction that no one really saw this coming. Sure, there had been rumours of IG unfollowings, and some discontent from Minzy, but we, blackjacks, did not really expect that it would come to this. As a YG Stan the leaving of Se7en and Gummy then Masta Wu had been confusing as we raise new talents in the forefront, YG seems to be letting go of people who has given him tools, given him their talents and they get chucked in the toolshed. And I am not even all that angry at the infamous YG Dungeon as other people, I believe in GD's quality over quantity (and timeliness) and thought waiting was part of being a YG Stan. But people leave. Gummy expressed that it was because there were just too many talents now. And when she left, it wasn't like YG stans mourned. YG stans are mostly VIPs and Blackjacks and it wasn't our direct vein of hurt. I loved Gummy, mostly for her fantastic Big Bang/2ne1 covers (as I am not a ballads fan), but I knew she was doing a good business decision. She needed an agency that treated her as someone deserving to be in the foreground and not some soloist who did well but with little exposure.

But now we have Minzy and it's a direct vein of hurt because she's our baby. Our maknae. And she started when she wasn't even legally acknowledged as an adult. But now she is, and one of her biggest adult decision is leave a home she has known since she was 11 years young.... and fans... fans ask she makes a statement... for THEIR peace of mind without the consideration that this is a hard decision to her, to decide that she needs to leave her "family" (even if it's only figuratively speaking) who seem to not consider her as the child who can win her own bread.

As a Daraling, I have seen Dara get acting roles and most people attribute it to her own hard work, but I don't really know if it's her assertiveness that got her her place or if she had support and/or approval from YG. It seemed that Daralings are defending Dara from being branded a YG favourite for having so much exposure at their down time, saying that somehow in YG you need to polish your own star, and of course, somehow, that meant Minzy lacked that initiative. Her star never shined on its own eventhough BJs have clamoured for her, asked YG that Minzy deserved her moment, but for some reason she was always left as the under appreciated. And this is not just her, too. Let's be honest that in Big Bang, this is Dae Sung who didn't get a solo at Mama when all the other four did. And we watch at the sidelines and think but Minzy is good. Minzy is amazing. (so is Dae). But somehow, somehow, she is still expected to shine her own star, and now we are left with the question, but what are agencies for? And agent is someone who believes in you and sells your product, but then if they are selling you short then that means your faith in them is showing short too.

Don't get me wrong, I love YG. I do. I am not one of those fans who shade YG and cuss him out. I think I owe him a lot for believing in Big Bang before anyone could, for seeing Jiyong as a gem before he was a THE GDRAGON. For think 2NE1 can be different and be his Billion Dollar Baby. But of course, I am dissatisfied at many points of being a YG stan, on how 2NE1, even though they are one of the highest grossing female group is always in some shade of their bigger, higher earning sunbaes and I have been fine with that as a business decision. But then Bom's scandal broke and YG has sufficiently (in my opinion) shielded Bom from the blowback even if blackjacks threw on him for being quiet in his manuevering around a clearly conservative culture who still see mental illness as some figment of someone's imagination. So Bom is left in the Dungeon, but I think it's okay, because she needed the public to shut the up. But nobody seemed to remember the maknae who did no wrong but were somehow, somehow left to fend for herself. 2NE1's All or Nothing became somewhat a reality. CL was given all the opportunity to expand her own brand in a western medium, Dara explored another aspect of her interest in acting. Bom... well, Bom's case is a bit of a complicated issue, because I really do think her time to "reflect" was beneficial for her. Not to "reflect" in the negative sense of I did wrong but reflecting what was beneficial for her mental health, to strengthen herself from within. But then... Minzy got nothing. And I understand Daralings saying she should have worked to be seen, and she did in some form joining a dance troup in NY or LA, then forming her own dance studio, but you have to understand that working for herself, working to polish her own star you begin to think maybe this "family" who has so many priorities before me is just not the place to be. So the offer is made to her, Minzy, 2ne1 will come back this year, and she said, no thank you.

No, thank you.

To this sisterhood we have always known.

To wearing that crown we want her to as part of the four queens of black jacks.

And it's sad. It's sad, because all this time I worried it would be Bom who leaves because the public had been cruel, but it's the young one, the one who wasn't at all the problem child, who leaves because there is something wrong with YG. Who always seem to prioritize Big Bang then the Next Big Bangs while he says threatening things like 2ne1's comeback depends on CL's success in the US... and Minzy finally, finally said no thanks.

No thanks to intermittent crowns that they wear with the threat of All or Nothing... and it seemed, even from me, that nothing was always what Minzy got.

It breaks my heart to let this baby go, but I do think it's the right decision for her. I am not saying that things will not change, or that 2ne1 would still feel like it did before because somehow we lost a whole suit but where all seem to be expected to play blackjack. It's sad. I am sad.

But I do think it's for the best, not for me or for blackjacks, but for Minzy who is a star by her own right. We love her cause she's real, and unfortunately, she really needs to leave.

I want all the best for Minzy. She will always be my queen.

Thank you, baby. Be well. Be great.