Song Review:: Epik High: PUMP COLLECTOR'S EDITION- MICHELIN CYPHER

• Release date: 2024 October 18

• Album tracklist: PRETTY MUCH (Intro), ANTIHERO, MICHELIN CYPHER, LATE CHECKOUT (GO Edit), K-DRAMA, GOOD RIDDANCE, GROUP CHAT FREESTYLE - Full Version, OK GOOD, OFF DAY - Verse Version, I WAS HAPPY (Feat. Kim Jong Wan of Nell)

• Album runtime: 20 minutes

 I actually have a little bit of fondness for EPIK HIGH, partially because of Hoshi's love for them, partially because I think their lightstick is hilarious and part of me wants one (will I ever go to one of their concerts? Likely not), and partially because I watched an interview they did with Joon from g.o.d. and Brian from Fly to the Sky, which was hilarious and insightful to the early days of K-Pop, as well as them just messing with each other because they're all old friends. Do I know anything about their music other than they're hip-hop? Nope.

Side note: why are all of the song titles on this album shouting at us?

Well, okay. This is very Caribbean. There's a song from Scooby-Doo!, the live-action movie where the gang goes to Spooky Island and typical shenanigans happen (it's not as good as the sequel, but then I love crossovers more than just about anything else, and we get all the good monsters in the sequel), that the instrumentals of this song reminds me of. This is mellow, which allows the function of the instrumentals to do as expected. They are there for the beat. Which is cool. Also, when I stop paying attention to writing and get distracted by something else, my head is moving to the beat. It's a lot of very standard hip-hop beats, but they've also got some very interesting vocals-as-instrumentals that happen occasionally, including something that sounds like a siren-mimicking whoop.

I have to bring it up because it makes me laugh fondly and as soon as I saw those lyrics, I was reminded of that one conversation with Eric Nam, Felix, and Chan. At least these guys know the max number of Michelin Stars. Even the way Epik High raps that part of the chorus has a very similar rhythm. It's cute. And the fact that there are three of them, and the intro is about one super star, two super star, three super star. It's a nice detail. Anyway, moving on, the song features explicit language, so watch out for that, but as this isn't a new thing for Epik High, I doubt the fans need that warning, though the casuals (like me) might like it. There's a swagger to their rapping that I actually believe. It's not fierce. It's not quick. But there is weight to it that would do well even without the beat of the instrumentals to guide it. These are men at the top of their game and decades of experience to back it up. And some of those puns are really quite clever. I don't know if the Korean is as clever. I assume it is. But I'm just incredibly impressed by some of those puns.

Just as something funny, the ad before the video was peaceful clay sculpting. Ah, so amusing. Anyway, on to the music video.

Well, this is very 1970s. They even gave it the look of something from the 1970s, not just with the costuming. And I deeply, deeply love the fact that they just straight up said the storyline. No time for misinterpretation here! I was pretty sure this was a little bit of a diss track, just going by the English, but Mithra Jin's section confirmed it. That was pretty savage. Also, that food looks genuinely delicious, and I really want to try it. So, having finished the music video, I initially thought they were poisoning the people who they were taking revenge against, but after letting it settle in the brain a little longer, nah. They just made food so epic (pun partially intended) that no one could deny it, which is a good metaphor.