lyric interpretation / hooligan (feat. mino)

(I’ve only pulled out the lines I had explanations for, and this probably isn’t half of what he was trying to say and i may not be correct please read w a grain of salt)

 

[…]

랩 Money 보다 윙크 한방으로 flexin’

Instead of rap and money, with just one wink I’m flexin’

*(The direct translation is “one shot of my wink”, which plays along with his theme of battle/shooting in this song)

Privacy 법규 숨 쉴 때도 아주 예삐

Privacy regulations, even when I breathe I’m so pretty

*(It’s unclear if he means him or ‘the lover’ here)

[…]

Wait, 춤춰 사자 탈속에 우린 나귀

Wait, dance, under a lion’s skin we’re donkeys

*(Aesop’s fable, ‘The Donkey in the Lion’s Skin’)

 

3랩 조끼 아래 껴입어 불릿 바지

Layer your bullets and pants under your level-3 vest

*(The level-3 vest is a tactical gear you can get on the popular FPS game Battleground, which Mino has talked about on various variety shows like Youth Over Flowers)

비비꼬아 써도 괜찮아 너는 다빈치

It’s okay to fidget as you use it, you’re DaVinci

*(The verb “use” here in Korean is “써”, but this word can also mean “writing” or “to put something on”. “비비꼬아” can mean “fidget”, but could also mean to be sarcastic/cynical, so this line can also read as “fidget as you put it [the gear] on” or “be sarcastic/cynical as you write”)

[…]

 

난 고인 물인데 뉴비들이 밉네

I’m just a stagnant puddle yet I dislike like these newbies

*(“고인 물” can mean a puddle of water, usually ones made after rain, but “고” can also mean someone who has passed “故” or someone who is high up “高”, and “인물” can also mean person. Meanwhile “뉴비” is the Koreanized form of “newbie” but also can be a combination of “뉴” —> Koreanized form of “new”, and “비”, which is “rain” in Korean. So I think this line can read that he’s old news/dead with all these newbies, or that he is “higher up” compared to the newbies, or he is just a puddle of water remaining from a passing rain who sees the “new rain” with distaste)

 

그래서 지원사격 와서 쓰네 Aim 핵

So I come and write as a supporting fire, aim-hack

*(Continuing the theme of battle/war/shooting, the term “지원사격” is “supporting fire/line of support”, a supporting unit that helps out the unit already in battle, but because “지원” is also Jiwon’s name it can also mean that he’s supporting/helping Jiwon. Aim-hack is an 'illegal' cheat/hack players can use in Battleground.)

 

조심해 네 뚝배기 빡치면 훌리건

Careful, when your head gets pissed off you become a hooligan

*(Mino uses the word “뚝배기” here, which can be slang for your head, and in the game Battleground it’s used to refer to a helmet. But originally “뚝배기/ttukbaegi” is a special, glazed earthen pot that a lot of traditional Korean dishes, usually soup, can be served in. “빡치면” is slang for getting “pissed off” but it’s also a sort of onomatopoeia-ish term to allude to someone hitting something with a bang. “훌리건” is “hooligan” in Korean characters, but it’s very close to “흘리건” which means to spill. So this line can also read as “Careful, when you hit your ttukbaegi with a bang [the contents] can spill”)

 

인사해 고인 물과 원효대사 썩은 물

Say your greetings to the stagnant puddle and Great Master Wonhyo and his rotten water

*(The explanation for the “puddle” can be applied here again, this time more so the one for someone who is higher-up/higher level, and Great Master Wonhyo is, apparently, a key figure in Buddhism (Korean Buddhism in particular). There is a story about him thirsty and seeking shelter on a particularly rainy day, and there happened to be a gourd with fresh water which he drinks with satisfaction. Come morning, he realizes that the place where he has sought shelter is an ancient tomb filled with skeletons, and that the water and gourd he had drank from yesterday was actually human skull filled with brackish water. This incident consequently helped shed light to Wonhyo about the human mind’s ability to transform and distort reality.)