(translated in 2018)

“Ddaeng” is a witty and pointed retort to the legion of doubters and haters BTS faced in their early days. SUGA, with assistance from J-Hope and RM, wrote and produced this jam on a whim for a festa (producer J.Pearl also collaborated). Although it’s a simple, playful song, the abundance of creative wordplay, homonyms, and onomatopoeia in it can leave one feeling rather dizzy. It may take a book for me to go over all that, so I won’t even attempt this endeavor. 

However, I need to explain the various meanings—many of which the rap line created from their minds—of ‘땡 (ddaeng)’ for you to fully appreciate the lyrics and marvel at their ingenious utilization of this one sound for multiple purposes throughout the song.

First meaning: similar to the game of poker that people in the West play with cards, there is a game in Korea called ‘섯다 (suht-dah)’ that folks play with plastic ‘화투 (hwah-too)’ cards. In poker, the winning hands follow in the order from ‘high card’ to ‘royal flush.’ In suhtdah, the ranking goes from ‘1땡 (ihl-ddaeng) (one ddaeng)’ to ‘3-8 광땡 (sahm-pahl gwahng-ddaeng) (three-eight golden ddaeng).’ 

The numbers that the rap line enumerates in the first line of the chorus, 1-8, 1-3, 3-8, are the three highest winning hands in order (for comparison, in poker, it’s ‘quads,’ ‘straight flush,’ and ‘royal flush’). Thus, 3-8 is equivalent to a royal flush, the invincible hand. During a game of suhtdah, if a player is lucky enough to get a 3-8 card combination, they would typically shout “ddaeng!” while triumphantly rising to their feet, much like a bingo game winner exclaims “bingo” upon achieving the winning combination.

Second meaning: in a Korean quiz show on television, when a contestant blurts out a wrong answer, the MC or a machine will sound out “ddaeng,” to let them know of that fact. It’s the English equivalent of “wrong” or “nope” or “bad.”

Third meaning: In Korean language, the sound that a school bell makes is expressed as “ddaeng.”

Fourth meaning: there is an idiomatic expression, “땡 잡았다 (ddaeng jahb-aht-dah) (what a luck),” that a person can use when something unexpectedly good happens to them.

Fifth meaning: there is a kids game in Korea called ‘얼음 땡 (uhl-eum ddaeng) (freeze tag).’ A player gets locked in a frozen state (can’t move) when the chaser catches them while yelling “ddaeng.” They can earn the freedom to move around again only when another player tags them while shouting “ddaeng.”

BTS rap line-invented meanings: J-Hope, RM, and SUGA devise a variety of uses for ‘ddaeng’ in this song. For instance, there is a word called ‘동그랗다 (dohng-geu-laht-dah) (it’s round)’ that can be changed to ‘땡그랗다 (ddaeng-geu-laht-dah)’ to colloquially express something that is ‘very round.’ The rap line extracts ‘ddaeng’ from this expression to depict someone waking up with a puffy face after eating late-night ramen (in Korea, there’s a tongue-in-cheek jest that eating ramen late at night and immediately going to sleep will result in waking up with a puffy face).

They also cleverly pull ‘tang’ from a teenager slang ‘개얼탱 (gae-uhl-tang) (it’s ridiculous),’ which sounds similar to ‘ddaeng,’ using it to sarcastically convey, “don’t make me laugh.”

Furthermore, the rap line creatively utilizes ‘ddaeng’ in various phonetic ways: 1. as an alternative for ‘dang’ (damn); 2. to represent ‘thang’ (thing); 3. for ‘errthang’ (everything and anything); 4. as an alert sound signaling ‘let’s go’; 5. mimicking a cash register opening; 6. indicating an ending; 7. and inventing a word ‘ddaengs’ to mean ‘thanks’ (a particularly ingenious creation. Like the French who pronounce ‘the’ as ‘ze,’ most Koreans say ‘th’ closer to ‘dd’ due to the challenge of the ‘th’ sound. The way the rap line manipulates sounds to craft innovative uses, not only in this song but throughout their work, is truly something else.  

I have frequently praised the writing prowess of the rap line, but their creation of such a playful and innovative song in just a few days, solely for a fan performance and not for an album, truly underscores my point. An artist is nothing without creativity, and BTS’s ability to conjure it at will is what makes them formidable, one that will endure long after their contemporary groups have faded into the background. 

Lyrics: 

*As you read the lyrics translation below, pay attention to the word(s) in parentheses following “ddaeng” to understand how it is utilized differently throughout the song

Chorus (RM):

1-8 (quads)

1-3 (straight flush)

3-8 (royal flush)

Ddaeng (bingo)

U wrong

Me right

I’ll prove it

Ddaeng (let’s go)

Ring the school bell

Brr Brr

Ddaeng (bell)

You (haters) are hopeless

Ain’t never gonna succeed

Ddaeng (nope)

Verse 1 (J-Hope):

(haters say)

(my) Hip hop

Ddaeng (bad)

Rap style

Ddaeng (bad)

(I’m) just another rapper

Ddaeng (bad)

Bangtan equals

Ddaeng (bad)

But

In real life

Bang (succeeding)

Worldwide

Bang (succeeding)

On top of charts

Bang bang (wildly succeeding)

Got money

Woo (yeah)

AP (short for Audemars Piguet)

Woo (yeah)

Awesome house

Woo (yeah)

A Dream life

Only y’all can dream of

Woo (yeah)

How about you?

Uh (well)

All my achievement

Uh (well)

Because of your diss

Uh (that’s right)

(thus) I like you!

Uh (that’s right)

Funny ain’t it?

Yeh (my man)

Still can’t believe our success?

Yeh (my man)

I don’t get why you be trippin

Yeh (my man)

Think hard ‘bout how we got so big

Yeh (my man)

You got all day to figure that out

Yeh (my man)

It’s my assignment to you

Yeh (my man)

If you can’t get it right

You ain’t ever gonna succeed

Ddaeng (nope)

Chorus (J-Hope, SUGA):

1-8 (quads)

1-3 (straight flush)

3-8 (royal flush)

Ddaeng (bingo)

U wrong

Me right

I’ll prove it

Ddaeng (let’s go)

Ring the school bell

Brr Brr

Ddaeng (bell)

You (haters) are hopeless

Ain’t never gonna succeed

Ddaeng (nope)

1-8 (quads)

1-3 (straight flush)

3-8 (royal flush)

Ddaeng (bingo)

U wrong

Me right

I’ll prove it

Ddaeng (let’s go)

Wait

Let me stop here

I freeze you

Ddaeng (tag)

You (haters) are hopeless

Ain’t never gonna succeed

Ddaeng (nope)

Verse 2 (SUGA):

Ddaeng (damn)

I see it like this

Y’all are

Ddaeng (bad)

But in fact

We all are

(sarcasm) Ddaeng (bad)

Don’t matter 

Who’s on a winning streak

(sarcasm) Ddaeng (nope)

(sarcasm) I don’t care

(sarcasm) Hunnit bae x4 (100%, yo)

(u say) Our music is crap

Bae (yo)

(sarcasm) You’re right

Bae (yo)

BTS’s on the skids

Bae (yo)

(but) Don’t mean to

Turn you green with envy

Bae (yo)

Thanks to Billboard

We on top

Bae (yo)

(u still say) BTS’s on the skids

Ddaengs (thanks)

Thank you X 3

For your disses

It motivated us

To work extra hard

To achieve so many things

Stadium tour

Dome concerts

Billboard success

I also wish you little guys

(sarcasm) To make it big

We shall continue to fail

Like the way you wish

So keep praying about us

Kkeut (I’m out)

Chorus (SUGA, RM):

1-8 (quads)

1-3 (straight flush)

3-8 (royal flush)

Ddaeng (bingo)

U wrong

Me right

I’ll prove it

Ddaeng (let’s go)

Ring the school bell

Brr Brr

Ddaeng (bell)

You (haters) are hopeless

Ain’t never gonna succeed

Ddaeng (nope)

1-8 (quads)

1-3 (straight flush)

3-8 (royal flush)

Ddaeng (bingo)

U wrong

Me right

I’ll prove it

Ddaeng (let’s go)

Wait

Let me stop here

I freeze you

Ddaeng (tag)

You (haters) are hopeless

Ain’t never gonna succeed

Ddaeng (nope)

Verse 3 (RM):

Cashier

Calculating

The bill

Ddaeng (cash register sound)

As a kid

I loved  

Freeze tag

Uhleum ddaeng (tag, you’re free)

I’m

Ding ding ding (right)

You (hater)

Ddaeng (wrong)

You

7 kkeut (low hand)

Me

Ddaeng (3-8, highest hand) 

(you) So poor

Can only afford ramen at night

In the morning your face is 

Ddaeng (puffy)

You losers

Keep dissing BTS

Do your ddaeng (thang)

Look at me

I’m your

Errthang (everything and anything)

Y’all think

Y’all dope?

Y’all Cool?

Gaeuhl ddaeng (don’t make me laugh)

I’m lost…

For…ddaeng (words)

Even if I 

stu…uh…tter….

I beg

For your…

Par…don

I ain’t too… 

Glib at…talking

But I still

Wanna say…

What I really…want

But my mouth is…

Moving…all over the place

Because I’m…

So…freaking…happy

All ya insignificant rappers 

Who can’t even generate haters

Y’all need to

Shut your mouth up

Wash your face and look in the mirror

You’ll see the hater breathing

Back at you

Which is just your own reflection

We celebrate

Rather than being celebs

We work without any rest

No break

Who the hell

You think you are

To judge me

You go on like a big frog playing

And dying in a small pond

That’s my only wish for you

Ddaeng (the end)

Chorus (RM, SUGA, J-Hope):

1-8 (quads)

1-3 (straight flush)

3-8 (royal flush)

Ddaeng (bingo)

U wrong

Me right

I’ll prove it

Ddaeng (let’s go)

Ring the school bell

Brr Brr

Ddaeng (bell)

You (haters) are hopeless

Ain’t never gonna succeed

Ddaeng (nope)

1-8 (quads)

1-3 (straight flush)

3-8 (royal flush)

Ddaeng (bingo)

U wrong

Me right

I’ll prove it

Ddaeng (let’s go)

Wait

Let me stop here

I freeze you

Ddaeng (tag)

You (haters) are hopeless

Ain’t never gonna succeed

Ddaeng (nope)