English translation and Korean lesson with the lyrics of 항상 (HANGSANG) Feat. Supreme Boi by j-hope of BTS, from the 2018 album Hope World.
Produced by: Supreme Boi
Written by: Supreme Boi, j-hope
Find it here: Spotify • Apple Music • SoundCloud
Language Notes:
1: The Korean language loves to drop pronouns. Therefore, many sentences contain no subject pronoun to indicate who is performing the action described in the sentence. If a subject pronoun is not included, the rule is that unless context makes it abundantly clear who the subject is, the subject is the speaker. In other words, you can assume the word “I” is in the sentence. However, when speaking about oneself as part of a group, in sentences without a subject it’s often the case that “we” should be the assumed subject.
Therefore, in this song (and many Bangtan songs) there are multiple occasions where it’s not 100% clear if the singer/rapper is speaking about themselves alone, or BTS as a group. Because English sentences must include pronouns, I’m not able to leave it open for personal interpretation when I translate. I must include “I” or “we”. In such cases, take a look at the Korean sentence. If you don’t see “내”, “나”, “우리”, or some such subject indicated, then we’ve got a case of assumed subject.
2. Although there is a particle in Korean that can be used to indicate plural (-들) it is not always used. If the sentence makes it clear that the noun is plural, the singular form of the noun is often used without the plural particle added. This is not confusing in Korean, but Hobi, bless his weird, funky, lyrical style, loves to sprinkle random English words into Korean sentences. In English we MUST indicate that something is plural. However, when the sentence in the lyrics is 90% Korean with just one or two English words thrown in, do English grammar rules really apply? Not so much.
As a result, there are often cases in Hobi’s lyrics where he will use an English word in its singular form that I am 90% sure is meant to be plural. However, I can’t say it with 100% certainty, and in any case, I don’t add interpretation to lyrics that appear in English in the original lyrics. So I’ll have to leave that up to the interpretation of the reader.
In this song we have “With my bro”, where I’m pretty sure he means “bros” as in all of the members of BTS. There’s also a line that says, “With ma fan” that obviously means “fans” but I can’t change original English lyrics. Just keep that in mind as you read.
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
항상 = always
항상 With my thug, right
Always with my thug, right
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
Smash on the street smash on the street
When I’m cruisin’ down damn airport
내 친구들과 비행기 타고
Riding airplanes with my friends
내 = I, me, my
친구 = a friend
-들 = makes a noun plural (친구들과)
-과 / -와 = “and” when followed by an accompanying noun. Otherwise “with” (친구들과
비행기 = an airplane
타다 = to ride
Everyday i’m so turnt up with my boys
Everyday i’m so turnt up with my dawg
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
항상 With my thug, right
Always with my thug, right
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
Smash on the street Smash on the street
우린 행복해 요즘에
We’re happy lately.
우리 = we, us, our
행복하다 = to be happy
요즘 = lately, recently
-에 = at X, on X (요즘에)
누군 떼 버려 구찌 탭
One tears off the Gucci tag.
누구 = who, someone
떼다 = to detach something, to remove something
-아 버리다 / -어 버리다 = to “completely” do X, to go and do X. Read more here. (떼 버려)
누군 Kaws Toy 몇백 개
One owns hundreds of Kaws Toys.
몇 = a few, several
백 = a hundred
개 = a word used for counting objects. “unit” sort of.
누군 살 집을 고민해
One is thinking about buying a house.
살다 = to live
집 = a house
고민하다 = to think about, ponder over
맞고 옳은 것만
Only things that are good and right.
맞다 = to be correct
-고 = X and (맞고)
옳다 = to be right
것 = a thing
-만 = only X, just X (것만)
우물 밖 보고 좋은 것만
Only good things, looking outside the well.
(This is a reference to a Chinese fable about a frog who lived in a well and thought it was the whole world, not realizing there was an entire vast world outside of the well. This fable is also referenced by RM in Ddaeng.)
우물 = a well
밖 = the outside of something
보다 = to look, to see
좋다 = to be good
떫은 이 판에 익은 것만
Only mature fruit in this bitter game.
떫다 = to be bitter, sour
이 = this, these
판 = a round, a match
익다 = to be ripe, to be properly cooked
멋진 친구들과 멋진 것만
Only cool things with my cool friends.
멋지다 = to be cool
눈 뜨면 Red road
Red road when I open my eyes.
눈 = an eye
뜨다 = to open (eyes only, not doors, windows, etc)
-면 / 으면 = if/when X
(Walking Walking Walking)
Top 셀럽들의 Call
Calls from top celebs.
-의 = indicates possession, like ‘s in English (셀럽들의)
(Talking Talking Talking)
이 순간들은 다
All these moments
순간 = a moment
다 = all, everything, everyone
항상 With my dawg
Always with my dawg
앞으로도 다
Everything in the future too
앞 = the front of something
-으로 / -로 = toward X, to X
-도 = X too, even X
항상 With my thug
Always with my thug.
일곱 명에게 세상이 발맞춰
The world set its pace to match 7 people.
일곱 = seven
명 = a word used for counting people
-에게 = to X, for X (명에게)
세상 = a world
발맞추다 = to match pace with someone, fall in step
우린 같이 항상 항상
Together we always, always
같이 = together
Turn up
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
항상 With my thug, right
Always with my thug, right
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
Smash on the street smash on the street
When I’m cruisin’ down damn airport
내 친구들과 비행기 타고
Riding airplanes with my friends
Everyday i’m so turnt up with my boys
Everyday i’m so turnt up with my dawg
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
항상 With my thug, right
Always with my thug, right
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
Smash on the street smash on the street
Turn my swag, now I’m ballin on that worldwide
Turn my swag, now my billin level hyped out
정상엔 나와 친구들이 와있지
My friends and I have reached the top.
정상 = a peak, a summit
나 = I, me
오다 = to come
-아 있다 / -어 있다 = passive form. IE: Not to be in the act of coming, but to be in the state of having come (와있지)
-지 = adds a nuance of “right” or “you know?” (와있지)
Celebrate 파티해 매일같이
Celebrate. We party every day.
매일같이 = every single day
Hol up, 여긴 place of j-hope, man
Hol up, this is the place of j-hope, man.
여기 = here
Hol up, 언제부터 여길 매입했어?
Hol up, since when did you buy this place?
언제 = when
-부터 = from X, since X (언제부터)
매입하다 = to purchase
호발이형 killed them all the fake ass
Hobari-hyung killed them, all the fake ass.
형 = a word used by males to refer to their older brother or to an older male with whom they are close
나도 나도 나도 나도
Me too, me too, me too, me too.
눈뜰 때마다 매거진 1면에 오르네
Every time I open my eyes I’m on the cover of a magazine.
때 = a point in time
-마다 = each X, every X (때마다)
면 = a face, a side
오르다 = to come up
-네 = adds a nuance of surprise or amazement (오르네)
차트 위에 전셋집을 얻은듯해
It’s like I’ve got a home at the top of the charts.
위 = the top of something
전셋집 = a house with a deposit paid on it
얻다 = to gain, to acquire
-듯하다 = as if X, as though X (얻은듯해)
Haters better cop out
Credit card chops like 가라데 챱챱
Credit card chops like karate. Chop chop!
Me and my friend, 또 바꿔 트렌드세트
Me and my friend change it again, trend-setter.
또 = once again
바뀌다 = to change something
Hol up, man 이젠 너네가 뱁새
Hol up, man.You’re the crow-tits now.
(BTS has a long history with this word. See the Silver Spoon lyrics lesson for the full break-down.)
이제 = now
너네 = you (plural)
뱁새 = a crow-tit
정상엔 나와 친구들이 와있지
My friends and I have reached the top.
BTS, ROCKBOTTOM yeah that’s my team
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
항상 With my thug, right
Always with my thug, right
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
Smash on the street smash on the street
When I’m cruisin’ down damn airport
내 친구들과 비행기 타고
Riding airplanes with my friends
Everyday i’m so turnt up with my boys
Everyday i’m so turnt up with my dawg
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
항상 With my thug, right
Always with my thug, right
항상 With my dawg, right
Always with my dawg, right
Smash on the street smash on the street
나만의 Rule로 내 Bro와
With my bro, following only my rule,
같이 나란히 걸어
we walk side by side.
나란히 = side by side, in a row
걷다 = to walk
데뷔 전부터 우리만 믿고
Since before debut we only believed in ourselves.
전 = before
믿다 = to believe in, to trust
풍문은 거둬
Stop the hearsay.
풍문 = a rumour hearsay
거두다 = to withdraw, to stop
모두 적이었고
Everyone was the enemy.
모두 = every, everyone, everything
적 = an enemy
우리 편은 아무도 없었어
There was no one on our side.
편 = a side
아무도 = no one
없다 = to not be found, not exist
그런 팀이 역전했어
A team like that turned it around.
그렇다 = to be like that
역전하다 = to turn things around
이제 세계를 열어
Now we open the world.
세계 = a world
열다 = to open something
Feel like 가라오케
Feel like karaoke.
불러 흔들어 Check it
Sing it, shake it, check it.
부르다 = to sing
흔들다 = to shake
전 세계가 원해
The whole world wants it.
전 = whole, entire
원하다 = to want
우린 18번 Make it
We’re number 1. Make it.
(Literal translation: “We’re number 18.” Number 18 is slang meaning one’s favourite song at karaoke.)
번 = used for creating ordinal numbers. The “st” in “1st”, the “th” in 18th, etc.
그저 꿈꾸는 대로
Just like we dreamed,
그저 = just
꿈 꾸다 = to dream
대로 = according to X, in the manner of X
모두 현실이 됐지
everything became reality.
현실 = reality
되다 = to become
이제 우리의 Turn
Now it’s our turn.
싹 다 쏴버려 Riches
We shoot them all. Riches.
쏘다 = to shoot
정당성은 개 밥 밥
Legitimacy is dog food food
(Note that the pronunciation of “dog food” in Korean is almost identical to the Korean pronunciation of K-Pop.)
정당성 = legitimacy, justification
개 = a dog
밥 = rice, but commonly used to refer to food in general
앞뒤 없이 왈 왈
Without a second thought. Woof woof.
앞뒤 없이 = without a thought before or after
개같이 당당
Confidence like a dog.
당당 = confidence, justifiableness
객기, 억지, 착각
Bravado, insistence, delusion,
객기 = misplaced bravado, drunken courage
억지 = forcing something against one’s will
착각 = delusion
부려대는 짬밥
wielding your seniority.
부리다 = to behave, to act
-어대다 / -아대다 = used with some verbs to add the meaning of not just doing something once, but to keep doing something (부려내는)
짬밥 = (slang) years in the business, seniority
그들에게 Pow Pow
Pow pow to you all.
그 = that, those
우린 떳떳하게 앞 봐
Blamelessly, we look straight ahead.
떳떳하다 = to have no reason to be ashamed, to be blameless
-게 = turns an adjective into an adverb. IE: “blameless” becomes “blamelessly” (떳떳하게)
이룬 기록, 상과
With the records we’ve set and our awards
이루다 = to achieve, to accomplish
기록 = a record
상 = an award
그들을 밟아
we step on them.
밟다 = to step
With ma Label 발판
With ma label, a stepping stone.
발판 = a stepping stone, a toehold
With ma Fan 감사
With ma fan, gratitude.
감사 = gratitude
With ma Team
항상
Always.
