BTS RM’s Verse On “Sexy Nukim” Shows His Unmatched Songwriting Skills
Balming Tiger‘s “Sexy Nukim” featuring RM of BTS dropped on September 1, and within minutes, fans were flabbergasted by the suggestive lyrics of RM’s verse. But now that ARMYs have had time to settle down a little, they have discovered the many trademark touches of RM’s witty writing style in the lyrics.
Twitter user @mooniejoonie posted a detailed analysis that pointed out multiple interesting techniques RM has employed in his verse. He not only mirrored the rhyming scheme of the verses that came before his but also used his famous bilingual wordplay to elevate the song to a different level.
Alright let's talk about Namjoon's verse in #SEXYNUKIM because goddamn. Notice how he references rhyme schemes and structures from both the first verse and the chorus of the song, and adds his own flavor including double rhymes and bilingual schemes!#RMverse #BALMINGTIGER #RM pic.twitter.com/hKCOpVxwDi
— Moonchild⁷| SEXY NUKIM NOW (@MoonieJoonieee) September 1, 2022
He starts off with this line: “Fresh like a hell of an oyster, boy,” which is a call back to the last line of the chorus, “Maybe you wanna be fresh?” Also, the Korean word for oyster, ‘kul,’ sounds like ‘cool’ when he raps. So, in the first line itself, RM has not only used a clever analogy of seafood to refer to the last line of the chorus but also managed to use a pun.
Just realizing he did a pun with 굴 (oyster) – fresh like an oyster
And Cool – also fresh.Love Joonie's English Korean puns so much
— Asmita 💜 ⁷ (@koonaikoo) September 1, 2022
The next line, “Check my attitude, know we always break the rule boy/ That cheap-ass rollie and ‘rarri, yo, what you doin’ boy?” also mirrors the first two lines of the first verse that goes: “Check my attitude I’m a rude boy/ Cartier shades on me, how you doin’ boy?” The fourth line of RM’s verse uses the term “doom boy” to create a rhyme with the previous line’s “what you doin’ boy?” This technique is a type of assonance known as bending words in rap music. The emcee ‘bends’ the pronunciation of a word to create a similar vowel sound between two words and complete the rhyme.
the way he moves his head while saying doom boy is so addicting to watch pic.twitter.com/8ZbPn81HYr
— honey⁷ sexy nukim 💗 (@honeypotjoonie) September 1, 2022
The next four lines also use the same assonance technique to create slant rhymes, a rhyming scheme created with similar but not identical sounding syllables. The following two lines go: “I have no time to feel lonely, 24 hours/ Man, you just gotta be sorry/ Yo shit is sour.” Here RM has used the ABAB rhyme scheme, or what is known as the Alternate Rhyme, where he uses “lonely” and “sorry” to create one rhyme and “hours” and “sour” to create another.
MAN YOU JUST GOT TO BE SORRY YOUR SHIT IS SOUR pic.twitter.com/MrCXjwdDYG
— sen⁷ (@sugatradamus) September 1, 2022
He finishes his verse with another callback to the first verse. The lines “Ain’t gotta DM/ ‘Cause you heard about my team” mirror the same rhyme scheme of verse one’s “Don’t slide into my DMs…I only ride with me team.”
ayyee joon shouting out Bangtan!
'cuz you heard about my team' pic.twitter.com/v8sdbPfPrI
— keep strugglin⁷ stream sexy nukim (slow) (@keepstrugglin_) September 1, 2022
In a recent interview, Balming Tiger stated, “…there was a part we thought only RM could do while we were making a group song.” Now that fans have analyzed RM’s lyrics, it is even more evident why the group felt he would be an irreplaceable addition to the song. “Sexy Nukim” is a song that says a person does not need materialistic things to be attractive. RM drove the song’s message home with his technique, proving he doesn’t need anything but his pen to create the sexy nukim in real life.
