30-sec preview
2026 · From the album Show Me The Money 12 Episode 1 - EP
TICK TOCK (Prod. by ZICO, Crush) [feat. ZICO]
by HAON, Nosun, Raf Sandou, Marv & Jung Junhyuk
The reading
A posse cut built around the 15-second economy of short-form video, where each rapper tries to outrun the clock, the algorithm, and the doomscroll
02 · Interpretation
TICK TOCK: Rapping Against the Scroll
Cyphers built for TV rap competitions usually have to solve one problem: how do you make five rappers sound urgent on the same beat? On TICK TOCK, the producers ZICO and Crush solve it by making the beat itself a clock, and asking each MC to negotiate with the second hand.
The hook frames the stakes plainly. Every minute is money, get off your seat, eat before it cools, the deadline is now. It is the language of a Show Me The Money audition, a TikTok upload window, and a freelancer's inbox at once. The repeated "tick-tock" works both as ad-lib and as a pun on the platform that has reshaped how Korean rap reaches listeners; "Give me that 15 seconds" makes the reference explicit, framing a verse as a clip rather than a song.
HAON: time as a flex
HAON opens by claiming that time treats him differently, that the pressure he felt as a young winner is the evidence. He compares the beat to Morse code and a metronome, then drops a line about an "아기상어 같은 banger," a Baby Shark style earworm engineered to detonate in a single moment. The brag turns competitive in the second half, where he mocks rappers who mumble slowly and have no Benjamin Franklins to show for it, positioning himself as someone whose clock runs forward into generational wealth while theirs runs backwards.
Nosun: the scroll as sickness
Nosun flips the theme from hustle to symptom. His verse is the most anxious passage on the track: eyes hurting from the screen, vision going strange, feeling like an impostor the longer he watches Instagram. "S-W-I-P-E, that clock go" spells out the gesture that eats the day. The pun on being "sauced up like pasta" keeps the tone playful, but the verse reads as a diagnosis of the same platform the hook is hustling on. It is the song's one honest moment of doubt.
Raf Sandou: opting out, sort of
Raf Sandou answers with a shrug. Too much big talk, too much flex, he would rather sag his Ksubis and dance. "인생은 하나야 아니야 꿈" floats the idea that life might be the dream and not the grind. He still ends on the swipe, though, so the escape is partial.
Marv: keep moving
Marv re-enters the competition lane. He grooves like a snail on the beat, brags about two lungs and Park Ji-sung stamina, promises he is not going to drop out and has already made the cut, a direct nod to the Show Me The Money elimination format. The image of stealing time, posing for a click, catches the loop of the contest: perform, capture, post, repeat.
Jung Junhyuk: the real one
The closing verse leans into identity. He says he only spits what is real, so he filed to change his name to Kim Jinjja, literally "Kim Real." The shadow stretching across Seoul as the day lengthens is a nice image of arrival, the rookie's silhouette finally large enough to start the show. "이제 time is up" hands the deadline back to everyone else.
A brief outro section pulls the threads together: hunger for the feed, dopamine spikes, a Dora the Explorer Swiper reference sitting next to John Wick's Baba Yaga, and the line "We move in silence, move fast." It is a compact picture of the attention economy that Korean rap now competes inside.
Why it lands
As a Show Me The Money 12 launch track, TICK TOCK does the job a competition single has to do. It gives each rapper a distinct angle on one shared metaphor, and it builds a hook simple enough to be clipped. What keeps it interesting beyond the show is that the song is partly about the conditions of its own release. The rappers are racing a beat that ticks like the app that will decide whether anyone hears them.
Themes catalogued
03 · Lyrics
"TICK TOCK (Prod. by ZICO, Crush) [feat. ZICO]"
Tick-tock
Tick-tock
Tick-tock
Tick
시간은 나를 특별히 취급하지
남다르게 느꼈던 pressure가 evidence
메트로놈인 듯이 tickin' and tockin', 내 귀에 닿을 땐 (tick-tock)
번역이 돼 이건 drum, I'm breakin' the code
모스부호 같아, doo-doo, doo, doo-doo
아기상어 같은 banger 튀어나와 한순간 (tick-tock)
Give me that 15 seconds, 똑바로 들어
네 귀 뚫어줄게 피어싱 숍처럼
미니맵으로 너네들을 대충 봐도
발전의 속도가 빵점, 저런
아주 느리게 랩을 하고선
"이런 게 원래 멈블인가요?" (What?)
Benjamin Franklin 한 장도 없는
이 래퍼들 시간은 거꾸로 가요
반대로 난 이뤄내 부의 대물림
이제 매 끼니를 때워, yeah
Tickety-tock, 난 시간이 바빠
화면을 볼수록 눈이 좀 아파
시선이 이상해지는 것 같아
Like damn (tick-tock)
필요해 doctor, 잠가 놔 locker
인스타를 볼수록 feel like impostor
하루도 빠짐없이 I'm sauced up
Like pasta (tick-tock)
Yeah, tick-tock, 시간이 간다
인스타보다가 정신 토막, uh
Big talk, 말이 넘 많아, 하지 마 flex
In the hood like 사냥꾼
Let me just do me, saggin' my Ksubis
인생은 하나야 아니야 꿈
돈이나 뭐거나 필요 없고
다 버리고, baby, 난 춤이나 춤
Yeah, S-W-I-P-E, that clock go (tick-tock)
You see, 일분일초가 내 money (tick-tock)
Make it move 자리에서 떼 엉덩이 (tick-tock)
식기 전에 잡숴, 줄게 한입 더 (tick-tock)
Check the time, 재깍재깍, it's deadline, deadline, yeah, let's go (tick-tock)
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tick-tock-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tick-tock-tock, tick-tock
(Uh, yo) waddup? Ayy (ay, yeah)
Grooving like I'm snail like I'm on that beat
삶이 빠듯해도 I sag my pants, 살아 새벽에 (tick-tock)
두 개야 내 폐, 지성팍 난 캡, 너 느려터졌네 (what?)
Tick and tock, 기억해 알파벳 (tick-tock)
So I go hard on this beat, 발을 맞춰 move it quick
And I ain't gonna drop out, 난 getting pass
Yeah, I made the cut, hold up, rock on that top
Know I'm saying, 매초마다 난 새로워 (tick-tock)
Check my time like 째깍
Take a pose, 클릭 찰칵
Steal your time 가로 채가, oh
채가 째깍 째깍 (tick-tock)
난 real한 거만 뱉어서 개명, 신청했어 김진짜
침착한 조준 방아쇠 소리는 (tick-tock)
시간이 늘어지면 길어져 그림자
서울 전역이 내 그림자일 때 쇼는 시작
Turn the club up (club up)
Turn the club up (club up)
Uh-uh, uh, uh, oh, now we up
어제까지는 쉬었음
청년, uh, uh, uh
이제 time is up, 무슨 말이 더 (tick-tock)
필요, volume up, up, woo
시간 없는 관계루 할렐루 (tick-tock)
You see, 일분일초가 내 money (tick-tock)
Make it move 자리에서 떼 엉덩이 (tick-tock)
식기 전에 잡숴, 줄게 한입 더 (tick-tock)
Check the time, 재깍재깍, it's deadline, deadline, yeah, let's go (tick-tock)
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tick-tock-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tick-tock-tock, tick-tock
Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh
I need that feed
배가 꼬르륵 please
피가 돌아 너의 pics
Running out of time, 나도 빨리 (tick-tock)
난 좋아해 bee-bop
Up-tempo 신어, my feet hot
A piacere, no 정박, no 신파
또 터져 도파민 (tick-tock), but they telling me
Swiper no swiping
Swiper no swiping
All they see is that clip, clip, clip
오히려 좋아 난 he-he-he
Baba Yaga 나를 불러
If they wanna make a fast hit, hit, hit
이젠 벌어 백배
올라 탔어 뒷배, 거북선에 가시 빽빽
We move in silence, move fast (tick-tock)
You see, 일분일초가 내 money (tick-tock)
Make it move 자리에서 떼 엉덩이 (tick-tock)
식기 전에 잡숴, 줄게 한입 더 (tick-tock)
Check the time, 재깍재깍, it's deadline, deadline, yeah, let's go (tick-tock)
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tick-tock-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tick-tock-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tick-tock-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Tick-tick-tock-tock, tick-tock
Lyrics via Google. Copyright belongs to rights holders.
04 · FAQ
Frequently asked
What does the '15 seconds' line in TICK TOCK refer to?
Is TICK TOCK actually about the app TikTok?
Why does Jung Junhyuk say he changed his name to Kim Jinjja in TICK TOCK?
What is Nosun's verse on TICK TOCK saying about social media?
How does TICK TOCK fit into Show Me The Money 12?
Who produced TICK TOCK and how does the beat shape the song?
What do the Swiper and Baba Yaga references in TICK TOCK mean?
05 · Discography
![TICK TOCK (Prod. by ZICO, Crush) [Backing Track]](https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music221/v4/84/61/b4/8461b4a4-0302-5e7a-c591-21b9fdeaf96b/888272179507_Cover.jpg/600x600bb.jpg)