Epik High Is All About Their Middle Fingers

Welcome to Golden Dragon, a newsletter by Eric Diep about Asians in hip-hop and my takes on trending topics in AAPI pop culture. Golden Dragon is a rotation of interviews, reviews, news, critical perspectives, and random blogs about music I recommend.

• An epic review of Epik High’s Sept. 4 show in Dallas.

• A review of Nene’s Gekiatsu, produced by Koshy (“Team Tomodachi,” “Mamushi”).

• Diep Cuts featuring Ruby Ibarra, Yoshi T., Ted Park, and RM.

• Send It: When Dummie met Andy as told at TIFF, Olivia Rodrigo shares exciting plans for October.

I’m watching Tablo from Epik High grab an oversized middle finger from a fan in the crowd at House of Blues in Dallas.

Tablo explains the middle finger is “not only our mentality, it is our culture.” Several in attendance have these official light sticks called “Park Kyu Bong,” released last year, a brightly glowing middle finger that changes color.

“A lot of people misunderstood when we dropped this middle finger light stick. They were like, ‘How could you? It could be offensive to some people.’ But they don’t realize that this is a symbol of love,” Tablo says.