Can I just talk about the genius that is BTS Cypher, Pt.2: Triptych. Disclaimer: I just want to say this is my own interpretation, and you can agree or disagree.

Anyway! So first and foremost, this is hands down my favorite Cypher, followed closely by Cypher pt.3.

The name always struck me as unique. Triptych? What is that. Well from the word tri I knew it had something do so with the number three but I didn’t know much else. Luckily my art buff friend told me, it’s a work of art that is divided into three sections and can fold up.

This is the Wikipedia definition, and although it originally was used for a piece of art, it has since been adopted to refer to any one piece of work which consists of three parts.

There were a few things I found really interesting. The first is that in a Triptych, the images usually have some sort of theme, or connection. They could be part of a whole picture, telling a story, or sharing a similar theme.

So what is the theme, the whole picture of Cypher pt. 2? Well, Hoseok lays it out in the hook. This cypher is all about the style, and flow of the three rappers of BTS. That’s the overarching theme. They are flexing their skills. Which makes sense because this is a Cypher.

A cypher (or Cipher) is traditionally a term used in hip hop to describe a freestyle rap session which goes in a circle, uninterrupted and it’s one way for rappers to showcase their skills.

Going through Cypher Pt.2’s lyrics, and I’m not going to go line by line, because google exist, it’s free and I’m lazy, the song is pretty much the Rapline not just bragging about their skills on the mic, but also dissing other “rappers”. These are a few of my favorite burns.

So there is a unified theme throughout the lyrics but each of their verses displays a different style and flow the three rappers have. So while they are all connected in one theme, they are also painting different pictures with their sound and lyrics.

But this is the COOLEST PART! This is literally the only time I can ever be accused of having a stop watch on and looking at line distribution but that’s because I believe it’s intentionally created to mimic a Triptych painting.

In a Triptych painting, the largest painting is in the middle while two smaller paintings are the sides. “Triptych” is almost 5 minutes, Namjoon has the longest verse, about 2 minutes, while Hoseok and Yoongi share around 1:30 each and who has the middle verse? Namjoon!

I truly think that this was done in a way to mimic a Triptych painting, with Namjoon as the center painting, flanked by Hoseok and Yoongi’s verses.

Even after listening to Triptych for five years, I still find myself discovering new things thanks to the genius of BTS.