HOP

HOP

Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024

Stray Kids

Mixtape HOP—not to be confused with Stray Kids’ 2018 EP titled Mixtape—is the K-pop group’s final release in a busy 2024. As in hip-hop, K-pop artists use the term “mixtape” to categorize material released without the level of promotional fanfare of a regular album or single; K-pop mixtapes are usually self-produced and may feature tracks that fall outside of a group’s existing discographic boundaries in some way, e.g., a focus on solo music.

Stray Kids subunit 3RACHA (aka Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han) has co-written most of the group’s songs since their 2018 debut. HOP, however, expands the self-production responsibilities, with each member getting co-writing credit on their own solo songs, originally performed as part of the group’s “dominATE” world tour set list. In addition to the solo tracks, HOP includes two versions of lead single “Walkin on Water,” an old-school hip-hop track reminiscent of BTS’s “Jump,” which was in turn inspired by Kris Kross’ 1992 hit “Jump.” B-side “U” features Epik High leader Tablo, a K-pop sunbaenim influential in the Korean hip-hop scene.