The revelation comes from director Chris Appelhans, who co-directed the animated hit with Maggie Kang. In a new oral history published by The New York Times, the filmmakers and musicians behind the project explained how hip-hop storytelling helped shape one of the biggest songs of the year.
Kang created the concept for KPop Demon Hunters, which follows three young women who perform as the K-pop group Huntr/x while secretly fighting demons. Since its release on Netflix, the film has become the most-watched movie in the platform’s history.
At the emotional core of the story is “Golden,” a song about friendship, survival, and resisting the darker side of the K-pop industry. Appelhans said the team wasn’t trying to copy Biggie’s sound, but rather his message.
“Our references were a Biggie track called ‘Juicy,’” Appelhans told the Times. “There was Drake, Eminem, Lil Wayne. Those were songs about starting as nobodies and finding yourself through music.”
Like “Juicy,” “Golden” is a rise-from-nothing story — a celebration of ambition and belief — even though the music itself lives firmly in the world of modern pop.
Biggie, born Christopher Wallace and also known as Biggie Smalls, was killed in a 1997 shooting at the age of 24. In recent years, his name has often surfaced in discussions about his ties to Bad Boy Records founder Sean Combs. That makes his creative influence on a new generation of K-pop and hip-hop fans all the more meaningful.
Hip-hop runs throughout KPop Demon Hunters. Huntr/x’s youngest member, Zoey, is a rapper and lyricist, and the aggressive fan-favorite track “Takedown” leans heavily into diss-track energy. The film’s music blends pop, rap, and storytelling in ways that feel global rather than genre-locked.
Singer-songwriter Ejae, who provides the singing voice for Huntr/x leader Rumi, said “Golden” was the hardest song to crack. She co-wrote the track along with several others for the film and recalled that it took roughly eight versions before the final one landed.
Kang said she knew they had it the moment she heard the opening notes while riding to the airport in Vancouver. “Not even the lyrics yet — just the track,” she said. Asking Ejae to push her voice to its limit helped create the song’s emotional power, even if it made it nearly impossible to perform live.
The effort paid off. “Golden” topped the Billboard Global 200, became the longest-running No. 1 by a fictional group on the U.S. Hot 100, and achieved a rare 2025 “perfect all-kill” in South Korea.
Now, the song — and the film behind it — is a serious contender in the Oscars race for best original song. For a track inspired by a 30-year-old hip-hop anthem, “Golden” has proven that stories about rising up never go out of style.
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