Here’s something I never thought I’d say: Everyone needs to listen to this diss track a K-pop idol wrote about Gordon Ramsay. No, I’m serious. NCT’s Mark’s “Golden Hour,” a song and music video he dropped on April 7, is all about some old “beef” he has with the famous British chef over his inability to cook eggs. Confused? You should be. But don’t worry, I’m about to break down the Mark Lee-Gordon Ramsay situation in detail, so you can listen to this track (which slaps, BTW) with the full context it requires.
If you’re not familiar with Mark and NCT, here’s a quick primer: NCT are a K-pop group that debuted in 2016. They’re broken down, as of now, into four different units: NCT 127, NCT Dream, NCT U, and WayV. Their initial concept was to be a “limitless” group that kept adding members forever and ever, with their current total hovering somewhere above 20 (with some new rookies possibly about to join their ranks, we still don’t know how many members they actually have). They decided to retire that concept this year, to focus on the activities of their current members. A good move, if you ask me, because the members they have — like Mark — are doing some wild things out here.
Mark is a part of NCT 127, NCT Dream, and NCT U. Hailing from Canada, he was one of the first members to debut in 2016, and has become a standout for his uniquely addicting rap style. When NCT set up NCT LAB, a project intended to spotlight NCT members’ solo works, Mark was the first to use the platform in 2022 with his song “Child.” “Golden Hour,” as a follow-up, has a very different and more upbeat sound and message — but what does that all have to do with Gordon Ramsay?
Gordon Ramsay dissed Mark’s eggs in a viral Tweet in 2018.
Mark appeared in the 2017 South Korean reality show It’s Dangerous Beyond the Blankets, in which homebodies are sent on a trip together. During Season 2, Episode 8, Mark was alone in the kitchen and decided to cook up some eggs — but because the egg was sticking to the pan, the end result was… less than stellar. You can watch the video below to see what I mean. (In fairness to him, he was 17 or 18 at the time, and definitely not a master chef.)
In 2018, while Ramsay was answering fan questions on Twitter, one NCTzen (the name for NCT’s fans) decided to tweet a picture of Mark’s eggs for Ramsay to judge. “My boyfriend was making eggs,” the tweet reads. “What do you think?” Ramsay’s response was brutal, but hilarious: “Get back on Tinder!” I want to say Ramsay might’ve been more polite had he known he was talking about a celebrity’s cooking, but, well, he’s Gordon Ramsay, so probably not.
The moment went viral, racking up over 100,000 likes, and became something of an inside joke among NCTzens — and even NCT themselves. Mark has always remained in good humor about it: During their game show NCT World 2.0 in 2020, the producers even set up a challenge for Mark to cook 23 eggs sunny side up, one for each of the members at the time. That’s with the yolk intact, something he failed at last time. Ramsay was, of course, name-dropped, and the resulting challenge (see the video below) was hilarious as all the other members tried to, well, “egg” him on. Get it? OK, I’ll stop.
So now you know the origin story of the Mark-Gordon beef. But what does Mark say in “Golden Hour” that has fans talking about it again?
Mark’s “Golden Hour” lyrics show he’s unbothered by criticism, including ramsay’s.
“Golden Hour” is being called a Gordon Ramsay diss track because it does explicitly name-drop him, but there is a bit more going on here. The song is basically about Mark feeling himself, and finding pride in his success — even if he can’t cook eggs.
“I don’t know how to make eggs/But that I do not stress/Because I’ve never been hungry,” he says in the first verse. It’s kind of a symbolic brushing off of his shoulders — if he can’t cook eggs, at least he can cook up good music! He adds, “Excuse me, waiter/That golden yolk in the middle/Make it right/I’m calling Gordon Ramsay,” which is a direct reference to both the hallmark of a good sunny side egg and Ramsay’s comment. The mention of the waiter also means Mark’s got someone else to cook his eggs for him. Kind of a flex.
Ramsay isn’t the only one Mark is taking shots at in “Golden Hour,” to be fair; he has a spoken word interlude that seems to point at some other haters. “You know, we live in a world that constantly tries to take you away from you,” he says. “Everyone is being everyone but themselves, here but not around.” He ends the section with, “Wait, but what does that mean?” and laughs. According to Genius, this could be a reference to people who have mocked his songwriting and poetry before, claiming that what he says is confusing or silly. Just like with Ramsay, Mark is proving himself to be in on the joke here, not worried about what others say.
So is Mark taking the egg comment a bit too seriously here? Honestly, I think he’s just having fun with it; the music video’s aesthetics are similarly kind of zany, featuring lots of egg imagery. Fans who know Mark know he’s shown himself to be very laidback in NCT content.
Ramsay responded by stitching NCT’s TikTok about the song.
After a few days of radio silence, Ramsay confirmed he’d heard “Golden Hour” with — what else? — a TikTok.
Playing on the lyric “I’m calling Gordon Ramsay,” Ramsay looks down in confusion at his phone that is very much not ringing. “I’m still waiting for my call….” the caption reads, but not without one final (lighthearted) shot at Mark’s cooking: “Hope the #eggs are better now!”
If you ask me, this calls for a collab video where the two make amends and Ramsay teaches Mark how to make the perfect fried egg. I’ll be waiting. In the meantime, I’m going to have this on repeat. A diss track about eggs shouldn’t go this hard, but somehow it does.
This article was originally published on 4/7/23. It was updated on 4/13/23.