Drunk by Thundercat - Kung Pao Chicken Wings
Treble Chef | Drunk | Kung Pao Chicken Wings Full Video
Drunk is a chaotic journey that unveils the turbulence of life through curiosity, self-reflection, love, loss, and fear. The unfiltered lyrics and constantly changing rhythms create a rollercoaster of emotions that finishes with a six-song freefall. The overall feeling of this album is that life is so damn crazy, it’s worth laughing about.
The lyrics in the first stretch allow you to get comfortable in weirdness and humor, just like when the liquor starts talking. As the album progresses, we gradually see more substance, but always relieved by cool bumping rhythms and weird jazzy melodies. The lyrics resemble a running stream of consciousness, making them relatable as to how being a person really is. One minute you can be thinking about how cool it would be to be a cat, literally, and the next minute you’re second-guessing reality.
The album kicks off with “Rabbit Ho,” which introduces the liquid, existential sounds of the work as Thundercat invites us to “go hard, get drunk, and travel down a rabbit hole.” The next four songs flip the script to establish a basis for the sounds of the rest of the album. “Captain Stupido” sets the tone for the frequent (and much needed) comedic relief. “Uh Uh” is a display of raw talent, as he weaves his bass in and out of anxious jazz chord progressions. “Bus In These Streets” captures the first appearance of the Nintendo-sounding Japanese influence that plays a core role in this album’s identity. Thundercat is not shy in his admiration for anime, arcade video games, and Japan as a whole. Listen to “Tokyo”, you’ll get the idea. Finally, “A Fan’s Mail (Tron Song Suite II)” delivers the underwater groove that defines Thundercat’s style and makes a statement on the album’s biggest hit, “Them Changes.” These first five songs get us familiar with the different sounds, styles, and textures that Thundercat explores on the other 18 tracks of this masterpiece.
The last six songs of the record elicit overwhelming existential feelings that reflect what it’s like to spiral deep into your own head. Thundercat perfectly conveys the dangers of following those thoughts when they start down a darker path. However, the last song of the album, “DUI”, gives a breath of fresh air after all the chaos passes over. The lyrics in this one offer a rather comforting insight: At the end of the day, you just need to accept yourself and work toward who you want to be. Tomorrow’s a new day. Thanks, Thundercat.
In both the album and recipe, there is a duality of care-free fun and complex feelings. At the surface level, the base of this dish revolves around chicken wings. It encourages you to get your hands dirty, throw correctness out the window, and live in the moment. But after all the fun is over, it leaves you with an incredible depth of flavor that makes you wonder, “what’s really going on here?”
The Kung Pao sauce is the true heart and soul of this dish. It delivers a familiar sweet and sour profile before unveiling an eccentric numbing spice rarely found in Americanized versions. Where does that numbing spice come from? None other than the Sichuan Peppercorn, known not for its heat, but the unusual tingling sensation it distributes across the tongue and lips when consumed. It also carries beautiful floral flavors and aromas. One hell of an ingredient.
For one last compliment to the wings, I candied ginger to take this dish another step further in flavor dimensions and presentation opportunities. The purpose of the candied ginger, besides looking pretty, is to act as a palette cleanser to prevent the Sichuan peppercorn from taking you too far into its own world.
The Kung Pao Chicken Wings were inspired not only by the chaos and beauty of Drunk, but also its accessibility. The multicultural, jazz-born sound of Thundercat is truly complex. His ability to balance that complexity with the personal relatability of his lyrics makes the album shine, and this same concept is shown through the dish. Here, I’m conveying authentic Chinese cooking through the medium of the easily identifiable chicken wing. The recipe draws on cultural influences, while simultaneously expressing the conflicting sides of the human experience: unfiltered humor and social expressions, and internal battles with a constantly wandering mind. At first, you’re simply crushing wings, then, within an instance, a chaotic numbing spice is sending you head-first down the rabbit hole.
Click here for the full recipe. Compared to other recipes on this site, this one is relatively easy to make, and incredibly delicious! Enjoy the food and music and stayed tuned for the next recipe and album pairing.
