In Korea, all males between the ages of 18 and 35 are forced to do military service because of their wayward neighbor from the north, not to mention a lurking dragon to the west. For most Korean men, this 18 to 21 months of wasted time, even though they might not think that if an actual war broke out in the Asian region.

In a lot of countries where military service is mandatory, people can get out of it if they are rich, have guanxi, or know a “friendly” doctor who can write them an excuse. This is not the case in Korea as even the biggest band on Earth, BTS, is in the midst of their military service.

For a rapper like Code Kunst, the military service was awful. In a recently released interview with YouTuber Kian84, Code discussed his time as a conscript saying that he regularly got beat up because of his big ears. In the past, hazing of new cadets was common to teach inner strength, discipline, and hierarchy. He said that he’d even get hit when songs with words in them that sounded like ears would be played.

Code went on to stress that being in the military helped him gain a thirst for music because he couldn’t listen to what he wanted. When he got away for the weekend or on break, he would just make music like crazy because he wanted to keep up with others who were releasing songs.

Check out Kian84’s interview with Code Kunst below.