The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 62

< Verse 10. 888 X 888 >

Among these, ‘Gwangju UP’ is Sanghyun’s solo track.

Originally, they weren’t planning to include any solo tracks, but it was added due to strong requests from the crew members. In truth, there wasn’t a hook as catchy as ‘Gwangju UP,’ nor a song that could capture the audience’s attention right from the start.

‘Fuck the Show Biz’ was, as mentioned before, an encore song. They wouldn’t perform it unless there was an encore.

While they were engrossed in preparing for the performance, Woominho suddenly jumped up from his seat.

“Got it!”

Woominho, shouting, stopped the music. Junhyung, who had been absorbed in rapping, grumbled with an awkward expression.

“Ah, why’d you turn it off?”

“Gather around. I’ve come up with an amazing idea.”

Sanghyun tilted his head. It was the first time Woominho, who constantly lacked confidence, had used such a phrase. An amazing idea?

“What is it?”

“Crew Symbol.”

“Symbol?”

On the A4 paper Woominho was waving, there was a character mixed with black and red. Park Inhyuk, with his impatient personality, looked at the A4 paper first and shouted.

“Oh, shit! What is this!”

“Why? What is it?”

“Wow! Awesome! Did you just think of this, hyung [older brother or male friend]?”

Even Hayeon, who was surprisingly critical of her work, was deeply impressed, so Sanghyun snatched the A4 paper out of curiosity. And then Sanghyun, like the other members, was amazed.

At first glance, it looked similar to the 888 X 888 logo they had already made into a poster. Only the curved shape of the 8 had been changed to a straight line.

However, upon closer inspection, there was a very interesting device inside.

Inside the ‘日’ [Japanese character meaning ‘day’ or ‘sun’] written in black, a letter was hidden in red.

In other words, the symbol ‘888 X 888’ contained the message ‘062 X RAP’.

‘This is really awesome.’

Sanghyun’s eyes seemed to light up at the discovery of an unexpected treasure. It was the perfect symbol for goods marketing.

Sanghyun especially liked the Gwangju area code, 062.

Detroit rappers proudly cherish their area code, 313. LA rappers also represent their area code, 213.

Sanghyun thought that the 888 crew representing 062 was no different from the mindset of Detroit and LA rappers.

“I couldn’t capture the shading and color because I drew it roughly with a pen, but if you work on this with a computer, it’ll be really amazing…”

“Hyung!”

Sanghyun’s firm call cut off Woominho’s words. Woominho, who had been speaking with an excited expression, looked uneasy.

“Why…? You don’t like it?”

“Let’s make this into T-shirts and towels. How long will it take?”

“Huh? Towels? What towels?”

“You know, like those huge towels in foreign hotels. What do you call them? Anyway, you can wrap them around your body during the performance, or unfold them and show them off. Ah, it would be nice to make small banners too, wouldn’t it? New Era will take a while, right? Let’s just quickly proceed with the T-shirts and towels first.”

“Are you going to use them for this performance?”

“Of course.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? There are only 4 days left until the performance? It’ll take at least two days just to design it on the computer. The shading must be clearly distinguished, and the color sensitivity…”

“No. I think it looks great as it is now. Let’s proceed.”

“No. This needs to be reworked.”

“Just do it.”

“I said it needs to be reworked!”

“Shut up and just do it!”

At Sanghyun’s shout, Sangmi pouted and retaliated for being scolded by Sanghyun earlier.

“Oppa [term used by females to address older brothers or male friends]! What kind of manners are you using to an adult!”

“Hwan hyung told me to handle Minho hyung like this!”

Whether Sanghyun was using harsh words or not, Woominho realized that Sanghyun was completely enamored with his design.

While Sanghyun was badgering the whining Woominho, a good idea came to mind.

‘Come to think of it, there’s no need to limit 888 to just 062, is there?’

It can be easily made with Busan’s 051 or Daegu’s 053.

‘If I use this well, I can go beyond goods marketing…’

For the first time in a while, Sanghyun’s entrepreneurial spirit began to stir.

***

Finally, the day of the performance dawned.

Bae Ga (Vega), the head of Stars Records, Bae Sangwook, was grinning from ear to ear as he watched the audience line up to enter.

To be honest, it would be a lie if he said he wasn’t expecting performance revenue, but more than that, he was happy to witness the growing Korean hip-hop market with his own eyes.

The maximum number of people allowed to enter this Club Hommie underground hip-hop party was 1500.

Bae Sangwook thought that even 500 people would be a huge success, but after the performance was announced, nearly 500 people had already made online reservations. In particular, the number of reservations tallied on the day the 888 crew was revealed as the lineup and the following day was roughly one hundred.

They were really like treasures to Bae Sangwook.

‘Can I really not give them a fee?’

The reason Bae Sangwook first contacted the 888 crew was very simple. It was because he wanted to see the live performance of ‘Fuck the Show Biz’.

Therefore, when Lee Sanghyun asked to book the entire 888 crew, he was slightly taken aback. The reason he accepted the request was not because of his expectations for the 888 crew and Lee Sanghyun. It would be more accurate to say that he accepted it out of consideration for his juniors.

Bae Sangwook thought that the issue of ‘Fuck the Show Biz’ would soon die down. The Korean hip-hop scene is small, so even small things become big issues. But even so, it was difficult for the ripple effect of a single song, rather than an album, to last long.

‘But then ‘Gwangju UP’ came up.’

‘Gwangju UP’ didn’t give Bae Sangwook the thrill of Next Stage that he felt from ‘Fuck the Show Biz’. But in some ways, he liked it even more than ‘Fuck the Show Biz’.

If ‘Fuck the Show Biz’ was an album track where the rapper poured out his story, ‘Gwangju UP’ felt like a party song to play with the audience.

Although not as much as ‘Fuck the Show Biz’, ‘Gwangju UP’ was also quite an issue among hip-hop fans. This was even more so because there were no songs that promoted ‘regional’ swagger in Korean underground hip-hop yet.

And it didn’t end there.

Although he made a fatal mistake of forgetting the lyrics during the last competition, Lee Sanghyun showed a rap performance with a band at the Jeonju World Wide Indie Music Festival.

The only rapper to appear at the biggest music festival in Korea. It was quite an attractive title for hip-hop fans.

‘Come to think of it, it’s like he’s continuing the issue as if he intended to?’

Considering the Hommie performance that follows this time, it’s no exaggeration to say that Lee Sanghyun has dominated August.

There are usually two cases like this.

Either it’s a moment of luck, as if the sky is helping, or Lee Sanghyun is really smart.

‘But why isn’t this sky-helped bastard coming?’

Bae Sangwook, who had been lost in thought for a while, was startled when he looked at his watch.

It was already well past 6 o’clock.

“Manager hyung, how many audience members have entered so far?”

“I think more than two-thirds have entered, but I’m not sure. Wow, this is really amazing.”

The manager of Club Hommie was also grinning from ear to ear.

Before the performance starts, a DJ party and cocktail party continue until all the audience members enter. It’s fluid, but roughly thinking, the performance will start around 7:15.

Bae Sangwook anxiously checked the text messages he had exchanged about 4 hours ago.

-Hyung, I’m really sorry, but I don’t think we can do the rehearsal.

-What? You can’t do the rehearsal? What are you talking about?

-I’m really, really sorry. We have something prepared for this performance, but the merchandise isn’t being delivered from the factory. So we decided to find it directly at the Incheon Industrial Complex, but we took the wrong way again.

-When are you coming?

-I’m trying to get there as soon as possible. I’ll arrive by 7 o’clock at the latest.

-If that’s the case, you should have come up to Seoul yesterday and rehearsed? I told you to come to the rehearsal the day before if you didn’t have time. How can you have a performance without a rehearsal?

-Yesterday was Friday.

-So what?

-I have school from Friday…

Bae Sangwook chuckled again after seeing Lee Sanghyun’s last text message. That’s right. He had forgotten, but this bastard is a high schooler.

“Ah, damn it!”

Bae Sangwook covered his phone with the thought that he would come before 7 o’clock. And then he started helping the staff who were busy preparing for the first performance.

***

“Ah, damn it.”

Editor-in-chief Hwang Joochul grumbled and got into the car. The car, which had been left in the scorching sun, was a steam room. A sauna is separate.

‘Ah, this is really not it.’

However, the problem was not the heat.

Even if it’s the president’s order, this is too much. Telling me to go to Club Hommie to cover the story?

The wife of the junior who was originally in charge of Club Hommie gave birth earlier than expected, so the order was strangely twisted.

‘Damn it. If he had told me to get an interview with the 888 crew, I would have really written my resignation letter.’

Currently, Show Biz’s position in the hip-hop scene is ‘son of a bitch’. Among band players, they whisper, ‘Is it really fabricated?’, but rappers curse as soon as they meet him.

It was frustrating, but he understood the president’s mind.

‘Show Biz, who planned the format of the ‘Band VS Rapper’ music interview, faced an unexpected difficulty. That was that the rappers were refusing to be interviewed one after another.

Of course, immature and ignorant B-class rappers who don’t know anything say ‘Thank you’ at the word interview, but A-class rappers cancel as soon as they hear the name Show Biz. Issue-making with only B-class rappers was impossible.

‘Make a special article! Hip-hop culture landing in Korea!’

The president’s order was to cover the underground hip-hop party at Club Hommie and get an interview with Bae Ga, who made it happen.

‘Damn it, why doesn’t he try it himself? Does he think my face is made of steel?’

Editor-in-chief Hwang Joochul grumbled and drove the car. What else can he do but do what he’s told?

Hwang Joochul, who had been driving for a while, parked in a paid parking lot near Hommie and was impressed by the incredibly long line. There were industry expectations that it would do well, but this was far beyond expectations.

Hip-hop is definitely landing in Korea.

‘If this goes on, won’t the broadcasting industry be all hip-hop in a few years?’

Hwang Joochul, who had inadvertently predicted the future, sighed deeply and took out his interview camera and recorder. It’s summer, so it’s hot even though it’s well past 6 o’clock.

Hwang Joochul approached the staff controlling the crowd and identified himself. Then the staff, who had pulled his hat down to cover half of his face, looked at him with a sullen expression.

The staff, who looked back and forth between the business card Hwang Joochul handed him and himself, opened his mouth with a somewhat reluctant voice.

“Show Business… is it?”

“Yes. I’m trying to cover the story…”

“Your name is Hwang Joochul?”

The staff looked at the business card Hwang Joochul handed him and said that.

“Yes. More than that, Bae Ga, who hosted today’s performance…”

“Aren’t you the one who fabricated it?”

“Ha… You don’t know much, but there’s no such thing as fabrication…!”

“There is no interview.”

Hwang Joochul made a dumbfounded expression.

“When did I say I was going to interview the staff? Isn’t there a Bae Ga at Stars Records? The one who hosted this performance.”

“Yes. There is.”

“I’m not asking the staff, I’m asking that person for an on-site interview.”

Hwang Joochul was angry, but he held it in. He remembered the call with his junior.

‘Hyung, I’ve talked to Bae Ga several times, but he said he’ll never do an interview with us.’

Lee Sanghyun is the problem. When you think about it, that damn bastard made a strange diss song and everyone found out.

At first, he thought it could happen, but these days, he wanted to sue him for defamation.

< Verse 10. 888 X 888 > End

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