The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 80

Verse 13. Circle

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Sanghyun took off his headset and slowly regulated his breathing. Soon, the beat faded out.

“Can we do it again?”

“Are you tired? Have a sip of water first.”

At Assistant Instructor An Sumi’s words, Sanghyun came out of the booth.

‘This isn’t easy.’

Just like feeling self-conscious when someone is watching you play a game, Sanghyun felt a strange tension knowing that someone was recording his voice.

Sanghyun was recording his voice in Professor Kim Un-cheol’s lab at Jeonnam National University. To be precise, he was recording his ‘rapping voice.’

‘I believe you make a special sound when you rap. So, I want to compare and record your voice when you rap and when you speak,’ Professor Kim had said.

Originally, he was supposed to meet with Professor Kim Un-cheol more often. However, he had been too busy dealing with everything from the Show Business incident to Club Homie’s performance. When Sanghyun became free, Professor Kim Un-cheol became busy.

So, this was his third recording session. Today, Professor Kim Un-cheol was absent, and Assistant Instructor An Sumi, who helped Professor Kim Un-cheol with his research, was conducting the recording instead.

Holding water, Sanghyun spoke to An Sumi, who was blankly staring at the unfamiliar recording equipment.

“What do you think of Professor Kim Un-cheol’s words, Assistant Instructor An?”

“Pardon? Which words?”

“The idea that there is power in the voice and that this power can be specifically analyzed.”

“Well, there are quite a few related papers in American academia, so it’s not that I don’t believe it… but honestly, it’s hard to completely believe it.”

An Sumi answered with an awkward smile.

“Then, Sanghyun, or rather, Sanghyun-ssi…”

“You can just speak comfortably.”

“Um, should I? Then, do you completely believe the professor’s words? Is it obvious since you’re participating in the experiment?”

“No. To be honest, I don’t completely believe it. I think it’s unrealistic. The concept of language magic is something that only appears in mythology. But well, since there are papers, I don’t completely doubt it either. I guess I feel similarly?”

“But why are you working so hard? Do you know you’re recording the same song for the ninth time now?”

“That’s because the equipment here is too good.”

That was the truth. Most of the equipment that Professor Kim Un-cheol had set up for his research were expensive, German-made devices. Things that Sanghyun couldn’t even dream of buying when he was setting up his own studio. Thanks to that, Sanghyun was recording with a feeling of having struck gold.

The only downside was that since they were trying to capture the original sound as is, rather than for audio processing, there was no recording interface, including a mixer.

However, this was a problem that Sanghyun could solve by extracting the sound and mixing it himself.

‘Renting a professional recording studio like this would cost at least a million won [approximately $800 USD], right? Do singers record their albums in even better places?’

So, rather than participating in research, Sanghyun was rapping with the concept of recording a mixtape.

The only downside was that he could only record solo songs.

If only his sound was significantly better in a song with his team members, a balance gap would occur. If the sound balance was broken, Sanghyun’s part might sound good, but it could cause fatigue when listening to the entire song.

‘I need to gather equipment like this someday. Then all our team members can use it together.’

Thinking that way, Sanghyun was recording only solo songs for now.

“Assistant Instructor An, I’ve rested enough, so let’s try again.”

“Okay, I’ll prepare.”

Sanghyun entered the booth, put on his headset, and signaled to An Sumi. Soon, a seemingly calm and heavy beat began to play.

This beat was not the new sound that Sanghyun had been pursuing, but rather a boom bap style beat of the East Coast genre, commonly used in the current hip-hop scene.

The title of the song was ‘Crouching Writer.’

‘Crouching’ was a word that described a hunched-over posture, and ‘Writer’ was a person who writes. So, ‘Crouching Writer’ was a person who writes lyrics while crouching.

Sanghyun started creating ‘Crouching Writer’ because of the reaction of hip-hop fans to 888 Crew’s interview.

888 Crew’s Hiphopplaya interview received explosive attention.

Within three days of its publication, the interview surpassed the highest number of views ever, and the number of comments on the interview was more than five times higher than previous interview clips. And these numbers were increasing even at this moment.

– Ah, this interview is so much fun. I was wondering what ‘Hollywood-style leader’ or ‘authority figure’ meant in Lee Sangmi’s post, but I laughed so much when I heard the story.

– These guys seem like a really cheerful team. The team balance is good, and each of their musical styles is similar but slightly different. Like Lee Sanghyun said, the day will come when they part ways, but they will each be able to survive as independent musicians.

– Q: Do you have anything to say to Show Business? A: Fuck.

I was reading the interview without thinking and burst out laughing at this. At this point, I feel sorry for Show Business for still being silent.

– Why feel sorry for them? They did something that deserved it.

– Now Hiphopplaya is openly dissing Show Business. ‘We think what Show Business did was not an interview but a discharge, so this is 888 Crew’s first interview.’

– But if you compare Hiphopplaya and Show Business in terms of size, isn’t it like comparing a large corporation to a neighborhood corner store? Is it okay to attack them like that?

– Isn’t this the hip-hop spirit of a hip-hop specialty site?

– Ah, I like the whole interview, but Lee Sanghyun’s interview portion seems too long. I wanted to hear more about Shin Hayeon and Oh Minji… Aren’t they some of the few female rappers in Korea?

– As they said in the interview, 888 Crew is very similar to each other. They started making music together before their musical values were established, so their thoughts are almost the same. So, I think Lee Sanghyun, who is good at talking, interviewed as a representative?

– But why isn’t Lee Sanghyun the leader? Judging by the atmosphere, he seems to be recognized as the ace within the crew?

– Are the leader and the ace the same? The ace is someone who is good, and the leader must have human charm and be able to embrace people. The required role-playing is completely different.

– Ah, I live in Daegu, and I really, really, really want the 053 X RAP T-shirt. Are you really not selling it? Are you only giving it to musicians?

– I was thinking of getting that too, but I probably won’t sell it, right? They said so firmly that they would only give it to musicians, and if they start selling it, there will be all sorts of comments.

– I’m starting to rap from today. My goal is the T-shirt.

– Wow… I’ve seen a lot of black rappers who started rapping because they wanted Jordans [Air Jordan sneakers], but you’re the first guy who started rapping because you wanted a T-shirt. If a New Era [New Era Cap Company] comes out, you’ll be ready to sell your house.

– But U Minho is a genius. How did he think of that? Ah, I want a limited edition T-shirt. Should I start rapping too?

– Still, they say they’re selling 062 X RAP. If we see someone wearing that T-shirt on the street, let’s shout, “Sell! Sell! Sell! Sell!” And then the Hiphopplaya fans there will have a meetup.

– You crazy bastard, lol [laughing out loud].

– Ah, this guy is crazy, lol.

– Damn, people in Gwangju are lucky. How long does it take to get from Incheon to Gwangju? Would it take about five hours? I want to see Gwangju Tigers perform too.

– Huh? Has Gwangju Tigers confirmed 4th place? Has the game schedule been pushed back a bit due to rain cancellations? I heard that the fall baseball season is also being postponed for a few days.

– Ulsan Pyros is attacking in the top of the 8th inning right now, and it’s 3 to 11. The defeat is highly likely. If they lose, Gwangju Tigers will have already secured 1 win, so 4th place is confirmed.

– I’m a die-hard fan of Ulsan Pyros, but I want our team to lose. With this kind of performance, we’ll be eliminated early even if we go to the fall baseball season. It would be much more beneficial to lose so that 888 Crew can perform.

– It only takes 3 and a half hours by bus from Incheon to Gwangju. It’s a little faster by train, and you can arrive within 3 hours by car.

– But if it’s a fall baseball celebration performance, will it be on TV? I saw the first pitch.

– The first pitch is right before the game, and the celebration performance varies depending on the situation. In the case of the finals, like the Korean Series, the celebration performance is almost always shown, but I’m not sure about the fall baseball season. It depends on how the program is organized before that time.

– It would be really cool if Gwangju UP was played on TV. Among the rookies, 888 seems to be the first to move forward.

– 888 Crew is not a rookie in terms of skill, although they lack experience.

– More than that, 888 Crew’s ultimate goal is really cool. ‘We want everyone who knows 888 to remember us for the rest of their lives.’ Wow, when you think about it, there’s no more ambitious goal than this.

– In the end, they’re saying they want to dominate an era. Not a disposable singer who appears briefly and disappears when their image is consumed.

– The person above is right.

The fans reacted positively to the interview. It was because they could learn about 888 Crew, about whom there was no information outside of music.

However, controversy arose in a completely unexpected area.

– I don’t agree with the opinion that words and rap are the same. Rap is music called Thug Poet (street poetry). Lee Sanghyun said in the interview that ‘rap and words’ are the same, but that ultimately means that ‘poetry and words’ are the same.

How can poetry and words be the same?

– But poetry and rap are not synonymous either. Street poetry is just a kind of metaphor.

– But why are you leaving out the assumption that ‘there is no need to distinguish between rap and words as long as you can bring out the flow, rhyme, and groove’?

So, Lee Sanghyun’s point is that you shouldn’t over-decorate rap and focus on expression and delivery as if you were actually speaking. Honestly, aren’t the lyrics of current Korean musicians too rigid?

– The person above is right. There are too many abstruse words. I don’t know if it’s because Korea is a Chinese character culture, but there are too many cases of bringing in Chinese characters that are not often used. Lee Sanghyun’s point is a kind of opinion to make rap with actually used words. And this movement has been discussed a lot even before Lee Sanghyun.

– In my opinion, Lee Sanghyun’s opinion is not realistic. The reason why lyrics and words are strictly distinguished is because of the characteristics of the Korean language. It is natural for the predicate to go to the very end in Korean, but in that case, you can only match the rhyme with ‘~da’. Korean does not start sentences with a subject and verb like foreign languages.

– Would ‘Fuck the Show Biz’ have received this much attention if it had been written like a normal rap? Compared to the current rappers who control their emotions and rationally find rhymes, Lee Sanghyun showed anger without filtering it in ‘Fuck the Show Biz’. At the same time, he did not miss the rapping aspect. So, it gave a big shock to the stagnant scene.

– Did he choose the N.W.A [Niggaz Wit Attitudes] beat for no reason? It’s the same context as N.W.A attacking the police while expressing the lives of black people in a raw way with hip-hop culture, which had a blurred identity. Honestly, Korean hip-hop has not yet had an accurate direction, and I think the expression method that Lee Sanghyun is pursuing is appropriate.

– But why isn’t anyone talking about punchlines? I thought that part was the most fun. Was there anyone who used punchlines before Lee Sanghyun?

– If you go to a stationery store and read the Manddeuk or Choi Bool-am series, you’ll see a lot of puns with homonyms. Don’t you know this? Baekje Silla Goguryeo, will you rip it open? It was legendary when I was in elementary school.

– You crazy bastard.

Sanghyun was feeling a mix of anticipation and anxiety about the rhyme controversy that had started because of him.

Verse 13. Circle

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