The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 85

Verse 14. Be the Underground

***

Sunday, October 6th, dawned. For some, it was just another day off, but for baseball fans, it was the opening day of the semi-playoffs [a round in the Korean professional baseball league playoffs, similar to division series in MLB], and for the 888 Crew, it was the day of an important performance.

The 888 Crew started their dry rehearsal at 10 AM. The rehearsal was scheduled to end by 12:30 PM.

Audience admission would begin at 1 PM, and the celebratory performance would start at 3 PM. The performance order was ‘888 Crew – Codename – Kim Soo-hee’.

Originally, the Gwangju Tigers had planned to have Codename open the show, followed by the 888 Crew to build up the atmosphere, and then conclude with the Gwangju Tigers’ traditional cheer song, “Namhaengyeolcha” [Southern Line Train, a popular Korean folk song often sung at baseball games].

However, due to OMB’s request to cover Codename’s fee and provide free broadcasting of their performance video on the electronic display, the 888 Crew was moved to the earlier slot.

‘It doesn’t really matter. As long as we perform well.’

Sanghyun was watching the stage from the audience seats. On stage, Park Inhyuk, Kim Hwan, and Oh Minji were preparing for the rehearsal. Kim Hwan, who was checking the wireless microphone, gestured to Sanghyun.

“Sanghyun, can you hear me?”

“Yes, I can hear you!”

“I can’t hear your voice well from here. Raise your hand when I speak. Your right hand.”

Sanghyun raised his right hand.

“Left hand. Right hand again.”

Sanghyun’s right and left hands moved busily.

“You’re raising it as soon as you hear me, right? Not raising it in advance, are you?”

“Yes!”

“It seems like you’re raising your hand slightly faster than when my voice comes through the speaker. I shouldn’t time it with the main speaker, should I?”

As Bang Minshik had worried, there seemed to be latency due to the distance between the stage and the audience seats. Moreover, the stage was further away from the audience than originally planned.

Originally, the celebratory performance stage was supposed to be the cheering platform. It was a location not easily visible to anyone other than home fans, but there was no other option. Instead, they had provided minimal consideration for away fans by broadcasting the performance video on the electronic display. However, a problem arose when Codename was added to the lineup.

Codename sings the cheer song for Incheon Sky. What if they sang that cheer song in the first base area, which is full of Gwangju Tigers home fans? It would be embarrassing for the performers and absurd for the audience.

Ohkyung ENT raised concerns about this situation, but the Gwangju club responded indifferently. In fact, Codename singing Incheon’s cheer song was for the marketing of ‘Baseball Story’ [likely a fictional or real baseball-themed media project]. The concept was a rivalry from the cheer song itself.

Therefore, the Gwangju club had no reason to set up a new stage for OMB. Frankly, the Gwangju club didn’t care if Codename didn’t come to the invitation performance.

In the end, Ohkyung Ent’s stage production team was dispatched. As a result, the stage location was changed to the center of the baseball field.

“How’s the microphone condition? Can you hear it properly?”

“Since the reverb is eating up the latency, there’s some howling.”

Sanghyun approached the stage and said. His throat felt scratchy from shouting loudly from the audience seats.

Kim Hwan, hearing Sanghyun’s words, said to Woo Minho.

“Minho, cut down on the reverb and the highs a bit. Leave the lows and mids alone for now. Oh, and keep an eye out for microphone peaks during the rehearsal.”

After that, Kim Hwan handed the microphone to Bang Minshik, and Minshik made various requests regarding the instrument settings. Woo Minho, sitting in the engineer’s seat, diligently took notes and adjusted the settings here and there.

Finally, the initial setup was complete.

“Then let’s try it out first. Are you guys ready?”

At Kim Hwan’s gesture, Woo Minho played the beat. As a 10-second electric guitar solo played, Bang Minshik, who had been listening quietly, began to follow the beat. At the same time as the brass instruments signaling the end of the electric guitar solo, L&S’s performance, without a single error, was laid over the beat.

“Isn’t this beat crazy? It’s really awesome.”

Junhyung, who had returned from the bathroom, put his hand on Sanghyun’s shoulder. It was cold. There was no moisture on his hand.

Even as Sanghyun shuddered and pushed Junhyung away, L&S’s performance continued perfectly. Inhyuk had described it as ‘a beat so great that you forget to say 크 [keu, a Korean onomatopoeia for “wow” or “amazing”]’ when he first heard this song.

L&S’s musical style changed after Miju joined, replacing Cha Inhyun.

Originally, when Cha Inhyun was in L&S, dark music suited them well. It wasn’t that they couldn’t do bright music, but Cha Inhyun’s voice was more suited to grunge. Or a dreamy and gloomy feeling among Brit Pop.

In Sanghyun’s personal opinion, Cha Inhyun’s complicated family history seemed to be reflected in L&S’s music.

However, after Miju joined, the scent of ‘American Pop’ began to permeate L&S. They began to place the keyboard at the center more often and began to value bouncy melodies. The themes covered in the music also changed to confident and bright ones.

The song that Park Inhyuk, Kim Hwan, and Oh Minji were singing now was a beat that best reflected such changes in L&S.

The song’s title was Why Commin’.

A cool electronic guitar melody bombardment. Tight drums. Bass and keyboard supporting it. Brass section adding grandeur. Why Commin’ was an electronic hip-hop song where these harmonies of sound were appropriately achieved. L&S members called this song ‘Run This Town 2,’ and Park Inhyuk called it ‘Why Did You Come To Our House?’

The 888 Crew would perform a total of 3 songs today.

1. Why Commin’ – Park Inhyuk, Kim Hwan, Oh Minji

2. Lonely Road – Lee Sanghyun, Shin Junhyung, Shin Hayeon

3. Gwangju UP – Lee Sanghyun (Backup: Shin Junhyung, Shin Hayeon)

Among these, Why Commin’ and Lonely Road were songs to be included in the 888 Mixtape Vol.1, which was being prepared for release.

As soon as Sangmi posted on her Cyworld [a popular early Korean social media platform] club that the semi-playoff performance song would be included in the mixtape, fans of the 888 Crew living near Gwangju and Jeonnam rushed to book tickets to see today’s game.

“Noona [term used by younger males to address older females], drink some water and do it. How is it? Do you feel the latency?” Sanghyun asked, giving water to Oh Minji, who had finished the first rehearsal.

“I think I feel it quite a bit. But I’ve been practicing in advance, so it’s manageable if I focus on the in-ear.”

“The main speaker volume will be louder during the performance. You know that, right?”

“I know. Don’t worry. We’ll do it one more time, so sit down and rest.”

After a short break, Why Commin’ continued once again.

‘Minji Noona is doing well. Surprisingly, Hwan Hyung [term used by younger males to address older males] seems to be lagging a bit?’

Unexpectedly, Kim Hwan, who was famous among the members for matching the beat perfectly, was struggling. His habit of matching the snare drum to the downbeat seemed to be hindering him.

But it wasn’t a big problem, and he seemed like he would get the hang of it after doing it two or three more times.

‘Still, it’s a relief. That I’m not rapping alone.’

Sanghyun had felt somewhat sorry to the crew members before the two songs were added to the setlist. It was because it felt like he was monopolizing such a good opportunity. No matter how much they went on stage as backup, it was different from rapping directly.

‘They’re so good.’

Sanghyun watched the members having fun and jumping around, even though it was just a rehearsal stage. Then he saw Hayeon, who had overslept, running over in a hurry.

“Hey, the sleepyhead is here? Come slowly. You’ll fall.”

“Ah, I tried to go to bed early yesterday! But suddenly I thought about the performance and got so nervous! I went to bed too late. I woke up in the morning and was so surprised because I thought I was late.”

Hayeon grabbed Sanghyun as soon as she arrived and poured out her words. Sanghyun chuckled and took Hayeon’s bag.

“They’re still doing Why Commin’? Where’s Junhyung?”

“Over there.”

Junhyung had already gone to Woo Minho’s side and was learning sound engineering.

“We can rehearse until 12:30, right? What time is Codename rehearsing from?”

“Go Dae-ri [a title, equivalent to Assistant Manager] said they’re not rehearsing? They’re coming straight down from Seoul, so they don’t have time, apparently.”

“Oh? Really? I heard from a friend that Codename had a signing event at Hyundai Department Store yesterday? They said they didn’t have any schedules other than the signing event yesterday and today’s performance, so they were going to hang out in Gwangju, and they even asked fans for places to hang out.”

“Really…? Well, something urgent must have come up suddenly in Gwangju.”

Sanghyun just said that, but his expression didn’t seem very pleased.

In fact, Codename was a team that hip-hop fans really disliked. A team that claimed to be hip-hop but didn’t do hip-hop. At the same time, they were a team that greatly contributed to spreading the misconception that ‘rappers = thugs.’

Rumors that they had terrible personalities and hit on any woman were the basics, and there were also rumors that they used their fists so often that their former agency shuddered and terminated their contract.

Moreover, starting with the leader Dread’s statement, ‘Rap? You just have to talk fast, right?’, they showed a lot of ignorance about hip-hop culture, such as ‘People who can’t sing rap.’, ‘You have to be rude to do hip-hop’, and so on.

‘The problem is that the public, who doesn’t know much about hip-hop, believes those ignorant remarks.’

In fact, the 888 Crew members laughed in disbelief after seeing Codename’s interview in a sports article. They know that it’s difficult to listen to their own music objectively. But they couldn’t figure out where that confidence came from.

In terms of skill alone, Codename couldn’t even dare to compare to the 888 Crew. Even if Sanghyun and Junhyung were missing from the 888 Crew, it could be said that they were better than Codename in terms of ‘purely rapping’.

-I don’t know much about the 888 Crew.

-As a senior active in the same field, I am confident that I can show a better side.

-If the team that wins the cheerleading battle wins, then of course Incheon Sky will win.

So it wasn’t difficult to predict how hot the reaction of hip-hop fans would be to these interviews.

How could you not know 888 when the 888 Crew has been shaking up the Korean hip-hop scene? If you really don’t know, it means you have no interest in Korean hip-hop at all.

Since when did Codename become a hip-hop team?

How can people who dance to hip-hop music be seniors to real street rappers? Besides, what’s with the attitude of assuming they’re juniors just because they don’t know 888? Are all amateurs juniors? And so on.

In particular, the reaction to ‘If the team that wins the cheerleading battle wins, then of course Incheon Sky will win’ was almost summarized in one word.

-Too absurd to omit.

Sanghyun thought as he went on stage to prepare for ‘Lonely Road’.

‘I wanted to see how they do, but they didn’t even come to rehearsal.’

In fact, Sanghyun didn’t like Codename either. No, he rather hated them.

But what Sanghyun hated was their music. He didn’t hate the people. Because they had never caused any direct harm to Sanghyun.

He didn’t want to judge people based on rumors and the fragmentary images that the media showed. This thought was a common thought among the 888 Crew members who had experienced the dirty image marketing of show business.

‘They might be surprisingly nice if we actually meet them.’

But it didn’t take even 5 minutes for Sanghyun’s delusion to be shattered. From the moment he met Codename.

Verse 14. Be the Underground End

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