The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 138

< Verse 20. Battle Rhyme >

In battle rap, the more aggressive the lyrics, the more childish they tend to be. This is because words that anger the opponent are more often direct than complex metaphors.

In that sense, Edition’s line, ‘Skill level 8th,’ was a sentence that could sufficiently provoke Minji.

But strangely, it wasn’t aggressive at all.

‘It’s not the lyrics that are the problem?’

Edition’s rap lacked flavor.

It wasn’t aggressive, nor did it have a sharp, cutting feel. Rather than feeling like he was ‘attacking,’ it felt more like he was ‘just rapping.’

There was a reason for Minji’s reaction.

Originally, Edition’s rapping skills were slightly below Minji’s level. Edition’s vocalization was better due to professional training, while Minji excelled in flow and groove. Delivery was similar, but Minji’s diction style had a bit more charm.

However, the problem was that Edition had no talent for ‘rap making.’

Writing lyrics, adding rhythm to them, and analyzing the beat to bring out the flavor of the rap.

Until now, the rap directors at his agency had been doing these tasks for him. Thanks to this, Edition’s weaknesses were not highlighted.

But in this 3rd round, there wasn’t enough time for that.

For the back-and-forth battle, he had to modify parts of the rap prepared by the company, and a new beat was given.

Amidst these changes, the charm of the rap created with the company collapsed, and Edition didn’t have the making ability to fix it.

Of course, Dolphin helped to some extent, but Dolphin also had his own tasks, so he couldn’t take care of everything.

As a result, Edition’s 8-bar preemptive strike ended blandly.

The moment Edition’s rap ended, Minji came in as if she had been waiting.

Sanghyun was sure of Minji’s victory from the first bar.

Compared to Edition, whose rhyme points and message were somehow vague and dead, Minji’s rap immediately conveyed meaning to the audience.

Fake Rapper Edition, Hey, Pay attention

Years of stagnant growth. Lost potential

Girl- in the mirror, the one in the mirror is my enemy

When I look for you- you’re always standing in front of the mirror

Minji pretended to pat powder on her face as she spat out ‘standing in front of the mirror.’

The audience erupted with cheers, and Edition’s expression turned fierce. But Minji didn’t back down and sprayed out even clearer rap.

Female rapper? No, I’m just a rapper

More guts than most guys

Cells that react automatically when they hear a beat

A security system blocking you who steals hip-hop

“Secom-!”

The 888 Crew members all shouted the word ‘Secom’ the moment Minji’s rap ended. There were no microphones, but their loud voices were conveyed to the audience.

Dolphin and Shingak of Bounce Rhyme poured out jeers as if not to be outdone, but the atmosphere was already clearly leaning towards the 888 Crew.

After Minji’s 8 bars, it was Edition’s turn again. Edition clenched his fist and started rapping as if to give a punch.

But in the 3rd bar, he made a mistake of saying the same lyrics twice, and in the 6th bar, he eventually forgot the lyrics.

It was unclear whether he made a mistake because the preparation period was short, or because he was intimidated by Minji’s rap. What was clear was that Edition’s rap was below expectations.

Because Edition’s rap wasn’t properly finished, the looping 4-bar interval became blurred. Minji was momentarily flustered, but calmly counted the beats and went into the finish.

Following a clean 8 bars of rap.

The first 4 bars contained subtle attacks on Edition, and the last 4 bars wittily brought in the lyrics of Why Commin`.

I’m Manuel, I’m possible, life is always like this,

A different solution to the reaction, exploring the answer again

Edition’s rap is a bit boring to gauge me

No, it’s bleak, do whatever you want, but shut your mouth

The audience responded to the pouring rhyme bombs.

At first glance, the number of audience members shouting ‘Oh Minji and 888’ was overwhelmingly large. The 888 Crew members clenched their fists, sensing victory.

When the battle was over, Edition put down the microphone, turned around, and returned to his colleagues.

Again, 10 seconds were given for voting, and in the meantime, the beat began to transform.

This time, the BPM [beats per minute] was completely different.

From a traditional East Side basic beat, it began to transform into a West Side beat with dirty instrument sounds.

A beat full of funky rhythms that would suit a California beach. It was the beat Inhyuk had chosen.

Park Inhyuk and Yeom Hyunpil moved to the center of the stage even before the beat changed. This was because the remaining one-on-one battle was only between Stars Record and 888 Crew.

Inhyuk gave Minji a loud high-five as she returned, and shrugged his shoulders to the beat.

At that moment, the battle information appeared on the screen.

* One and One Battle (Final)

Stars Record VS 888 Crew

Yeom Hyunpil VS Park Inhyuk

-Stars! Stars!

-888! 888!

The divided audience began to shout loudly.

However, the fans who chanted Stars also liked the 888 Crew, and those who chanted 888 also liked Stars Record.

In the end, it could only be judged by rap itself.

This battle was not 4 verses of 8 bars, but a battle consisting of 2 verses of 16 bars.

Inhyuk and Yeom Hyunpil were rappers who were more attractive with 16 bars than 8 bars. This was because both preferred versatile flows. They could give more diverse changes in long raps than short raps.

‘Yuhwa noona seems to have won the first one, and Minji noona must have won just now…….’

In Sanghyun’s mind, the current score was 1 point for Stars Record and 1 point for 888 Crew. It seemed that both teams had easily scored points from Bounce Rhyme.

So this battle was very important. The winning side gets 2 points, and the losing side gets 1 point. In a total of only six battles, there was no need to talk about the importance of one win.

“Inhyuk hyung!”

“Just win!”

With the 888 Crew members’ loud cheers, Inhyuk jumped onto the beat.

The rap began.

I’m seriously bad at directions, always getting lost-

The destination is the top, but much higher up-

My MSG [monosodium glutamate]-added rap is seasoning-

Eat this and get fat, you pig, fertilizer-

Inhyuk checked the rhyme for a long time as if using the *kkeokgi* singing style of trot [a Korean pop music genre]. He pronounced ‘lost’ like ‘losssst’ in a trembling way.

Yeom Hyunpil was startled when a folksy melody was added to Park Inhyuk’s rhyme.

‘Wow, damn. He was hiding this.’

In fact, Inhyuk’s rap that he heard during practice was too docile, unlike Park Inhyuk. He knew that something was hidden, but he never thought it would be such a device.

Yeom Hyunpil couldn’t help but feel resentful at the following line. ‘Eat this and get fat, you pig.’ He was just a bit bulky. Besides, his bulk was all muscle, not fat.

Yeom Hyunpil couldn’t stand Inhyuk’s slyly grinning face.

‘This bastard dares to…….’

But no matter how much he grumbled, a battle was a battle. He had to suppress him with rap, not with age.

But Inhyuk’s rap was by no means easy.

Hyung’s rap is Cooking Master Boy, always delicious.

I can’t think of a suitable rhyme, just boring

Our team director Junhyung instructs me

‘Eat Hyunpil hyung’ This is a tasting session

Inhyuk had quite a few advantages in rap.

Lyrics with rare parallel structures in Korea. A rare groove that enjoys using laybacks. Freedom in the way of interpreting beats.

However, Sanghyun thought that Inhyuk’s greatest strength applied to battle rap was ‘bluffing.’

In ‘Eat Hyunpil hyung,’ he lowered his voice as if imitating Junhyung, and when he spat out ‘This is a tasting session,’ his voice changed as if he was about to eat something.

Emotionally expressive to the point of being cheeky.

These strengths of Inhyuk were breathing life into Battle Rhyme.

Moreover, the witty expressions that popped up in the middle were things that even Sanghyun, who was evaluated as the best word player in Korea, could admire.

I’m at least an average guy

Even if I’m an enemy, the evaluation is a jumping guy

Even if I crawl from the bottom, I’ll turn it over

Come forward and my gear is Four

Inhyuk’s rap ended without a mistake.

It was quite a satisfactory rap, and it was a rap full of Inhyuk’s charm.

Now, the audience’s eyes turned to Yeom Hyunpil, who was lightly tapping the beat while nodding his head.

As the feast of non-stop rap and wordplay continued, there were more audience members quietly focusing on the stage than those shouting.

Inhyuk and Yeom Hyunpil had in common that they enjoyed using versatile flows. But there was one crucial difference in their raps.

It was speed.

Inhyuk was a rapper who changed from a medium-speed rap to a slow rap.

The same was true when he didn’t lower the RPM (rap speed) [revolutions per minute, referring to the tempo of the rap].

Even if he actually maintained the rap speed, he preferred to make the rap sound ‘slower’ by emptying the beat and lengthening the rhyme.

It was like a slow curve that floated in baseball.

On the other hand, Yeom Hyunpil was a rapper who changed from a medium-speed rap to a fast rap. In addition, he liked to pull the beat, unlike Inhyuk, who basically pushed the beat. As a result, even if they rapped at the same speed, Park Inhyuk’s rap had the effect of sounding leisurely, while Yeom Hyunpil’s rap sounded tight.

If Inhyuk’s rap was a slow curve, Yeom Hyunpil’s rap was a power curve.

If you dig deep, they had quite a few things in common, but strangely, hip-hop fans weren’t even trying to compare Inhyuk and Hyunpil. It seemed that this was because they used raps that sounded too different at first glance.

‘It’s different. I’m a little better.’

With that thought, Yeom Hyunpil’s unique medium-to-high speed, versatile rap began.

My personality is always urgent

You touching me, remember

My name is Feelnight

I’ve been betting on rap since 99

I’m not cool, never

Instead, I’ll spit coolness into the rap

It’s okay if you don’t acknowledge me

I rap to acknowledge myself

Yeom Hyunpil’s rap did not have lyrics that specifically mentioned Inhyuk. This was because the words Park Inhyuk or In-Hulk had weak liaisons, making it difficult to form a sense of speed.

However, every time the word ‘you’ came out, Yeom Hyunpil pointed to Inhyuk with exquisite gestures, constantly reminding the audience of the target of this rap.

It was a great skill, and it seemed impossible to imitate with ordinary stage experience.

Yeom Hyunpil’s rap, which cut off the pronunciation of ‘hae’ so short that it sounded like ‘pae’, gradually began to increase in speed.

My Agenda is a way to defeat my opponent and gain eternal victory

This place is a narrow Arena where we fight with a Rhyme sword and a Flow shield

You didn’t know at all, hiding right under the shadow, waiting for a chance, below me

Secret royal inspector, examining your charges and returning to the palace to report to the king

I object, putting my name on the line among the many rappers who tried to recklessly occupy the still strong throne of kings

The mid-tone, fast-paced rap was delivered to the audience through the speakers.

The mouths of the audience, who had omitted cheers to focus on the rap, began to open without them knowing.

Inhyuk’s rambling rap and Hyunpil’s one-point rap conveyed completely different vibes, exuding completely different charms.

With that, Yeom Hyunpil’s rap ended and a 10-second voting time followed. However, the audience was just confused and couldn’t easily proceed with the voting. It was very difficult to tell who was better in terms of skill.

DJ Killedric manipulated the turntable and checked the voting status through the monitor below his feet.

Even though almost 10 seconds had passed, the total number of votes did not exceed 70.

More than half of the audience was unable to make a choice.

< Verse 20. Battle Rhyme > End

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