The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 149

The writer, who had been watching them, asked,

“What are you all talking about? Why the sudden mention of singers’ names?”

“We’re discussing singers we definitely *don’t* want to see appear… Were there any issues with the featuring requests?”

“Officially, I’m not supposed to say anything, but I’ll give you a little hint. The featuring offers were accepted surprisingly easily.”

“Is it someone we know?”

“Yes.”

The writer answered without a moment’s hesitation. Judging by their attitude, it seemed like it was someone incredibly famous.

“Lee Sang-hyun, you cowardly bastard! He’s definitely trying to hide behind a famous singer.”

“Alright, alright, we don’t have time, so quickly write down the expected order.”

At the writer’s words, the Stars Records members started racking their brains.

‘It seems like the featuring is for the finale song, and Sang-hyun will probably handle the opening and ending….’

2. Lee Sang-hyun, Shin Ha-yeon

4. Oh Min-ji, Park In-hyuk, Kim Hwan

3. Park In-hyuk, Kim Hwan, Shin Jun-hyung

1. Lee Sang-hyun Feat. Featuring

Bae Ga put their heads together and submitted their predicted order, and the camera zoomed in to capture it diligently.

“When is our rehearsal?”

“I heard the 888 Crew’s rehearsal is almost finished. You just need to coordinate the featuring song.”

“Ah, I’m so curious who it is… Are we perhaps calling Cheese Flow [a popular hip-hop group] to do an official bootleg collaboration track?”

“No, I heard the Cheese Flow guys got drunk and passed out in Hongdae [a district in Seoul known for its nightlife] yesterday.”

“Hey, what if seniors like Kim Gun-mo or Cho Yong-pil [legendary Korean singers] are coming?”

“That’s ridiculous, but Sang-hyun does have a big network.”

While the Stars Records members were writhing in curiosity, the 888 Crew members were greeting the featuring musician.

“Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Sang-hyun extended his hand for a handshake. The other person smiled awkwardly and gripped Sang-hyun’s hand tightly.

“It’s an honor to be invited.”

“The honor is all mine.”

Sang-hyun felt a new sense of emotion as he looked at the musician holding his hand. In the past, they were people from another world, only accessible through TV and music, but now they were preparing for a rehearsal together, shaking hands as equals.

Then, the man looked around and asked Sang-hyun,

“Where are the other featuring artists? Shouldn’t we at least say hello?”

Today, Sang-hyun had called a total of five featuring artists, ‘one person’ and ‘one team.’

The one person was the man in front of him, and the other four formed a team.

“Ah, they’re coming over there.”

The four musicians, who had been talking to the sound director about equipment issues, were returning to the set.

Sang-hyun introduced them to each other.

“Hello. I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m…”

Then Sang-hyun suddenly interjected.

“You’ve *really* heard a lot? Really? Really?”

“Ah, just be quiet.”

“No, it’s because *noona* [term used by a younger male to address an older female] is lying. You don’t know rappers very well. You didn’t even know the Stars *hyungs* [term used by a younger male to address an older male].”

At Sang-hyun’s words, Miju glared at him, but with so many staff members around, she just clenched her fist. Seeing this, Sang-hyun continued to tease Miju, and eventually, Miju delivered a smash to Sang-hyun’s back.

“Ack!” A scream echoed through the set.

The team of four who would be in charge of the featuring for today’s performance was L&S, a local band from Gwangju [a city in South Korea].

Although the 888 Crew and L&S had always maintained a family-like relationship, they hadn’t had much time to meet since *Hip Hop the Vibe* started. This was because they had to prepare for filming every week.

In fact, Sang-hyun was more pleased to have won the featuring rights than to have defeated Bae Ga in the third round.

It was because he could perform on the stage of *Hip Hop the Vibe* with L&S.

‘And with that musician as well….’

Sang-hyun examined the man who was checking the lyrics before the rehearsal. The man looked much younger than he remembered, and his music style was also slightly different from what he recalled.

However, the charming aspect that always placed him in Sang-hyun’s top favorite musicians still remained.

‘No, is it not remaining, but rather, is it latent?’

The rehearsal began with the performance of the band L&S. L&S’s performance, which had a pop-like feel since Miju joined, was excellent.

“Oh! The *hyungs* are here?”

“Why are you so late?”

“*Unnie*! [term used by a younger female to address an older female]”

The 888 Crew members, who had finished their interviews first, except for Sang-hyun who had to match the band’s performance, entered the rehearsal site.

They saw L&S and ran to greet them happily.

Leader and guitarist Bang Min-shik.

Gwangju’s best bassist, Yong-joon.

Drummer Hwang In-soo, who has an excellent sense of rhythm.

Vocalist and keyboardist Shin Miju.

The four L&S members also stopped playing and smiled brightly as they greeted the 888 Crew members.

L&S, who had become quite famous since the semi-playoff performance at the Mudeung Stadium [a stadium in Gwangju], had barely arrived at the broadcasting station due to an event in Anyang [a city in South Korea].

The 888 Crew members and L&S members caught up for a long time before resuming the rehearsal at the staff’s request to proceed quickly.

A funky electric guitar-based sound began to erupt.

“Wow, they’re performing this song on *Hip Hop the Vibe*.”

“L&S *hyungs* are going to be incredibly popular after this performance, right?”

The 888 Crew members chatted while watching the rehearsal.

After Sang-hyun’s first verse, the bridge’s performance, and Miju’s chorus, a musician who had been waiting backstage came onto the stage.

It was someone Sang-hyun had requested to feature, and someone the 888 Crew members knew well, but it was the first time they were seeing him in person.

“Wow, he’s good.”

The 888 Crew members applauded the musician who began to fill the verse with his charming baritone voice.

***

After the rehearsals of the 888 Crew and Stars Records were over, the cast members ate lunch together. The featuring members had to keep their presence a secret from Stars Records, so they hid in the staff room far away and ate their lunch.

Meanwhile, the audience members who had obtained tickets began to enter the venue one by one.

“I wish the four teams from Episode One could stay as they are.”

“I know, right? Why are they changing it?”

“Isn’t it because there’s no tension? The hierarchy has already been decided.”

“If they run this format again, Codename could go to first place and 888 Crew could go to fourth place. Now that they know each other well. Then it would be another underdog rebellion and a drama, wouldn’t it?”

“I think that no matter how many times they run it, Stars Records and 888 Crew will be fighting for first and second place….”

Although they had just met today, the audience members who liked *Hip Hop the Vibe* and loved 888 Crew and Stars Records quickly became friends and started chatting.

The final battle’s performance venue was the same KM Music Box set as before. However, the difference was that the number of audience members evaluating today was 600.

Therefore, today’s competition was not about installing a special stage in the place of the jib camera, but about using the main stage.

Finally, all the audience members had entered, and as always, PD [Production Director] Heo Tae-jin came onto the stage.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Heo Tae-jin, the main PD of *Hip Hop the Vibe*.”

After introducing himself and expressing his gratitude to the audience members who had come all the way here, PD Heo Tae-jin immediately played the highlight video of the third round. This was because a five-minute video would excite the audience more than a hundred words.

As expected, the atmosphere quickly heated up.

“Ooh!”

The audience members exclaimed whenever cool scenes came out. Since there were 600 people, the exclamations were quite loud.

The first time shouts erupted was during the part where Jun-hyung countered Shin-gak with an impromptu freestyle.

Shackles? Run away quickly, I’m the tagger

Homework? Like that, yeah, you need to shut up

Who’s crazy about money?

Rapping what the company made, whispering?

-Wooaaah!

-Shin Jun-hyung!

-J.Bro! J.Bro!

In fact, the 888 Crew was a team that was much more famous by their real names than their rap names. Starting with Fuck the Show Biz, Sang-hyun had gained popularity without a rap name, and as a result, the 888 Crew members also referred to each other by their real names.

So, just by seeing them shout Jun-hyung’s rap name, J.Bro, which lacked recognition, you could tell how much the people gathered here loved 888 Crew and Stars Records.

Thanks to the highlight video, PD Heo Tae-jin explained the competition method for today over the heated atmosphere.

“It’s very simple. Watch all the performances and press the button for the team that did well. Easy, right?”

With this, the order of performing first and last became very important. PD Heo Tae-jin displayed two pieces of paper on the screen.

It was the paper where Stars Records predicted the performance order of 888 Crew, and the paper where 888 Crew predicted the performance order of Stars Records.

The side that guessed correctly would acquire the right to choose the performance order. But… both 888 Crew and Stars Records had guessed both teams’ orders correctly.

“Just by looking at the participating members, both teams have succeeded in predicting the matchups. You can see how well they know each other and how much interest they have in each other.”

The audience’s cheers erupted.

The Stars Records members standing on the left end of PD Heo Tae-jin and the 888 Crew members standing on the right end smiled at each other.

“Actually, we thought there was a high probability that both sides would be wrong. Therefore, we planned a game to determine the order.”

PD Heo Tae-jin himself assessed that the third round battle lacked tension. Frankly speaking, the third round battle created great scenes and maintained tension thanks to the rappers’ abilities and the hidden stories between the rappers.

It was a round that lacked a lot in terms of directing and planning.

A rap battle should have an exchange, but the third round rap battle focused more on showing off one’s own rap rather than exchanging.

So, what PD Heo Tae-jin planned was,

“A freestyle rap battle.”

It was a pure freestyle (freestyle without any prior preparation) battle.

Freestyle was not an essential element for rappers. It was not a measure of evaluating skills either.

For example, Dynamic Duo [a famous Korean hip-hop duo] is a team that shows an overwhelming force in the Korean overground hip hop scene, but they also revealed in an interview that they have no talent for freestyle.

Nevertheless, the reason why freestyle is always loved and required of rappers is because hip hop culture, which grew up on the streets, was enjoyed through freestyle until it acquired the position of a ‘cultural performance.’

“The rules are simple. One person from Stars Records and one person from 888 Crew will come out and have a freestyle rap battle. The judging will be done by your cheers. First, please select a representative player from Stars Records!”

Without hesitation, one rapper stepped forward from Stars Records. It was Woo Yeon-woo, the best freestyler in Stars Records.

Woo Yeon-woo was a freestyler with considerable recognition in the still small Korean freestyle scene.

“Wow, they’re coming out without a moment’s hesitation? Then who is the representative player from 888 Crew?”

Unlike Stars Records, 888 Crew needed some time to select a player.

“If it’s freestyle, shouldn’t it be In-hyuk *hyung* or Jun-hyung who goes out?”

At Woo Min-ho’s words, In-hyuk shook his head.

“No. This is a rap battle. Jun-hyung would be better in terms of battle. I’m good at freestyle, but I’m not good at battles.”

There was a significant difference between freestyle and battle freestyle. Freestyle was about setting a topic and spitting it out to the beat, but battle freestyle required the sense to listen to the opponent’s words and respond accordingly.

In that respect, Jun-hyung was better than In-hyuk.

Then Jun-hyung opened his mouth.

“But if we’re just talking about rap battles that respond with wit, there’s someone else who’s really good. Even if they’re a bit lacking in terms of rap, wouldn’t they be perfect in terms of fun?”

The 888 Crew members realized who Jun-hyung was talking about. And then they all started laughing, hehe.

“Wow, aren’t we being too sneaky?”

“Why, what’s wrong with that? In war, winning is all that matters.”

The 888 Crew members, who had been putting their heads together and holding a meeting, raised their heads.

“Have you decided?”

“Yes.”

“888 Crew representative player, please come out!”

Out of the eight people, one person headed to the center of the stage with an awkward gait. Since it was a scene that had appeared once in the third round, the audience thought that 888 Crew was playing a prank.

But it wasn’t.

The representative freestyler of 888 Crew, who arrived at the center of the stage with a nervous expression, was Sang-mi.