The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 175

< Verse 26. 888 Show (The End) – End of Book 7 >

***

A role model usually means someone who sets a good example in the field you want to pursue.

But what if that role model is the person who achieved the first success in that field?

Then, the role model takes on a greater meaning beyond just a role model. The role model becomes the ultimate ideal, leading to fanatical devotion or even love.

That’s what the 888 Crew was to the beginner musicians who started their music journey by watching their moves.

“Grinding in our own ways!”

“Blue Mountain-!”

Three high school students who came down from Nonsan to see the 888 Show were jumping around like crazy, singing along to the coffee machine’s chorus. They were so engrossed in having fun without worrying about their surroundings that the atmosphere around them was particularly heated.

“Wow, damn! Awesome!”

“So much fun!”

The energy of the hip-hop venue, which they were visiting for the first time, was much more intense and enjoyable than they had imagined.

‘These people were just students like us until a year ago, right?’

Kim Dae-cheol, a first-year high school student, followed the musicians on stage with eyes full of respect and envy.

The story of the 888 Crew’s origins, up to Hommie Vol.1, was well-known to the public, as Sangmi’s webtoon [digital comic] only covered that period.

So, to beginner musicians, the 888 Crew was a role model who achieved ‘the first success’.

The first success here, of course, did not mean the first success in the entire hip-hop culture. Even Stars Records was a team that had achieved considerable success, just like the 888 Crew.

The value of the success achieved by the 888 Crew lay in their journey.

Two ordinary high school students with no musical connections or experience posted an article on a community bulletin board. The story of how they gradually emerged in the local scene with crew members gathered through that article.

They became friends with musicians in the area like L&S, and they also had disagreements with people like Lee Kyung-min of Golden Finger.

As they worked hard, their name began to be known, and they debuted in the underground scene with the help of Bae Ga.

Now, they are reaching beyond the underground to the mainstream.

The series of events in which the 888 Crew grew might have seemed like a typical and natural progression for underground musicians to the public.

But unfortunately, it was hard to find in reality.

Among the rappers who led the hip-hop scene in the late 90s and early 2000s, there were very few ‘ordinary people’ like Sang-hyun and Jun-hyung. Many came from privileged backgrounds.

Because in the rigid Korean society at the time, it was almost impossible to encounter the essence of true hip-hop culture, and there were not many people who could venture into that barren land. The national crisis of the IMF [International Monetary Fund] was also happening around that time, which made it even more difficult.

As a result, many of the early rappers encountered hip-hop in the United States and were relatively wealthy students who studied abroad.

Of course, there were exceptions, but in general, that was the case. Bae Ga of Stars Records was also one of those who encountered hip-hop while studying in the United States.

The public’s perception that rappers had to be good at English and be either Korean-American or international students was born at this time, and it was a prejudice that persisted for a long time.

But there was a team that completely shattered it.

It was the 888 Crew.

Sang-hyun and Jun-hyung were people who didn’t even have passports, let alone studying abroad, and the other members were just ordinary people who didn’t have anything special. The fact that In-hyuk’s parents worked in the legal profession or that Min-ji and Hwan graduated from Yonsei University [a prestigious university in South Korea] was an acceptable level of difference.

So, it was only natural that the 888 Crew became a role model for young people who wanted to do music or were interested in it but didn’t know what to do.

It was also natural to emulate the actions of the 888 Crew.

How many offline hip-hop crews were there in February 2006 before Sang-hyun regressed [traveled back in time]?

There are no accurate statistics anywhere, but it was certain that it would not have exceeded 30, even at the maximum.

Then, what about February 2006 now that the 888 Crew has been created?

The number of hip-hop crews was increasing to the point where it could be called a boom. This was because beginners who had just jumped into the world of rap were creating crews as a matter of course.

‘I’m going to be on a stage like this. I’m going to rent this place and perform, and I’m going to invite the 888 Crew. So I have to say that I started music thanks to you.’

Kim Dae-cheol and the high school students from Nonsan were also among these beginners.

Kim Dae-cheol clenched his fist. At the same time, he couldn’t take his eyes off the eight musicians on stage.

The true meaning of 888 Kid.

The 888 Kid, as defined by HiphopLE [a Korean hip-hop website], meant novice rappers who were already rapping and blindly following the musical direction of the 888 Crew.

However, people like Kim Dae-cheol were those who started music because of the 888 Crew. They were people who would not have made music if it weren’t for the 888 Crew.

Therefore, they were the true meaning of 888 Kid, and no one knew how many 888 Kids there were across the country.

“Get That Money-!”

Kim Dae-cheol shouted as soon as he heard the intro of the song that followed the coffee machine.

‘Get That Money, Welcome to School’ was his favorite song among the 888 Crew’s many songs. He had listened to it so many times that he could recognize it as soon as he heard the intro’s kick drum.

At that time, Sang-hyun on the stage heard Kim Dae-cheol’s voice and looked at him, raising his thumb. It was an expression of surprise at how he guessed it just by listening to the kick drum.

The moment Kim Dae-cheol made eye contact with Sang-hyun, he stopped breathing, and then shouted as loudly as he was surprised himself.

“Wowwwww!”

-Oh my, jeez. Why is your vocalization so good?

Sang-hyun’s voice was heard through the speaker. Sang-hyun smiled and held the microphone to the audience.

-Everyone together!

Get that money Welcome to school

Earn like a dog, spend like a rapper

Kim Dae-cheol felt like the microphone, which was about 5m away, was right under his chin. He felt like he could distinguish his voice from the voices of the audience echoing through the speakers.

“Get That Money-! Welcome to School-!”

That’s how one musician representing the first generation of 888 Kids was born at the 888 Show Gwangju concert.

***

Sang-hyun looked over the audience on the stage.

1322 people.

All sorts of people were looking at the 888 Crew. The audience was diverse in appearance, age, and voice. But in the midst of this, there were two things that were the same.

One was that all the audience members were giving the 888 Crew on stage affectionate glances, and the other was that everyone’s bangs were soaked and fluttering because of how much they had sweated.

‘Ah, cancel the second one.’

Some audience members who looked like marines on vacation suddenly caught his eye. They were people who didn’t have hair to flutter. He laughed because he thought those marines would come to mind in today’s daydream.

The concert, which lasted for more than 3 hours, had finally reached the end.

He didn’t know why he was still sad even though he had sung so many songs that his throat was hoarse.

No, he actually knew.

It was because he wanted to enjoy this stage more and share the vibe of the 888 Crew with the audience even more.

‘There’s so much I want to share.’

The first time they performed at L&S8 in Soft Straight, their running time was only 10 minutes. It wasn’t that the L&S hyungs [older brothers/mentors] gave them less time, but that the 888 Crew’s pure songs were only Gwangju Up and Gotta Move.

When they performed at Hommie, they filled 30 minutes.

This was the true meaning of the 888 Crew’s debut. They did their best, but after the performance, they gave themselves a self-evaluation that they were a little disappointed.

After that, they performed a lot.

From the Mudeung Stadium performance to Hip Hop the Vibe, university festivals, the Bosingak bell ringing event [a New Year’s Eve tradition in Korea], and the 888 Crew’s small festival held next to AIMMF [Asia-Pacific Independent Music Market & Festival].

And finally, 888 Show.

While performing today, Sang-hyun was strongly feeling that all the experiences and efforts he had accumulated had come together.

“It feels like it just started, but it’s already the last song.”

At Sang-hyun’s words, the audience let out a sound of regret. He could feel that the audience’s regret was genuine.

Anyone who has been to a hip-hop concert knows, but rappers talk a lot in the middle of the performance. They don’t fill the gap between songs with performance. They don’t fly on wires or dance.

They just talked a lot. There were interesting stories, detailed explanations of the songs, and stories about personal situations.

If 30% of the comments were intentionally prepared, the remaining 70% were words that poured out the emotions they were feeling on stage without adding or subtracting. Therefore, after enjoying a hip-hop performance, you sometimes feel like you have seen the musician’s inner self.

The 888 Crew was the same.

In particular, because the eight of them on stage talked to each other without hesitation, there was nothing that could be properly hidden even if they wanted to hide it.

However, there was one topic that was not properly mentioned even in today’s performance.

“I know that hip-hop fans are sharing a lot of opinions after hearing the news that I joined Ohkyung Media.”

It was Sang-hyun’s recruitment to Ohkyung Media.

“The biggest concern is one thing: that the underground hip-hop essence of the 888 Crew will be damaged as I join Ohkyung Media.”

At Sang-hyun’s serious tone, all the audience members began to listen intently.

“But, Ohkyung Media is a very small entity. On the other hand, the 888 Crew is a very large entity. Of course, it’s not about size. In fact, in terms of sales alone, Ohkyung Media is an organization that exerts a hundred times, no, a thousand times more influence on the music industry.”

The 888 Crew members, who were all on stage together to perform the last song, completely understood what Sang-hyun was trying to say.

“But that’s not very important. What’s important is that Lee Sang-hyun of the 888 Crew is far bigger than Lee Sang-hyun of Ohkyung Media.”

Because everyone was thinking the same thing.

Shin Jun-hyung of the 888 Crew was a much bigger presence than high school student Shin Jun-hyung, and Kim Hwan and Oh Min-ji of the 888 Crew were much bigger presences than Kim Hwan and Oh Min-ji of Yonsei University. The other crew members were the same.

“In fact, I had such thoughts in the early days of starting my music career. I thought we were growing and developing the 888 Crew.”

But it wasn’t.

“We’re not growing the 888 Crew, the 888 Crew is growing us. At some point, the 888 Crew feels like an organic entity beyond the brand name. To me.”

At Sang-hyun’s gesture, the seven members who had stepped back came to the front of the stage. Minho also came out of the DJ booth and stood next to them.

“So I made this song. It’s the second group song that the 888 Crew is presenting. The title is Circle.”

As soon as Sang-hyun’s words were finished, a bouncy keyboard sound began to play from the speaker.

It was a completely different song from the Eight, Eight, Eight’s party tune atmosphere. It felt somewhat sweet and bitter, warm and cool.

Too many complex,

Too many problem

Living in a circle is-

a difficult thing, around me

Devils and angels coexist,

I don’t know who will come out,

Draw a big circle to write my name in

Everything was like that. No matter how much you like something, you can feel pain while doing it, and no matter how much you love someone, you can sometimes hate them.

Nevertheless, the reason why we continue to repeat the same actions is because only those things are circles that can completely contain my outstretched body.

As soon as Sang-hyun’s 4 bars were finished, Jun-hyung put his hand on Sang-hyun’s shoulder and continued with 4 bars of rap.

Someone paints over my circle

Trying to ruin my mood or make me cry

Every time that happens, I paint,

When filling the circle

Sang-hyun received a deep sense of trust from Jun-hyung’s shoulder. Because Jun-hyung always keeps the center as a leader, Sang-hyun can make various attempts and come up with new ideas.

This time, Ha-yeon stood next to Sang-hyun.

If it wasn’t for Ha-yeon, if he hadn’t heard her song in the hospital, he might not have been making music by now.

We feel alive,

Sometimes it’s easy to get hurt

Immersed in trivial things

I don’t want to get angry

In Ha-yeon’s voice, which was full of melody, a deep affection for the 888 Crew was felt.

Sang-hyun grabbed the microphone and shouted to the audience.

“Raise your hands! As much as your arms will tear!”

Sang-hyun raised his right hand and drew the biggest circle he could draw. It was a seemingly ridiculous sight, but no one was laughing.

The audience also raised their hands.

They bumped into the person next to them, and because the place was narrow, they couldn’t draw the biggest circle, but

Circle, circle,

Draw a lot of circles.

Circle, circle,

Draw a lot of circles.

Everyone was drawing their own circle.

In the circles of countless audience members, there would be their own precious values such as family, love, and friendship, but in one corner, the name 888 Crew would be very small.

“Everyone together! Raise your hands!”

Circle, circle,

Draw a lot of circles.

Circle, circle,

Draw a lot of circles.

It was the moment when the 888 Show Gwangju concert successfully ended.

< Verse 26. 888 Show (The End) – End of Book 7 > End

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