The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 182

The gallery attendees’ attention immediately focused on Sanghyun, and the Korean reporters began snapping photos like crazy. Knowing well the media power Sanghyun possessed, the reporters created a heated atmosphere.

This fervent reaction from the reporters spread even to the foreign gallery attendees who didn’t know Sanghyun well. Judging by the reporters’ reactions, it seemed like this musician was more famous than the previous performers.

Finally, Sanghyun’s rap began.

The start of the rap was surprisingly calm. It was merely floating slowly amidst the beats that were bubbling and bursting here and there.

If you look into the sea right before a typhoon hits, you’ll see that unlike the surface where terrifying waves surge, the seaweed underwater sways gently.

Sanghyun’s rap was exactly like that.

My birth is the impulse of my parents’ love
My survival is the impulse of instinct and desire
My life is the impulse of ego and satisfaction
My music is the collision of impulse and impulse

Four bars that felt like an intro.

Through his rap, Sanghyun was saying that most of Lee Sanghyun’s existence stemmed from impulse.

Being born from his parents’ love, surviving with instinct and desire, living life, and finally jumping into music—all these processes.

From the inevitable events of ‘birth and growth’ to the moments of choice like ‘life and music,’ he was strongly asserting that everything happened because he didn’t reject impulse.

And that assertion grew stronger and stronger.

Sanghyun’s voice grew louder, firmer, and stronger.

No matter what anyone says, I am complete as myself,
Born from limits, stepping outside of limits
Something inside me keeps clamoring
The choice I made every day to not let go of it

The atmosphere felt by the audience changed as soon as the full-fledged verse began. The vibe from Sanghyun’s rap was much closer to rap than to poetry.

Hayun and Minji’s ‘Let’s Live by the River’ was a song made in a form closer to poetry than rap. The rhythm of the rap was definitely alive, but it lacked rap skills or the raw feel of hip-hop.

Junhyung and Hwan’s ‘Mirror’ was a song standing right in the middle of rap and poetry. The taste of rap, like rhyme, flow, and groove, was alive, but the lyrics were reminiscent of ambiguous and concise poetic verses.

Lastly, Sanghyun’s ‘Noble Impulse’ was a song very close to the form of rap.

‘Isn’t this just a rap song?’

However, there were quite a few people who felt repulsion towards Sanghyun’s song. And there were many who expressed it openly.

“That’s amazing.”

To them, pure rap without the special characteristic of ‘poetry and rap’ was just an unwelcome subgenre of popular culture.

Sanghyun didn’t care that they were expressing repulsion. Expressing likes and dislikes about art is an individual’s choice and right.

But regardless, he clearly knew the position an artist should take.

Showing more affection for his own work, refining it more wonderfully, and enticing people.

Asking, ‘How can you not like this?’

In that sense, Sanghyun’s rap had tremendous ripple effects.

I call that moment an impulse and feel nobility
Gathering impulses, tying them with the thread called dream
That vitality makes my eyes flash every morning
It’s the driving force and the threshold of success

‘Ah…!’

Oh Yeonju, who was listening to the rap, unknowingly recalled the moment she first met Sanghyun.

A feeling where the meaning, not just the voice, was conveyed.

A feeling where the emotion within the meaning came in whole, without any filtering.

A feeling like being pierced through the whole body.

The reason people find art difficult and distant is that the artist’s emotions and intentions are not properly conveyed.

There are very few people who feel 100 of the emotions through art made with 100 of the emotions.

In the case of popular art, the preservation rate of emotions is higher than in other arts, but it is still not perfect.

But Lee Sanghyun didn’t have that disadvantage.

In fact, Oh Yeonju had felt a sense of regret while encountering Sanghyun through Hip Hop the Vibe. It was because he was making music that was good and wonderful enough, but she couldn’t forget the shock of when she first met him.

But it hadn’t disappeared. It was just something that happened because of the limitations of the mass media delivery method called TV.

Sanghyun’s emotions, praising and admiring impulse, were seething like an impulse in the bodies of the gallery attendees.

My heart is a song that plays endlessly, can’t rewind
What am i fuckin doing? I used a vulgar word.

The eyes of the people gathered in the gallery widened

The beat gradually intensified.

The voice became more appealing.

The moment even the people who were uncomfortable with pure rap forgot their repulsion and focused on Sanghyun’s rap, the phrase ‘What am i fuckin doing?’ suddenly popped out.

At that moment, the gallery was filled with a stillness containing both surprise and displeasure.

The word ‘fuck’ was definitely a curse, but it also existed deeply in the daily life of English-speaking cultures, so it wasn’t censored as much as one might think. Sometimes, in informal situations, it also had the meaning of simple negation and strong emphasis.

But what was clear was that it was a word that definitely didn’t fit in a moment of art like now.

However, Sanghyun thought there was no more appropriate word than this.

What am i fuckin doing?

What the hell am I doing?

This was a reference to the regret that 38-year-old Lee Sanghyun, who had lived ignoring noble impulses, had held for over a decade.

It was also a questioning process for 19-year-old Lee Sanghyun, who jumped into art, to find ‘what I want to do at this moment’.

For some, the current silence was a time to think about what Sanghyun’s lyrics meant, and for others, it was a time to reaffirm their rejection of rap.

However, both categories of people belatedly realized that the silence had become prolonged. The beat was still ringing through the speakers, but Lee Sanghyun’s voice had disappeared.

People unknowingly raised their heads, which had been lowered. Or, they put aside the thoughts they had been having with blurred focus and turned their eyes to chase Lee Sanghyun.

At that moment, even the beat disappeared.

Sanghyun came down from the stage, which was about 50cm high and installed for the performance. Then, he slowly walked along the audience that was surrounding him in a circle. He grabbed the microphone without stopping his steps. The sound of his shoes echoed through the main hall of the Arte Gallery, and the rap began again over the silence without any sound.

What am i fuckin doing? I used a vulgar word.

The eyes of the people gathered in the gallery widened
It’s expected to change, but my opponent,
The state of impulse that has both nobility and vulgarity at the same time,

Sanghyun’s voice began to bubble like water that had reached its boiling point. Some foreign gallery attendees, unable to bear their curiosity, asked the art interpreters for interpretation.

But none of the interpreters properly opened their mouths.

Is the current music something that can be conveyed by translating words and sentences? Is it possible to interpret this simultaneously without any preparation? Wouldn’t it rather ruin the feeling received regardless of the language?

But they didn’t need to worry about interpretation.

Because Sanghyun shouted and gathered all the attention.

One more time! What am i fuckin doing!
Gogh cut off his ear, so a self-portrait with a cut ear came out!
I exist because of myself
I prove that I am awake every moment
If my existence is just an assembly of cells, then what am I singing for at this moment?

The beat that had stopped for a while began to flow again.

However, the beat was not the feeling of percussion created by the collision of orchestral harmonies like before. It was reconstructed into a complete orchestral form like Lonely Road.

Over the magnificent orchestral harmony, the first four bars were placed again.

My birth is the impulse of my parents’ love
My survival is the impulse of instinct and desire
My life is the impulse of ego and satisfaction
My music is the collision of impulse and impulse

What decorated the end of the strange composition of intro – verse – intro again was a simple chorus.

Noble impulse, noble impulse
Noble impulse, noble impulse
Complete or incomplete
Noble impulse, noble impulse

***

With the end of 888 Crew’s three stages, was left with only the last order. It was the auction.

The most praised stage during today’s performance was Hayun and Minji’s ‘Let’s Live by the River’, but the stage that was mentioned the most during the gap between the performance and the auction preparation was Sanghyun’s stage.

“But isn’t it too vulgar? Fuckin doing.”

“As Mr. Lee said, impulse originally contains both nobility and vulgarity at the same time. Feeling the impulse to steal doesn’t mean that stealing is the right impulse. Wasn’t it a word choice that tried to express the paradox of such an impulse at the same time?”

“I think so too. It’s a word that can be used as a curse or as an emphasizing adverb. But apart from understanding his intention, I think it was a stage that cannot be seen as the logic of art.”

“Isn’t the idea that the boundary between art and non-art is divided by just one word too narrow-minded?”

“Well. True maestros often tear up paintings because of one line.”

“Hmm, then Mr. Jansen won’t participate in the auction.”

“That’s what I’m thinking, but I don’t know. Even though I think it’s not art, I keep getting a strange impulse, so it seems like his lyrics have had a pretty big impact on me.”

While the gallery attendees were chatting, the auction preparation was finally over.

“The auction will begin soon. We ask that all visitors who wish to participate in the auction gather in the main hall.”

Soon, all the gallery attendees gathered in the main hall.

Oh Yeonju looked at the expressions of some people and thought that it would not be easy to win today’s work at the highest price.

The auction proceeded in the order of the performances.

Therefore, the first auction was Let’s Live by the River.

Surprisingly, Let’s Live by the River did not receive much attention among foreign gallery attendees. Even though the atmosphere was very good during the performance.

However, there was quite a fierce competition among Korean gallery attendees.

Let’s Live by the River was a song with excellent lyrics that spewed out emotions rather than sound uniqueness or musical parts. And these parts could only receive high scores if one fully understood Korean and sympathized with the unique Korean family love.

“The final bid amount is……”

Let’s Live by the River was won by the young president of Inhang Corporation, who is usually interested in art sponsorship and avant-garde works.

The winning bid was 14 million won. Since it was in the form of a donation, the price felt quite high. But the president of Inhang Corporation signed with a very satisfied expression.

“The second auction will begin.”

The second work, Junhyung and Hwan’s Mirror, was won by an unexpected person.

It was one of the foreign reporters, not art sponsors or *chaebols* [large family-owned industrial conglomerates], and the winning bid was 8.4 million won. However, he mentioned 888 Crew and raised the winning bid to 8.88 million won.

Now, it was finally Sanghyun’s turn to auction ‘Noble Impulse’.

Oh Yeonju participated in the bidding for the first time.

The auction for Noble Impulse proceeded in a slightly strange way. It was different from the previous auctions where the tension rose and the prices soared. The price rose sporadically, and someone often called out a much higher amount just before the auctioneer declared the final bid.

It was like an auction of a work that expressed the value of impulse.

“Fifteen million.”

Oh Yeonju raised the price, which was hesitating at 12 million won. Since she was aiming for the highest price anyway, she had to exceed the 14 million won of Let’s Live by the River.

Then, a member of the LOC Group called out 16 million, and Oh Yeonju raised the price further. The price started to jump wildly and finally broke through the 20 million won mark.

The reporters took pictures as if they had discovered an interesting structure. But those photos probably wouldn’t be used.

If Ohkyung wins the bid, LOC will invoke portrait rights and block the use of the photos, and if LOC wins the bid, Ohkyung will block it.

“Thirty million.”

“Thirty million won. Are there any more?”

At the auctioneer’s words, LOC showed signs of hesitation and then gave up the auction.

Then, several foreign tycoons raised their paddles. Oh Yeonju nodded as if she knew it would happen. The auction began to overheat.

***

……This is the naked reality of modern art, which engages in all sorts of bizarre behavior under the name of avant-garde.

It is a farce caused by the addition of fat such as ‘the death of the late Mr. Paik Nam-june’ and ‘the succession of video art’ and ‘the combination of time art and space art’ to the work of a high school rapper who does not have a deep understanding of art, let alone a university-level knowledge of humanities.

While watching his performance, the writer had to doubt his ears. It was because I heard a sentence that would only come out of black rappers’ video clips: ‘What am i fuckin doing.’

Is the video art inherited by poet Choi Hak-rim perhaps a video clip of a black music musician?

(Omission)

***

……Poet Choi Hak-rim’s was a project planned based on such diverse artistic values. The world of art is never independent and does not drift. All foundations are organically combined and rotated.

It is in the same context as the late Mr. Paik Nam-june’s release of ‘Good Morning Mr. Orwell’ on January 1, 1984, to answer the dystopian 1984 revealed in George Orwell’s work.

In that sense, it is significant that the keyword of communication of Mr. Paik Nam-june, which is inherited by the video art of , was linked to popular music hip-hop.

This significance can be found in the fact that 888 Crew Lee Sanghyun’s ‘Noble Impulse’ was won by Bruno Racine, director of the Pompidou Center in France, the most famous center for modern art in Europe, for a high amount of 97 million won.

(Omission)

***

Foreign art magazine clips with completely different perspectives began to pour out. These two perspectives began to sharply conflict, each asserting its own argument, and it soon led to a war of words between artists.

The Korean media, which is sensitive to foreign reactions, began to shed light on and , and soon the names of Choi Hak-rim, poetry and rap, and 888 Crew began to appear not only in the culture section but also in the society section.

However, 888 Crew did not respond. It was because the work, which had already been released and accepted by people and had its own life force, was no different from being out of their hands.

So they had no choice but to create another work with noble impulses that had its own life force.

And finally, 888 Crew’s first full-length album announcing Version 2 was completed.

< Verse 27. 888 Crew Version 2 (完) > End

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