The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 200

“Just For The Record” was structured as ’24 bars – Chorus – 16 bars – Chorus – 16 bars – Chorus’.

Since one rapper was responsible for 8 bars, it meant each verse was divided among 3 people, then 2 people, then 2 people. So, before the chorus, Sanghyun, Junhyung, and one more musician had to appear to complete the 24 bars.

And that musician was Sangmi.

-Lee Sangmi!

-It’s Sangmi!

The cheers grew louder as Sangmi appeared. Although Sangmi wasn’t a rapper, she was gaining popularity by communicating with the public through her weekly webtoon [online comic].

Her older male fans were especially enthusiastic.

JFTR was, without a doubt, a song created through the combined efforts of everyone in the 888 Crew. The rappers’ roles weren’t the only determining factor in the work.

So, Sangmi and Minho were also present during the recording of JFTR. Therefore, track 10, “Just For The Record,” included verses from Sangmi and Minho as well.

When my brother first said he would rap,

I was restless, not knowing what I wanted to do

But now, when I draw my webtoon

I can’t keep track of time without setting an alarm

Sangmi knew how to rhyme and could handle the technical aspects of rap quite well. As she had shown in the Hip Hop The Vibe freestyle rap battle, she could use punchlines effectively.

Sanghyun thought that, except for the vocalization, Sangmi rapped better than most beginner rappers.

However, Sangmi didn’t pay much attention to the technical aspects of rap while recording this track. That’s because she wasn’t a rapper. What Sangmi needed to focus on was a reverent attitude toward sincerity.

Writing lyrics with a very pure heart, rapping carefully with a very pure heart.

As a result, Sangmi’s verse was penetrating people’s ears like narration, or like a younger sibling chattering.

The audience, who had been loudly singing along to Sanghyun and Junhyung’s verses, didn’t sing along to Sangmi’s part. Instead, they just watched quietly with pleased smiles.

Hayeon, Minji unni [older sister], and the other crew oppas [older brothers or male friends]

Misoo unni and L&S’s noisy oppas

Stars Records, even Yeonwoo oppa who battled me

Shout out to everyone! And I love you!

-Wowwwww!

-Whoo-ee!

As soon as Sangmi’s verse ended, the middle-aged men from Hiphopplaya stepped forward, cheering and whistling.

The way they put their index and thumb to their mouths to whistle showed their age, but the message of support they sent to Sangmi was vividly alive.

Finally, the 24 bars filled with the voices of Sanghyun, Junhyung, and Sangmi came to an end, and it was time for the chorus.

The chorus of “Just For The Record” wasn’t sung by one specific person. All the musicians were responsible for the chorus.

This included not only the 888 Crew members but also the audience.

Just For The Record-

This is an official record

Just For The Record-

Above the round CD

The faces shining are full of smiles

The microphone in the recording booth is strangely warm

The voices of the seven members began to blend together to fill the chorus.

Their voices didn’t perfectly match. Some were a little fast, and some were a little slow. The vocal tones were also diverse, so there were cases where the sound stood out.

To those who pursued only musical perfection, it was a chaotic sound with mismatched audio, and they would have nothing to say even if they received such an evaluation.

But to those who were sincerely enjoying the song, there was no better chorus than this. It was doubtful if anyone could evaluate this song purely technically.

That’s how much something exciting was in the chorus now.

Just For The Record-

This is an official record

Just For The Record-

Above the round CD

The faces shining are full of smiles

The microphone in the recording booth is strangely warm

The L&S members watching TV in the studio.

Inhyuk, who took a break from studying in Gwangju.

The Stars Records members and Caliph, who were accelerating preparations for the next album.

Mr. Hong of Sejong Music Store, who was busy watching the store and belatedly turned on the TV.

Everyone was following the chorus of “Just For The Record” in their hearts.

Above the round CD

The faces shining are full of smiles

The microphone in the recording booth is strangely warm

Perhaps Sanghyun and Hayeon’s parents in heaven were also following along.

-Just For The Record!

-Just For The Record!

Not to mention the audience.

The moment the chorus created together by everyone ended, Hayeon’s rap began.

Hayeon’s rap began by retracing a cafe in Gwangju where the 888 Crew first gathered.

***

All the stages of Popular Music, which were planned as a summer special, finally came to an end.

Now, all that remained was to select the number one song for the fifth week of June 2006.

“Okay! Everyone, please gather in the center of the stage!”

The singers gathered around Mild and Choo Ilhoon, the hosts of Popular Music. The 888 Crew members, who were new to this, hesitantly gathered in the center of the stage.

They did everything they wanted to do without hesitation when performing, but in these situations, their hesitation was visible. The surrounding singers thought the 888 Crew was a truly mysterious team.

Meanwhile, the nominees for first place were announced.

As always, the songs nominated for first place were three songs.

888 Crew’s “Just For The Record,” female solo vocalist Cha Bohee’s “Never Again,” and the three-member mixed group Energy’s “Power Up.”

Mild and Choo Ilhoon began to amplify the audience’s anticipation of who would be the number one today, exchanging various words.

Shortly after, the graphs of various indicators for selecting the number one song slowly began to rise on the TV screen.

However, everyone knew who the number one would be today.

Even the nominees selected for first place knew.

Apart from the song being good, the topicality being outstanding, and the performance being amazing, the album sales score was too different.

The 888 Crew sold 50,000 albums in the first week of release and had recorded album sales of over 80,000 to date. Moreover, since today was Wednesday, there were predictions that they would surpass 90,000 or 100,000 before the end of this week.

‘The audience and viewers who watched today’s performance will buy a lot of albums.’

The A&R [Artists and Repertoire] team members of the large agencies were convinced that they should postpone the comebacks or debuts of their affiliated singers for a while.

Of course, if large agencies hoarded music and albums, they could take away the 888 Crew’s number one spot. However, that opportunity would only be now, at this moment when sales were recording ‘only 80,000 copies’.

Because there was a limit to the number of albums that large agencies could hoard, but the sales of JFTR seemed to be rising without end.

“Congratulations! It’s the 888 Crew!”

“It seems like this is the first time in Popular Music history that a team has recorded first place on their debut stage! Congratulations!”

Confetti burst and poured over the heads of the 888 Crew.

The singers who had already guessed rushed to congratulate the 888 Crew.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

The 888 Crew didn’t pretend to be surprised. They had also predicted first place, and as such, they wanted to be purely happy.

‘First place at the same time as their debut stage.’

It was a monumental event that everyone involved in show business would be amazed by.

Of course, after a few years, teams would emerge that formed a fandom in advance through audition programs and debuted, which happened frequently, but not now in 2006.

Now, there was an insurmountable gap between the words ‘debut’ and ‘first place’.

The 888 Crew became the first team to bridge that gap and became the first team to build a tower of gold with hip-hop music on public broadcasting.

Of course, it wasn’t that rap music had never taken first place before.

However, such rap music only borrowed the framework of rap and did not contain real hip-hop. The essence of hip-hop music that moves and empathizes with others through one’s own story.

-Rap Star 888 Crew, number one on Popular Music for the fifth week of June!

-Underground rapper, finally rises to rap star!

The word ‘Rapstar’ would be used for the first time in internet portal articles that would be uploaded just a few hours later.

Star.

‘Edgar Morin’, who first studied stars and star business.

Edgar Morin said that a star is formed by an image that goes through various media categories, including media appearance style characteristics and forms of advertising and promotion.

But when the word Rap is attached to this, the nuance changes.

Because a real rapper is not a person who expresses an image in the media, but a person who unravels his own story.

So, a rap star is not created by capital, but is completed within their own music.

Rap stars such as Jay-Z, Nas, Notorious B.I.G., etc., had terrible physical images. But whatever their music had far surpassed the image of their appearance and made them rap stars.

In that sense, there would be no one as uninterested in image as the 888 Crew singing Just For The Record on the encore stage.

They were switching each other’s verses and dancing strange dances.

June 27, 2006.

Popular Music, fifth week of June.

1st place 888 Crew.

It didn’t even take a fortnight [two weeks].

The time it took for the 888 Crew’s first full-length album JFTR to shock the Korean music scene.

Just For The Record, the title of JFTR, began to take first place on music shows and maintain the top spot for a month.

***

An Jihee went to see Popular Music and completely fell for the 888 Crew.

Originally, the singer she supported was another team, but after seeing the 888 Crew’s performance, that singer’s stage felt boring, and the song felt uninteresting.

That’s how amazing the performance the 888 Crew showed was, and it was unforgettable.

An Jihee searched through the major distributors of domestic music and listened to the 888 Crew’s songs. But there weren’t as many songs as she thought.

‘What is it? Why aren’t there so many songs?’

Curious, she typed ‘888 Crew music’ into Naver Knowledge [Korean Q&A platform] and found a lot of questions.

Clicking on the most viewed post, there was a link to an article on the Hiphop Playa site as an answer.

‘Isn’t Hiphop Playa the place the 888 Crew shouted out on stage?’

Clicking on the article, she first saw a grand title.

-The history of the 888 Crew that newbies should know.

An Jihee clicked on the article and, while reading the contents of the article, was able to obtain information about the songs that the 888 Crew had registered and not registered, songs that could be listened to for free, and so on.

Below that, there was also a story about the growth of the 888 Crew, starting from Sejong Music Store.

It was as fun as watching a novel.

After reading the article, An Jihee suddenly went to the free bulletin board. But all the posts on the free bulletin board were covered with the words ‘888 Crew’, ‘JFTR’, and ‘new album’.

The speed at which new posts were uploaded was no joke.

If you refreshed for a moment, 5-10 posts would be uploaded in a row.

‘What?’

An Jihee thought, is this how hip-hop sites are originally? and clicked on the most recently uploaded post.

And then she was surprised and reconnected to the music site.

2006. 07. 01

Lee Sanghyun

56 JFTR (Jealousy, Forgiveness, Truth, Romance)

***

It was exactly a fortnight.

At the point when the shock that the 888 Crew’s JFTR had thrown into the Korean music scene was just beginning, Sanghyun’s solo album ’56 JFTR’ was suddenly released.

End

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