The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 266

< Verse 41. Streamline (End) – End of Volume 11 >

***

“It seems FiveSix’s refusal to appear is genuine.”

“Did you contact him properly?”

“I did, but…”

“Seriously, what kind of crazy person turns down a chance to earn five million dollars?”

“Because of Eminem…”

“Contact him secretly and offer to put him in the Top Five, no, even Top Three.”

“It won’t work. I subtly hinted at it, but he seemed to hate it.”

Clive Davis, the CCO (Chief Contents Officer) of Sony Music and in charge of *The X-Factor*, shook his head after receiving the report.

“This is a complete self-inflicted wound.”

“It wasn’t us who dug the grave, was it? It was Sony.”

“Such words are just excuses for a CCO. You know the Japanese proverb our employer often uses, right?”

“Like a plaster that sticks everywhere, there’s a reason for everything?”

“Your memory is impressive.”

Clive Davis, who believes in smiling even in tough times, forced a smile.

But it didn’t really help.

Clive Davis found himself in a difficult situation because of something that happened a few weeks ago.

Sony Music had very high expectations for *The X-Factor*.

Their expectations were so high that Sony Music originally planned to single-handedly produce the show, bearing all the astronomical production costs. If it hadn’t been for Simon Cowell’s demand to check the influence of a single production company, EMI Music wouldn’t have had a chance to get involved.

Sony Music’s high expectations for *The X-Factor* stemmed from their goal to become the world’s leading label by 2015.

The acquisition of all Sony Music shares held by BMG (Bertelsmann Music Group) was also done in the same context. Sony’s parent company, Sony Corporation, believed that to go from being one of the ‘Big Four record labels’ to the ‘world’s leading label,’ they needed the flexibility in decision-making for aggressive management.

Sony Music had been working on two projects since 2007: *The X-Factor US* in 2008 and the *Michael Jackson World Tour* in 2009.

And both projects were off to a smooth start.

*The X-Factor*, which was about halfway through, was breaking its own viewership records with each episode, and Michael Jackson’s best album, released to promote the tour, was selling like hotcakes.

The owners of Sony Music and the decision-makers at Sony Corporation were having satisfying days.

But one day, a very minor problem arose.

“Hey, why does the *X-Factor* keep emphasizing that Korean bloodline?”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t you know that most Westerners think that outstanding Asians are Japanese and ‘dirty’ Asians are Chinese? If we leave it alone, they’ll think he’s Japanese, so why keep emphasizing the Korean bloodline?”

“But he is Korean, isn’t he?”

“Korean or whatever, he’s an American by nationality. So just say he’s an Asian-American. Don’t keep saying Korean, Korean.”

“Oh… there seems to have been a mistake in the report. FiveSix is not an immigrant or a second-generation immigrant with U.S. citizenship. His current nationality is Korean.”

“What? So we’re pouring all that money into a *Joseon* [historical Korean kingdom] person? Are you crazy?”

“The winner hasn’t been decided yet, but…”

“Are you blind? Deaf? In this situation, it’s obvious that the *Joseon* guy will win if he doesn’t make any mistakes!”

The problem started when the top management of the parent company, Sony, subtly expressed the opinion that ‘it would be preferable if a Korean didn’t win.’

Clive Davis, who was in charge of *The X-Factor*, and Jacob Dunn, the top executive, were taken aback.

“Dunn, is the relationship between Japan and Korea that bad?”

“It’s similar to Ireland and England.”

“Ah, Japan was a war criminal country, right?”

“Yes. For some reason, the image is different from Germany, though.”

“That’s all because of Dragon Ball.”

Dunn sighed and said,

“Anyway, it’s a bit embarrassing. They invested an astronomical amount of money and are worried about such minor details.”

“Asians have the advantage of being very detail-oriented and the disadvantage of being overly detail-oriented. Anyway, we can’t ignore it.”

Sony Music’s predecessor was CBS Records, an American company, which started as ARC, a company formed by the merger of small American record companies.

So, strictly speaking, Sony Music was an American company, and although it was acquired by ‘Sony Corporation of America’ in 1988, its members and decision-making system were independent from the parent company.

However, now that Japanese Sony had acquired 50% of Sony BMG’s shares, which were owned by German Bertelsmann, the influence of the parent company had become very strong.

Moreover, with the exception of CEO Doug Morris, both international CEO Edgar Berger and CCO Clive Davis were hired by Japanese Sony.

Therefore, Sony Music had no choice but to accept the parent company’s demands, even though they were reluctant.

“I miss the Sony BMG days.”

“Dunn, you’ve been here since Sony BMG, but I joined after it became Sony Music. Are you saying you don’t like your boss when you say you miss those days?”

“You seem to understand the subtext too well.”

Clive Davis laughed at Dunn’s joke.

Even then, they thought that Sony’s request was unfair but not difficult.

“So, what should we do with FiveSix?”

“Isn’t it enough if he doesn’t win? We don’t have to drop him right away.”

“But it seems he will have considerable public support if he goes to the live stage.”

“Do you think he’ll win?”

“Yes. He’s very popular with Asian-Americans, and he has a solid support base in LA. And his image isn’t bad with the public. If FiveSix makes it to the Top 2, he’ll win if he can get more than 35% of the votes from the neutral voters.”

“Asian support is that strong?”

“Absolutely.”

“Is there no chance it won’t be 35%?”

“Well, unless the national audience suddenly changes their minds at the last minute, saying, ‘The winner should be American,’ I think he can easily get 50%.”

“What to do…”

“I’ll tell you in advance, Simon Cowell is not someone who can be influenced by this kind of external pressure. He may act for a while for the sake of popularity, but he won’t change his own opinion.”

Even if Dunn didn’t warn him, Clive Davis had no intention of using the judges to drop FiveSix. But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t picture a scenario where FiveSix would naturally be eliminated.

But an opportunity came. It was the showdown between Hime and FiveSix in the final round of boot camp.

Of course, it wasn’t good for the program’s flow for FiveSix to be eliminated right there. But it was an opportunity to tarnish him once.

There are many reasons why FiveSix gained popularity, but a big reason was that he was a sincere challenger.

Giving up his immense popularity in Korea and coming to America.

Secretly shedding sweat in the LA underground while facing racism.

And achieving Billboard.

It was truly a dramatic story.

Now, the American public also knew how famous FiveSix was as a musician in Korea.

So they believed the unbelievable reason that ‘he appeared on *The X-Factor* solely for the purpose of collaborating with Eminem.’ Frankly, if other contestants had said this, it would have sounded like an excuse.

But what if he was eliminated once and then returned? What if tabloid newspapers ran rumors that Eminem and FiveSix were collaborating?

FiveSix’s sincerity would inevitably be questioned. They would think, ‘Ah, he was after the prize money after all.’

That’s how things progressed. So, there was this background behind FiveSix’s elimination.

Of course, Sony Music didn’t mention Sony’s request and instead used the excuse of creating a dramatic story for the sake of buzz and viewership.

Therefore, the four judges and EMI Music, who couldn’t make a decision, agreed to the idea of creating buzz by passing both Hime and FiveSix.

But two problems arose.

The first was that, surprisingly, FiveSix was really sincere. He really appeared on *The X-Factor* to collaborate with Eminem.

The second was that the world is too small and FiveSix had more supporters than expected.

Sony Music didn’t know, but there were many staff members who had a good impression of FiveSix since the *Curtain Call* tour.

As there are no eternal secrets in the world, the reason why FiveSix was eliminated was no secret either. It’s not clear where it leaked from, but the pressure from Japanese Sony began to be known to the world.

– *The X-Factor* that lost its fairness.

– Among the unknown factors that do not discriminate against nationality, gender, and age, does that not include Koreans?

The bigger problem was that the timing of these facts being revealed was very ambiguous.

If the rumors had spread after FiveSix was eliminated on the show and refused the additional pass, it would have been easier to handle the problem. After all, *The X-Factor* offered an additional pass, but FiveSix refused.

But these stories spread before the broadcast.

So it looked like Sony Music was hurriedly trying to give FiveSix an additional pass to cover up the truth, but FiveSix refused to appear because he managed to collaborate with Eminem.

The way companies pursue profits is similar in Korea and the United States, but the crucial difference was the restraint that the public had.

Unfortunately, in Korea, companies could even control the media. The media could be severely damaged just by large corporations boycotting all advertisements. Therefore, public anger did not spread well to the media and did not have concrete restraint.

But the United States was a more horizontal society and a society that valued fairness more. Freedom of the press was also much higher than in Korea.

Of course, this did not mean that the United States was inherently superior to Korea, but it was merely a side effect of the large corporate power that arose in the development process of Korean society, which adopted growth first and distribution later.

Anyway, the American public began to get angry.

In fact, racism in the United States was much more deeply rooted than foreigners thought, and in some ways, it was a universal sentiment. So they couldn’t have liked the news that Japanese capital had ruined the reality of the most popular reality program in the United States.

Even those who had disliked Sanghyun because he was Asian until then began to take the side of the underdog in the conflict between ‘Japanese giant capital’ and ‘Korean rapper.’

*The X-Factor*’s viewership itself increased after Sanghyun left, but it was a very embarrassing situation for Sony Music, which dreamed of becoming the world’s leading label.

Also, the public was frequently comparing the contestants’ stages to *Lonely Road*.

While Sony Music was confused and unable to find a direction in this embarrassing situation, an even bigger tsunami was preparing to strike.

“Hello… Eminem.”

As Sanghyun shook hands with Eminem with a touched expression, Eminem laughed and said,

“Shouldn’t I be happy that I met you, considering the current buzz?”

“That’s not true. I should be happy because you’re going to put me at the top of the Billboard charts.”

“Is your English name Stan by any chance?”

Sanghyun smiled at Eminem’s joke.

*Stan* was the title of an Eminem song, which told the story of a crazy fan named Stan who committed suicide because he admired Eminem too much.

It was selected as the third-best rap of all time by *Q* magazine and ranked 290th on *Rolling Stone*’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

In fact, it might have seemed strange to others that Sanghyun was so sure that Eminem would succeed. He had a nearly five-year hiatus, went through several physical changes after overcoming a life-threatening crisis, and his fandom had also declined a lot.

“Let’s talk about music first.”

“You said you had a song you wanted to do with me?”

“Shouldn’t we listen to the beat and the guide first?”

Eminem said that and signaled to the producer.

Soon, a thin, long shout of a woman filled Eminem’s personal studio.

At that moment, Sanghyun twitched his eyebrows. And the moment the shouting ended and the full-fledged beat continued, his eyes widened.

Sanghyun’s statement that Eminem would put him at the top of the Billboard charts was a joke. It was just a fun way of expressing how much he was looking forward to Eminem’s album.

But, but Eminem was really going to put him at the top of the Billboard charts.

No. 1 on the Billboard Combined Chart.

No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.

No. 1 on the Billboard Single Album Chart.

A track from the album that topped the Billboard 200.

The beat that Eminem played for Sanghyun was the super single *Crack A Bottle* that could handle all these modifiers.

At the end of 2008, it was the true starting point of the Mainstreamline that Sanghyun boarded, and the current that brought the tsunami that would engulf *The X-Factor* was beginning.

< Verse 41. Streamline (End) – End of Volume 11 > End

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