The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 102

Sanghyun watched Golden Finger’s performance, lost in thought.

Golden Finger used to be on equal footing, or even considered superior, but now they didn’t seem that impressive. They made decent music, but that was about it.

It seemed Golden Finger and Lee Kyungmin, who had bothered them, weren’t final boss material after all.

“Our final boss is music, forever.”

“What’s he suddenly talking about?”

“Did you get infected by Junhyung?”

The 888 Crew members, waiting for their turn after Golden Finger, teased Sanghyun.

Sanghyun smiled and said,

“I know you’re all eager for revenge against those annoying Golden Fingers. I’m pretty sure Lee Kyungmin was the one who sneakily uploaded that show business interview on the hip-hop site, BassLee.”

“Hmm…”

“But let’s not perform to beat them. Honestly, Golden Finger is nothing, right?”

The 888 Crew members understood Sanghyun’s words. They sympathized even more because Sanghyun had experienced failure at Jeonju World DJ Festival by making ‘music to beat others’.

“So, let’s make music to surpass yesterday’s 888 Crew, as always. Then we’ll naturally beat Golden Finger, right? Our final boss is music.”

“Wow, the influence of Hollywood is terrifying. This is a scene of cultural imperialism.”

Park Inhyuk sighed, and the crew members playfully cringed and nudged Sanghyun. But Sanghyun knew that his message had been conveyed.

At that moment, Golden Finger’s performance ended with cheers.

The words ‘NEXT – 888 Crew’ appeared on the screen displayed on one side of the auditorium. A crazy roar erupted.

While an awkwardly worded emcee, typical of high school festivals, introduced the 888 Crew, the members gathered in a circle and put their heads together.

Junhyung shouted loudly.

“We Eight that Eight that Eight that-”

“Crew!”

With the usual mantra that had become a pre-performance ritual, the 888 Crew stepped onto the stage. It was a very small stage compared to the performances they had recently experienced, but walking onto the stage always brought a strange tension and excitement.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Waaaa!”

There was a group of middle school girls who had started supporting Sanghyun and the 888 Crew since the Sejong Instrument Store performance. Next to them were Sangmi and her friends.

“Hello! We are the 888 Crew!”

When Junhyung greeted them casually, the auditorium erupted in cheers that seemed to shake the place. Students who didn’t know the 888 Crew were even asking their friends if they were celebrities.

They sang a total of three songs at the Unsan High School festival.

Why Coming, Lonely Road, and So Tight.

The students, who had been burdened by their studies, were excited to see the performance they had seen on TV, in stadiums, or on the internet unfold before their eyes.

“Why Come! Why For! Why Stand!”

“Ho!”

Because the auditorium was enclosed on all sides, the audience’s voices echoed loudly. The audience seemed to enjoy that, and they often sang along. Few people memorized and sang along to the verse lyrics, but many joined in on the chorus.

This atmosphere was not limited to the students.

Even teachers who didn’t pay much attention to the festival flocked to the auditorium to see the 888 Crew, who had performed a congratulatory performance for the Gwangju Tigers [a professional baseball team]. There were even teachers from nearby schools, not just Unsan High School. After the performance, there was even a teacher who asked if he could get a T-shirt because his daughter was a fan of the 888 Crew.

The auditorium was soon united with a thunderous 888 call.

“888!”

Having been called 888 so often at the concert hall, the members now called themselves the 888 Crew instead of the Eight Hundred and Eighty-Eight Crew.

“This is the last song. It’s called ‘So, Tight’. When I raise my hand, please shout ‘So, Tight!’ together.”

So, Tight- You don’t know what i take flow

So, Tight- my mommy, daddy is god

So, Tight- Cause I’m new god flow

So, Tight, Ti- Ti- Ti- Tight

The hook of ‘So, Tight’, which had imprinted the name ‘Shin Hayeon’ on Korean hip-hop fans at Club Homi, began.

The 888 Crew’s performance, which made the allotted running time of 15 minutes feel short, elicited encore requests twice. They were able to come down from the stage after singing two more songs.

Gwangju Up.

Eight, Eight, Eight LA Remix.

That was the end of the 25-minute performance, including the encore. In fact, the 888 Crew was the finale of the performance. After them, there was a song sung by a few teachers and the closing ceremony.

“Wow, the atmosphere was amazing today. I heard the Unsan High School festival is fun, and it’s incredible.”

“It’s different from the festival you saw in the dating sim [dating simulation game], right?”

“This is what our alma mater is like.”

The 888 Crew, giggling after the performance, was definitely the center of attention. Sanghyun and Junhyung’s friends came up to them, pretending to know them, and the performers hovered around them.

Then students from a group sound club [a music club] invited from another school approached.

“Hello. Um, could you tell me what genre the last song you played was?”

“Yes? Ah, it’s a mix of dubstep and trap.”

“Dub…?”

“Dubstep is an electronic genre that developed in the UK, and trap is a hip-hop genre that developed in Atlanta.”

“Ah… I see.”

The group sound students, who had come to strike up a conversation, had no choice but to leave, saying, ‘I enjoyed the performance,’ after a feast of incomprehensible alien language.

After that, members of a girls’ high school dance club came and asked for Sanghyun and Junhyung’s phone numbers. But it failed due to Sangmi’s ghostly blocking.

Starting with the Unsan High School festival, the 888 Crew enjoyed their musical activities. However, there was one thing that changed in their activities from the Chungjang Festival, which was the next schedule after the Unsan High School festival.

That was that a VJ (video journalist) with a small camera and a writer were assigned to them.

After the production presentation of Hip Hop the Vibe 2, the first recording schedule was set for the first weekend of November.

However, PD (Production Director) Heo Taejin thought that one episode of filming was not enough to show the charm of each team. This was especially true for teams like Stars Records and 888 Crew, who were not familiar with broadcasting.

Therefore, PD Heo Taejin was focused on collecting videos containing the 888 Crew’s working environment, working methods, personal interviews, and actual performance videos. Most of the existing 888 Crew videos in Woo Minho’s hard drive were also provided to PD Heo Taejin.

“So, you’re saying that there’s no set way for the 888 Crew to work?”

“That’s right. Since we have many members and each has a different musical style. Even music that started with ‘Shall we make a song with this framework?’ changes into a completely different song when the opinions and colors of the eight members are combined. In fact, even a song like ‘Lonely Road’ wasn’t that grand. Rather, it started with the idea of ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to sample an orchestra simply?'”

The writer nodded at Junhyung’s answer and wrote something down. The VJ was looking for a composition that showed the studio well, focusing on Junhyung.

And even at that moment, the 888 Crew members were talking intensely.

“The audio overlapped again?”

At the VJ’s words, writer Seon Mina, who was in charge of the 888 Crew in Hip Hop the Vibe 2, sighed deeply.

She asked the 888 Crew members to be quiet for the sixth time.

***

Code Name’s leader, Dread, finished his pre-interview for Hip Hop the Vibe 2 at 2 a.m. He had a radio schedule that only he had, so he finished three hours later than the other members.

“Hey, Kyungjae!”

Dread turned around at the sound of his real name being called while walking down the quiet broadcasting station hallway. It was Kim Byungwoo, who had been in the same dance team in high school and had joined the broadcasting station.

“Oh, Byungwoo hyung [an honorific term for older brother or male friend].”

“Are you coming out of the interview?”

“Yeah. Did you move to KMnet, hyung? Where were you originally?”

“I was at KM, so I came to KMnet. It’s integrated.”

“Ah, is that so? What program are you in charge of now?”

His head was dizzy because he had only slept for two hours.

“I was originally in Music Login, but I joined the Hip Hop the Vibe team this time.”

“Hip Hop the Vibe?”

Kim Byungwoo, a KMnet PD, and Dread had a cup of coffee in the hallway and talked about this and that.

“But did you say you’re going to be on Hip Hop the Vibe?”

“Are you crazy? The agency told me to leave, so I’m leaving even though it sucks. Oh Kyung Entertainment is no different. They exploit you the same way.”

“But Oh Kyung has a different settlement ratio.”

“Ah, well. That’s the only reason I’m going.”

Kim Byungwoo asked.

“But is being on Hip Hop the Vibe that crazy? Didn’t you guys come out in Season 1 too? You’ve been criticized more than once or twice.”

“Well… that’s true.”

Dread took a sip of his coffee for no reason.

Byungwoo hyung was right. He didn’t really care about rap, whether it was Hip Hop the Vibe or Hip Hop the Live. He only started rapping after joining the agency, so that says it all.

‘But…’

Dread thought of the 888 Crew.

Then he remembered the performance in the pre-playoffs, and the miserable feeling he had at that time. It was the first time he had felt like all the audience was laughing at them in the show business world, where they sold their pride.

What was even more frustrating was that he had to call the 888 Crew to apologize because of the director’s pressure. It seemed Oh Kyung Entertainment wanted to sign a contract with the 888 Crew or Lee Sanghyun.

“Shit…”

He was going to face the 888 Crew one more time on Hip Hop the Vibe?

Dread suddenly had a thought.

“Hyung, am I the last interview? Have all the other teams been interviewed?”

“Um… I think everyone has. No. I think one of the Bounce Rhyme members didn’t do it.”

“Forget about Bounce Rhyme, did those 888 bastards do the interview?”

“They all did. They didn’t come up to Seoul, so the youngest VJ and the youngest writer went down to Gwangju.”

“Can I see that interview?”

“It’s not edited yet, so it’ll take five hours to see it all.”

“You did a guide edit [a rough cut]. I just need to see that.”

Kim Byungwoo hesitated and nodded. If he did him a favor like this, he could use it when he was casting next time.

“You owe me one. And don’t tell anyone you saw it.”