The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 13

더 랩스타-13화(13/309)

< Verse 1. Run this town >

Sanghyun felt a bit taken aback.

Judging by Miju’s smiling face, it didn’t seem like she had bad intentions. The eyes of the audience members were all directed at Sanghyun.

He was incredibly flustered.

“Aren’t you a vocalist? This is a great opportunity to collaborate with the bands, so show off your skills.”

Miju pushed Sanghyun’s back.

He didn’t know what she saw in him to recommend him, but it was indeed a good opportunity… if he were a vocalist in a normal situation. But,

‘I haven’t been on stage in 20 years……?’

The high school freshman festival, known as the ‘Lee Sanghyun Dropkick’ incident, was the last stage in Sanghyun’s life.

It was about 8 months ago in the current timeline, but in actual time, it was 20 years and 8 months ago. He had absolutely no stage experience.

Moreover, he was a *rap* vocalist.

It wasn’t impossible to rap to a band’s sound, but he doubted whether the bands of 2005 would know hip-hop beats based on sampling.

In the end, Sanghyun decided to decline with a smile.

“I don’t think there’s a place for me to jump in. If there’s another opportunity, I’ll do it then.”

Miju shrugged at Sanghyun’s words. What could she do if he felt burdened? However, Lee Kyungmin, the bassist of the band ‘Golden Finger,’ suddenly sneered.

“Everyone’s a vocalist these days.”

Lee Kyungmin’s sudden sneer surprised his colleagues and Miju. The audience also reacted, feeling it was too harsh to say to a high school student out of nowhere.

Lee Kyungmin, who originally had an arrogant personality, had been in a bad mood since the jam started.

Golden Finger was the most famous indie band in Gwangju, but that was thanks to the lead guitarist’s songwriting ability and the vocalist’s singing skills.

The drums were decent, but the bass was only rated as average.

Because of this, he had a great inferiority complex towards the bassist of the band ‘L&S,’ who was considered to have the best bass even though their vocalist wasn’t great. Some people even said that Golden Finger could become a national band if they just had the L&S bassist.

The band L&S was the team Sanghyun remembered as the shaggy-cut vocalist band he saw at the hospital.

And today, Lee Kyungmin, who had been quietly enduring because he didn’t want to be compared to the bassist of L&S, who continued to lead the jam, expressed his inferiority complex in a strange place.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

Golden Finger’s leader stopped Kyungmin.

Kyungmin’s personality wasn’t great to begin with, but this was really damaging the band’s image. However, it was difficult to scold him severely because Kyungmin, who was wealthy, paid for the performance venue and recording studio rental fees for Golden Finger’s activities.

“No, isn’t what I’m saying not that wrong?”

Kyungmin insisted, and his colleagues were all taken aback. They knew he had a nasty personality, but why was he lashing out at a high school student he was meeting for the first time?

However, the fans of Golden Finger who were watching guessed that Kyungmin and Sanghyun had a bad relationship from the start. Since they didn’t understand the situation, they were thinking of it in a positive way.

“He’s completely crazy…….”

Sanghyun shook his head. He wasn’t angry at the absurd and ridiculous situation, but instead felt sorry for the band leader. To be doing band activities while taking care of such a troublemaker.

*I’m a fan of that band leader from today.*

“Hold on a second.”

However, the band leader wasn’t as righteous as Sanghyun thought.

“Are you a vocalist, student?”

“Uh…… yes.”

Sanghyun hesitated as he answered.

He was contemplating whether he should explain in detail that he was a rap vocalist, but to others, it looked like a lack of confidence, or the appearance of a mediocre vocalist.

“Then let’s try matching up once. You can do it with our vocalist, or you can do it alone. You really *do* music, right?”

Sanghyun smiled bitterly at the words of the Golden Finger leader.

It was an obvious ploy. If he didn’t do music, he would become ‘anyone,’ and if he did music, he would come here and be humiliated and become ‘anyone.’

‘Ah, is this the music politics that often comes up in rap lyrics? It’s refreshing?’

Lee Kyungmin, who had been acting up, also understood the leader’s intention and closed his mouth. With a slight sneer.

“Ah, um…….”

Miju from Sejong Instruments looked embarrassed.

What started as a favor and a bit of mischief had turned into a situation where Sanghyun was being made fun of.

Sanghyun ignored Miju and walked towards the stage, parting the audience.

“Let’s give a round of applause to the student who showed courage.”

-Clap clap clap

He felt nervous as he heard the applause.

Now that he had stepped forward, the audience would only evaluate him based on ‘music.’ Lee Kyungmin provoked him first, and Sanghyun had no reason to be criticized, and so on, completely disappeared. Only good or bad remained.

Furthermore, the audience here were listeners who were deeply passionate about music, who came to see the band’s jam at 5 PM on a weekday.

“What song are you going to do? Are you high schoolers into Buzz [a popular Korean rock band] these days?”

Golden Finger’s leader said.

Buzz, who debuted in 2003, was an influential singer who caused a group sound club craze among middle and high school students, but they were often ignored by indie bands who played authentic band music and revered Nirvana, Oasis, and others.

“Just a moment. Let me think for a bit.”

“Think, my ass.”

Sanghyun, who lightly ignored Lee Kyungmin’s provocation, fell into thought.

He was thinking of rap based on band sounds. But it didn’t come to mind easily.

The ‘rap metal’ genre based on band sounds wasn’t common, but it wasn’t that rare either. The first thing that came to mind was ‘Berzerk’ from Eminem’s *The Marshall Mathers LP 2*, released in 2013.

‘But what did Berzerk sample to make that rap?’

He didn’t know. He knew it was a rap made by sampling something, but he didn’t know what it was. Should he go for EDM (Electronic Dance Music), which is club music, in this case?

Songs by so-called club rappers who rap to EDM music come to mind. Songs by Atlanta’s South rappers who are developing into trap. [Trap is a subgenre of hip hop music that originated in the Southern United States in the early 1990s.]

But pass on that as well. He wasn’t confident in explaining the performance, and he didn’t remember any music clearly.

“Hey, student?”

Lee Kyungmin called out to Sanghyun with a triumphant smile. *He’s pretending to think, but there’s no way he’ll remember.*

“I think the audience is getting a little bored…….”

Sanghyun glanced over and saw that he was right. Sanghyun had been thinking for quite a while longer than he thought. But he couldn’t think of anything.

‘Was I this ignorant of the rap metal genre?’

The audience members were starting to talk little by little. Some people were turning on their phones that they had turned off. Miju felt a great sense of guilt at the sight of Sanghyun being cornered.

‘I shouldn’t have stepped in…….’

Her friends were right when they said that she would get into trouble someday because her mouth moved faster than her head. It wasn’t her who was in trouble, though.

‘I can’t let this go on. I have to end the performance.’

It was a place that Sejong Instruments had provided for free anyway. As a part-timer, she could force it to end. Of course, she would get scolded by the boss later, and she might even get fired.

The audience was getting louder and louder.

It was the moment Miju was about to step forward. Sanghyun, who had been thinking for a long time, opened his mouth.

“Run DMC.”

If he couldn’t think of a suitable rap metal song, why not choose the first rap metal song?

Classic is forever.

Because masterpieces don’t change.

< Verse 1. Run this town > End

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