The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 142

< Verse 20. Battle Rhyme >

Crouching Writer.

The first 100-bar rap in Korea.

Lee Sanghyun’s unique wordplay that continues endlessly.

A witty flow that dramatically enhances the delivery of lyrics.

A song praised for encapsulating the 888 World, the musical foundation of the 888 Crew.

Bae Gah knew that these great reviews could come back to bite him if his Crouching Writer wasn’t good.

Until now, Bae Gah had never been directly compared to Sanghyun. Their rap styles and musical worldviews were too different.

But after this song, he would be compared.

Because he jumped onto the song of a junior who was six years younger than him. He stepped into an arena where success meant breaking even and failure meant taking a hit.

‘Why would I lose? I’m Bae Gah.’

Bae Sangwook confidently gripped the microphone.

A simple beat with only drums and piano.

He was newly impressed by Sanghyun’s placement of ‘wordplay and a simple beat’ together.

And Bae Gah’s rap began.

S.T.A.R.Z.

Casting: They are busy

You almost know without me saying

Cherish our CD

As soon as Sanghyun heard Bae Gah’s rap, he was impressed.

Putting aside whether it was good, he felt a great courage. Not only the beat but also the composition referenced Crouching Writer.

‘As expected…….’

Bae Gah is not someone who settles for the status quo.

That’s why he will continue to hold the center of the Korean hip-hop scene for more than 10 years.

Genghis Khan, who spent his whole life on horseback

Every day, I ambush the beat with dreams hidden quite deep inside a corner of my studio desk

I’ll give it all to you cheap, Discount

Tightly fitting rhymes and punchlines hidden everywhere.

The word ‘말’ (mal) had the double meaning of horse and language, and ‘싸게 해드릴게’ (ssage haedeurilge) had the double meaning of discount and piss.

The audience started to cheer, making ‘ooh’ sounds at Bae Gah’s unusual rap.

If Bae Gah’s usual rap was a mounted jousting match, the rap he was showing now was fencing. The sharply refined flow was stabbing the audience here and there.

The diverse and sharp flow was so skillful that it was hard to easily judge its superiority even when compared to Sanghyun’s Crouching Writer.

My innate talent isn’t for rap

Being able to work hard is half of my talent

The title of superstar in front of Bae Gah’s name

Is when everyone is sound asleep at night

Bae Gah’s rap continued without a break, and the audience voraciously devoured his lyrics. And at some point, Bae Gah’s sharply connected voice began to rise.

Bae Gah, rolling around for 6 years

Every night, Bae Gah, ordering my Swagger

Shines the brightest in the Milky Way, Vega

At that moment, the beat went silent, creating a space of silence. But there was no way the musician on stage would leave the space of silence alone.

Bae Gah inhaled and shouted.

Making STARZ was the best thing I ever did! Me-!

Me…… me…… me…….

The huge echo of the voice filling the speakers wandered around the concert hall above the extinguished beat.

Bae Gah’s original performance style was to give continuous stimulation rather than a dramatic moment of catharsis. So this performance could only be reminiscent of that of the 888 Crew, whom he respected.

“STARZ Records-!”

The STARZ Records members standing behind Bae Gah raised their hands and shouted.

The audience, who had been stunned by Bae Gah’s unexpected performance, shouted a beat late.

-Wowwww!

-Bae Gahhh!

“Wow, damn! That’s crazy……!”

After listening to Bae Gah’s rap, Junhyung unknowingly let out a rough exclamation. Looking around, it seemed he wasn’t the only one.

‘When will I ever catch up to Lee Sanghyun and Bae Gah hyung [older brother/male]? I’m working hard too!’

Junhyung grumbled inwardly, but his eyes were fixed on Bae Gah and Sanghyun. He knew that he and others were growing like crazy because of those backs.

After enjoying the cheers for a while, Bae Gah suddenly raised his index finger to his lips.

Shhh-

Bae Gah slowly began to move. The place his steps were headed was in front of Sanghyun.

Bae Gah said in a whisper.

“Respect Crouching Writer.”

A short cheer was heard from the audience.

Shhh-

“Shout-Out 888 Crew, But…….”

However,

“Still I’m King.”

Finally, the song title of the day was revealed to the world.

Still I’m King

Respects Crouching Writer and shouts out the 888 Crew, but the king is still in this place.

The revolution is not yet here.

“Still! I’m! King-!”

At Bae Gah’s powerful shout, a crashing drum sound fell like lightning onto the stage.

A hardcore drum sound laid over the beat of Crouching Writer. Behind it, a bass with a strong damping feel appeared.

Now Crouching Writer is over.

I played excitedly in your way, but I can kill you in my style.

Bae Gah’s rap, containing a strong message, was fired. And this message had a direct target.

Lee Sanghyun.

Bae Gah started rapping, pointing at Sanghyun.

My rhymes are overflowing like a car mania

My head is an 888-lane highway, overflowing with accidents

You’re Mario, I’m Koopa

You’ll die dozens of times and then brag that you won once and cleared it? Just funny

Mario has to die dozens, hundreds of times to beat the final boss, Koopa. But if he wins just once, he says he cleared the game.

From Koopa’s point of view, it was an unfair situation. If the game started again, Mario would die to him again. Countless times.

Bae Gah was comparing Sanghyun to Mario and himself to Koopa.

Meaning that even if you beat me, it’s not a true victory.

A declaration that a true victory will only come when you surpass everything I have contributed to the hip-hop scene so far.

The punchlines used earlier, ‘차고’ (chago) 넘쳐 (neomcheo) overflowing with ‘cars’ and ‘사고’ (sago) 넘쳐 (neomcheo) overflowing with ‘accidents,’ were also fun words. But they weren’t as shocking as the analogy of Mario and Koopa.

Sanghyun’s surprised expression was caught on camera. Sanghyun was making a genuinely surprised expression, mixed with a bit of awe.

Bae Gah smiled at that expression.

It was indeed Lee Sanghyun. Sanghyun was perfectly catching all the messages he was trying to convey just by listening to a short verse.

Finally, the rap rushed towards the end.

This is my decree, FiveSix Chick Show

The best big show in Korean hip-hop in 2005

Now I’ll put it back on track correctly

The disorder caused by Triple Eight

The music of the 888 Crew is attractive. Enough to captivate even current musicians.

But Bae Gah didn’t think it was very desirable for all the beginners in Korean hip-hop to become 888 kids.

Like the 888 Crew’s Hiphopplaya interview, you have to know the basics of Korean hip-hop before trying to change it. Trying to change it without knowing the basics didn’t make sense and wasn’t the right direction.

That’s why Bae Gah wanted to show the 888 kids the true taste of Korean hip-hop that had been going on since 1999.

28 bars with the beat of Crouching Writer.

8 bars with hardcore drums on top of it.

Bae Gah’s total of 36 tightly packed bars of rap ended.

Sanghyun sincerely applauded Bae Gah on stage. The 888 Crew members and STARZ Records members also cheered, and Bounce Rhyme’s Dolphin was also giving generous applause.

Not to mention the audience.

Bae Gah, who was panting and enjoying the cheers, grabbed the microphone and opened his mouth. His panting breath had calmed down a bit.

“Sanghyun, did you enjoy the adult’s demonstration?”

Laughter erupted. The audience’s attention was focused on the still ongoing war of nerves.

Sanghyun, who took the microphone in response, opened his mouth.

“Hyung [older brother/male], I’m so sorry, what should I do?”

“What are you sorry about?”

“Daisy (the princess of Mario who is kidnapped by Koopa) says she likes me.”

At Sanghyun’s words, Bae Gah smiled slightly and matched his rhythm.

“Hey, no way. She’s just playing hard to get.”

“Hyung [older brother/male] puts weird makeup on Daisy, so it won’t work. Daisy is simple.”

Bae Gah felt something strange in Sanghyun’s tone. It was as if he was actually comparing Daisy to something.

“What is Daisy?”

“She’s a friend that hyung [older brother/male] and I are both after.”

Except for PD [Production Director] Heo Taejin and the 888 Crew, everyone else looked puzzled at Sanghyun’s words. It was an incomprehensible Zen-like answer.

Then Sanghyun politely guided Bae Gah towards STARZ Records.

“I have to go play with Daisy. Goodbye.”

Before he could say anything, Bae Gah was pushed to the side, and only Sanghyun was left in the center of the stage.

Sanghyun smiled as usual, looking around. Then he grabbed the microphone and said quietly.

“Welcome, Daisy. Shall we have some fun?”

At that moment, the beat began to play.

The moment they heard the beat, the audience had the same thought they had just 2 minutes ago. They thought the beat being played was a DJ’s mistake.

But the beat didn’t stop.

The audience belatedly realized the meaning of Lee Sanghyun’s words.

The existence that Lee Sanghyun and Bae Sangwook were both after.

The beat that came out with the words ‘Welcome, Daisy.’

Lee Sanghyun was now trying to sing Crouching Writer as a hidden track to determine first place in Round 3.

-Wowwwww!

-Crouching!

The audience, who had grasped the situation, shouted with an unbelievable volume, as if the cheers they had made so far were a joke.

Two rappers competing with the same beat, as if it were planned.

The rap battle didn’t seem to be over yet.

Moreover, the fourth track of the official bootleg, Crouching Writer, was a song that all passionate fans who would apply to attend Hiphopplaya knew.

It was perfect for the last song.

‘But then isn’t that too advantageous for Lee Sanghyun? Besides, Crouching Writer was performed live once in episode 1, right?’

Some fans with fair standards thought so, but the atmosphere seemed to have already shifted to Lee Sanghyun.

Sanghyun was one of the people who didn’t go to Hiphopplaya as much as the other members. Of course, that didn’t mean he didn’t go at all, but he didn’t go looking for reactions to 888 Crew music.

The reason was that he was afraid that his musical direction would be damaged.

People are naturally creatures who want to be recognized. So if he saw the reactions on Hiphopplaya, he felt like he would unknowingly release music that satisfied those reactions.

However, he sometimes felt sorry when he saw his original message or purpose being misunderstood.

-But Crouching Writer is good, but doesn’t it have some artificial parts in the lyrics, unlike Lee Sanghyun’s usual style? There are also some parts where colloquial and literary styles are mixed. Lee Sanghyun originally uses extreme colloquial style.

-He’s just writing 100 bars of wordplay, so it’s hard to write lyrics, so he’s using all sorts of methods. Some of the lyrics seem a bit forced. 50 bars would have been more appropriate than 100 bars.

Sanghyun was never overwhelmed while writing 100 bars.

No, he was overwhelmed. It was overwhelming to compress a 150-bar song into 100 bars. Because it’s always harder to reduce than to increase.

The Crouching Writer he would sing today was literally a Hidden Track.

It was a place to showcase the lyrics that were unfortunately not chosen, and a place to prove that he wrote more than 100 bars.

‘I’ll let Bae Gah hyung [older brother/male] know who’s the best in this area too.’

< Verse 20. Battle Rhyme > end

ⓒ