The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 144

The third-round battle of Hip Hop the Vibe 2, filmed on November 27th, aired as scheduled on December 2nd.

Even Hip Hop the Vibe 1, which was considered a failure, always had its rap battles become a hot topic. So, it was no surprise that Hip Hop the Vibe 2, which was receiving so much public attention, generated a lot of buzz.

After the broadcast, Sanghyun was inundated with offers from various agencies, so many that he seriously considered changing his phone number.

Not only agencies but also music distribution companies made numerous offers. This was because they were interested in Forecast or Crouching Writer, which had ranked high in real-time search terms for several days after the broadcast.

Even though the Korean music market was largely accustomed to free music, distribution companies could still make some profit. Hit songs earned a decent amount from Naver blog background music or Cyworld background music [popular Korean social networking services in the early 2000s, where users could personalize their profiles with music].

However, 888 Crew, as always, firmly rejected them.

Because of this, stories began to circulate in the entertainment industry that no one knew what 888 Crew, including Lee Sanghyun, was aiming for.

Either way, 888 Crew’s music was already being illegally shared on P2P [peer-to-peer] sites like Soribada or Pruna. So, the music distribution companies figured there was little risk in starting music distribution.

But it was only natural that they couldn’t understand 888 Crew, or rather, Sanghyun. Not unless they knew the future.

Sanghyun planned to release a full album and, once he had enough songs, start distribution through a foreign music company.

What he had in mind was the iTunes Store, which he believed would become the world’s leading platform. The addition of the Music Store in iTunes 4.0 and the surge in iPod sales in the US and Europe weren’t just stories from faraway lands. Korea would soon be swept up in the iPod and iPhone craze as well.

Sanghyun still remembered what Junhyung had said while drinking.

‘Hey, my album’s title track, released without any promotion, has 1 million streams, 1 million. Isn’t 1 million a lot, logically speaking?’

‘It is a lot. Gwangju’s population is about 1.5 million.’

‘But how much do you think the settlement amount was?’

‘How would I know? 5 million won [approximately $4,000 USD]? No, judging by your complaints, it must be less? Um… 2 million won [approximately $1,600 USD]?’

Junhyung’s answer that followed was shocking.

630,000 won [approximately $500 USD].

That was the revenue possible because Junhyung wrote and composed everything.

In fact, after 2009, the streaming structure of the Korean music scene was unavoidable for new singers.

‘You need a lot of streams to increase awareness, and you need awareness to get gigs. You make music with the money earned from gigs, and you stream that music again to increase your value. You make music again with that money…’

A repeating infinite loop.

New artists without recognition couldn’t skip this process.

However, there were still more than 3 years left until 2009, and 888 Crew was no longer ‘new’. They would develop even further than now and eventually become one of the most successful groups in Korean hip hop.

This was why Sanghyun was postponing music distribution.

Of course, foreign music distribution routes like the iTunes Store weren’t perfect. There were many complaints about streaming services there as well, and there was also noise about distribution.

Therefore, Sanghyun didn’t think his plan would necessarily work out perfectly.

Nevertheless, it was a ‘market’. It wasn’t about everyone failing to make money, whether they sold well or not, but about being able to receive appropriate compensation if they sold well.

Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, one of the biggest hits of 2013, earned 16.6 billion won [approximately $13 million USD] in music revenue alone.

T.I, who did an 8-bar rap feature in Blurred Lines, earned 700 million won [approximately $560,000 USD]. That was 90 million won [approximately $72,000 USD] per bar.

Sanghyun had registered 3 of his songs through a foreign distribution company for testing purposes or various other reasons. He had received help from Standard because he didn’t know any distribution companies.

One of the 3 songs he registered was Eight, Eight, Eight remix, one was Gwangju Up. And the last one was…….

‘Oppa [a Korean term used by a younger woman to address an older brother or close male friend], what are you doing?’

‘Huh? I was writing lyrics.’

Sangmi came into the studio. Sangmi, who was bored with the TV she was watching in the living room, came into the studio and lay down on the bed.

After rummaging through the comic books stacked on the bookshelf next to the bed for a while, Sangmi soon lost interest and began humming a song. It was a song from Official Bootleg.

‘Daydream, huh?’

‘Yeah. I like this song.’

Sanghyun got off the computer chair, sat on the bed, and stroked Sangmi’s hair.

‘It’s been a while since we’ve been this free.’

‘What do you mean free? It was bustling just a few hours ago.’

‘Is that so? Still, I feel awkward because there’s no one here at this time after staying up all night preparing for filming every day?’

‘Um, that’s true.’

The Korea Integrated Cable Channel Awards, originally scheduled for December 2nd, was postponed to December 9th. Therefore, the last broadcast of Hip Hop the Vibe Episode 1 was postponed by one week.

Viewers were furious because of the postponement, but the Korea Integrated Cable Channel Awards was an important event that cable broadcasting stations couldn’t refuse.

Thanks to this, 888 Crew and Stars Records were given a sweet week of rest. Of course, it wasn’t really a time to rest because they had to take care of the backlog and prepare for the final competition with Stars Records.

‘Oh, are you preparing the webtoon [digital comic] save drafts well?’

‘Yeah. I’m serializing one episode every two weeks as you said, so I have a lot of reserves.’

Sangmi answered confidently. In fact, Sangmi, who wasn’t a music-making member, didn’t have much to do when the other crew members were working.

Of course, conversations with Sangmi often gave musical inspiration, and she often helped to see the lyrics from a new perspective. She was the only member who could help with live monitoring or see things from a non-professional point of view.

However, these were roles that could be done in the early stages of making music and after the music was completed, so Sangmi also made webtoon drafts when 888 Crew was working in earnest. Thanks to this, there was an abundance of reserves.

Sangmi’s webtoon was increasing in readership in proportion to 888 Crew’s recognition. Sanghyun thought that about one-tenth of the readers currently approaching the webtoon platform were being brought in by Sangmi.

Of course, the number of views, star ratings, participants, and favorites were also overwhelmingly number one.

After Today is Over took first place on the three major public broadcasting music shows for two weeks, several articles were published detailing the story of 888 Crew. He thought they would only deal with gossip like show business diss tracks, but surprisingly, there were articles that dealt with Sangmi’s webtoon in depth.

The sentence that hip hop and webtoons, which will become the center of the next generation of culture, are trendsetters was particularly memorable.

‘Well, the portal site must have used its influence to release the article. To promote the webtoon platform.’

In any case, it was true that 888 Crew’s recognition was increasing dramatically.

If you were to pick the hottest issues in Korea, they would be in the top ten, even if it was difficult to be in the top five.

‘What are you thinking so hard about?’

‘Huh? No, I was just thinking about how to make the webtoon better.’

‘Oppa. I have something to say.’

‘What is it?’

‘You said Daydream was like minutely? Is that right? Anyway, it’s like cutting out a moment in time?’

Track 6 of Official Bootleg Triple Eight.

Daydream.

Daydream, like Sangmi said, was a song that described a cross-section of time on stage.

After finishing a performance and lying down to sleep, there was always a moment that was remembered like a dream. A glance from someone that passed by while rapping kept coming to mind, or the faces of the audience screaming were clearly remembered.

So, there was a thought that came to mind before falling asleep.

Did I really do that performance? Or did I have a daydream?

In my opinion, this isn’t a stage, it’s a dream.
Hidden deep in the Matrix or hypnosis
Otherwise, it can’t shine so brightly.
Run around as if your whole body is light.
You can feel someone looking at you.
Hundreds of eyes, several cameras
Look at their hands and feet clicking on me.

‘Yeah. But why Daydream?’

Sangmi looked into Sanghyun’s eyes and answered.

‘I want to feel that too. The feeling of challenging something with all my might, with friends who are on the same wavelength.’

‘Are you saying you want to do music?’

‘No, I like drawing more than rapping. Oppa, I want to go to Seoul Arts High School.’

Sangmi was in the third grade of middle school and only had the second semester final exam left in mid-December. After the graduation ceremony in February, she would become a high school girl.

Sanghyun had felt that Sangmi had a lot of worries even while writing down humanities high schools as her first, second, and third choices. But the sudden desire to go to school in Seoul was bound to be a little surprising.

Sanghyun thought for a moment and asked.

‘Have you looked into the admission process in detail? Should I look into it?’

‘No. Seoul Arts High School contacted me first. After seeing my webtoon.’

At Sangmi’s words, Sanghyun smiled and nodded.

‘I’m doing what I want to do. Of course, you should do what you want to do too.’

‘Really? Then you’ll have to live alone?’

‘Am I living alone? You’re the one living alone.’

‘I’ll be living with my friends in the dorm anyway, so whatever.’

Sangmi smiled.

He felt good seeing Sangmi happy, but he was also worried about various things.

Suddenly, a conversation he had with Hayeon a few days ago came to mind. After a long period of consideration, Hayeon decided to go to art college and confided in him about her decision.

If she prepares for college entrance exams and gets into art college, Hayeon will be living in Seoul from March next year.

‘Seoul, huh…….’

888 Crew would eventually advance to Seoul someday. It was an obvious choice in a way, as Seoul had a much larger musical infrastructure and a larger population that consumed culture. However, the originally scheduled time was three years later, when Sangmi graduated from high school.

‘Sangmi and Hayeon are going to Seoul, and Junhyung and I have one year left until high school graduation. What will happen to the older siblings?’

Inhyuk was attending university in Gwangju and would be a senior next year. Minji and Kim Hwan were Yonsei University students, so they would have to go to Seoul if they were to return to school.

In fact, there were two types of people within the crew.

‘Sanghyun, Sangmi, Hayeon, Junhyung, Minho’ were definitely people who had chosen a career in this field, while ‘Inhyuk, Hwan, Minji’ were people who hadn’t yet decided.

After thinking for a long time, Sanghyun eventually let go of his thoughts.

Personally, he thought it would be nice if Inhyuk, Hwan, and Minji jumped into music, but such a choice wasn’t something that could be forced. Each person drew their own circle.

So, Sanghyun had no choice but to draw a very large circle called 888 that could encompass all those circles. A large and welcoming circle that they could enter at any time if they wanted to.

What consumed Sanghyun’s energy wasn’t only the future of 888 Crew.

Sanghyun called Deputy Manager Oh Yeonjoo the day after the Hip Hop the Vibe 3rd round filming. It was to find out more about the information he had heard from Dolphin.

End

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