The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 173

The reporters who came to the 888 Show seemed quite surprised by the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response. They constantly looked around and took pictures, but there weren’t many of them.

Originally, there were many more reporters who had planned to attend the 888 Show, especially since the meeting of major capital and the underground scene was a hot topic.

However, only a few actually entered the venue because the 888 Crew didn’t treat the reporters as ‘VIPs.’

The 888 Crew didn’t prevent reporters from entering the venue, but they didn’t offer them special seats, agree to photo ops, or let them in for free.

The 888 Crew’s stance was that if they wanted to see the show and the 888 Crew, they should pay the admission fee and come in as regular audience members. As a result, most of the reporters, feeling slighted by the 888 Crew’s attitude, gave up on covering the event.

This was Junhyung’s decision as the leader, and it clearly defined the 888 Crew’s position.

Junhyung knew better than anyone why Sanghyun had joined Ohkyung Media. Therefore, he didn’t want the essence of the 888 Show to be packaged as just another news item.

The audience’s sing-along, which had filled the venue, stopped instantly. It was because someone’s voice was heard from the stage, which had been shrouded in darkness.

At the same time, the speakers that had been blasting the 888 Crew’s songs cut off abruptly, and a bright spotlight illuminated the stage.

-Kyaaaaaa!

-Waaaaaaa!

The audience, who had been singing along and raising their own excitement, cheered loudly when they saw the rapper on stage.

The person illuminated by the lights was the leader of the 888 Crew, Shin Junhyung.

“Hello. I’m J.Bro Shin Junhyung, the leader of the 888 Crew.”

Junhyung, wearing an 888 X 888 T-shirt, basked in the cheers and looked around the audience before speaking.

“I know it sounds like a cliché, but I really didn’t expect so many people to come. I was worried because it snowed so much last night. Thank you so much, and I’m proud of the name 888 Crew.”

Junhyung bowed, and the audience responded with loud cheers.

-You’re so handsome!

-Cool!

“I really like those corny and insincere words.”

The audience burst into laughter.

“Before we start the show, you know what I’m wearing, right? I see quite a few of you wearing it too. Then you also know the phrase that will glow in the dark when the lights go out, right?”

With Junhyung’s words, the phrase vividly came to the audience’s minds.

062 X RAP.

As the words ‘zero six two’ and ‘rap’ began to be heard sporadically, Junhyung grabbed the chest of his hoodie with both hands and held it out.

At that moment, with a ‘pop’ sound, all the lights went out at once.

Those in the audience wearing the 888 X 888 T-shirts could see 062 X RAP glowing in the dark on their chests.

However, the letters that appeared on the stage were not 062 X RAP. It was a phrase that signified a broader place.

82 X RAP

As the audience members looked puzzled, not immediately understanding the meaning of the number 82, Junhyung’s voice was heard from the darkness.

“Country Code. Eighty Two.”

Those who caught on quickly began to shout.

“Country code. 82.”

Junhyung’s quiet voice continued.

“888 Crew. Korean Rap National Team.”

At that moment, the lights turned on all at once. The 1,300 audience members could see the eight ‘national representatives’ standing on the stage.

-888! 888!

-888 Crew!

“Right?”

The drum sound that exploded with Junhyung’s playful question signaled the start of the rap.

The drum began to pound the speakers as if it would burst everyone’s hearts.

-Boom boom boom boom!

The unique rhythm of black music, the Two-Four rhythm.

According to one theory, music was created based on the human heartbeat.

If you think of this human heartbeat as 4/4 time, the basic rhythm that humans are born with is the One-Three rhythm.

Boom! – Rest – Bang! – Rest,

Boom! – Rest – Bang! – Rest.

The emphasis is on One and Three.

The reason why the Two-Four rhythm excites people is because the vibrations of the speakers hitting the whole body naturally speed up the heartbeat.

This is why your heart races as soon as you enter a club or a night club.

And now, the hearts of everyone who came to the 888 Show began to beat wildly.

“Korean Rap! National Team! Right-!”

-Kyaaaaaaaaaa!

-Waaaaa!

The audience screamed like crazy at Junhyung’s shout that cut through the beat.

It was the moment when the 888 Crew’s unique opening, which didn’t care about foreplay and hit the climax from the beginning, revealed itself.

Against the backdrop of the audience’s cheers, heavy drums and various instruments blended together. The highlight of this sound was Sanghyun’s hook [a catchy, repeating musical phrase].

Country Code, Eighty Two!

Korean Representative’s Attitude!

On the drum, in the stadium

Victory repeats, Daily Loop!

82 X RAP.

Korean Rap National Team.

This song, titled ‘National Team,’ contained a more powerful message than any other song the 888 Crew had made before: a declaration that we are the best at rap in Korea.

Until now, there have been many people who have latched onto the 888 Crew’s unique hip-hop local pride, which they have portrayed with the word regionalism. The 888 Crew had no choice but to be embarrassed every time.

They weren’t trying to express regionalism [loyalty to a specific region].

To 888 Crew, Tupac’s California, N.W.A’s Compton, and Eminem’s Detroit were just like Gwangju.

And now the 888 Crew was going up to Seoul.

The city where their new emotions are shared, the capital of Korea, Seoul. What if the 888 Crew swallows up this Seoul?

Represent Korean hip hop.

They would be able to confidently say that they represent Korean hip hop.

Country Code, Eighty Two!

Korean Representative Attitude!

On the drum, in the stadium

Victory repeats, Daily Loop!

Woomin-ho’s beat, which was rising as much as it could.

The sound, which perfectly melded the hardcore texture drum source with the dirty instrument sound of 90s West Coast gangster hip hop, set the stage first. On top of that, Sanghyun’s voice, with the best delivery in Korea, was added.

This meeting of the two was like a foul [an unfair advantage] to the many rappers chasing the 888 Crew.

Country Code, Eighty Two!

Korean Representative Attitude!

On the drum, in the stadium

Victory repeats, Daily Loop!

‘The Chronic?’

Dr. Dre’s legendary album *The Chronic*, which created G-Funk [a subgenre of hip hop]. No hip-hop fan would deny that half of *The Chronic’s* worldwide hit was thanks to Snoop Dogg.

In particular, Snoop Dogg’s groovy and relaxed voice, which opened the title song ‘Nothin` but a G Thang’, stole the hearts of hip-hop fans around the world in an instant.

Sanghyun’s voice was exactly like that now.

No, in that it maintained the damping feeling that suited the intense beat, but in that it felt groovy and relaxed, it felt even better than Snoop Dogg in ’92.

Old hip-hop fans, who rarely unfolded their arms, raised both hands and shouted.

The rough shouts of the salarymen [white-collar workers] who came to the venue as soon as they finished work on Saturday were making a deep impression on the reporters.

Now, everyone’s eyes began to look for the first batter to signal the start of the rap.

It was impossible to know because all seven members except Woomin-ho in the DJ booth were holding microphones.

Due to the musical characteristics of the 888 Crew, there was a high probability that Sanghyun, who sings the hook, would not be the first batter. Then…….

‘Shin Junhyung? Park Inhyuk? Or…… Shin Hayeon?’

At that moment, there was a rapper who pushed past Sanghyun and came to the front of the stage. The rapper started rapping without any special performance, holding the microphone tightly.

A person the audience never expected.

It was Kim Hwan.

Kim Hwan swallowed hard, feeling the eyes of the people on him. The tension rose to his chin.

It wasn’t because there were so many people. He had experience performing in front of more people than 1,300. Even at the Gwangju Tigers’ performance, there were well over 10,000 people.

But he didn’t think he had ever been this nervous before.

The 888 Crew’s first solo performance, the first city of the tour, the opening of the performance, and the first verse.

The number 1 seemed to be spinning around.

Hwan was the one who felt the greatest regret when Inhyuk was worried about music and studies.

His regret was partly a human regret for Inhyuk, who was the same age as him, but more than that, it was a regret for Inhyuk not having confidence in his own music.

Because Kim Hwan thought that Inhyuk was a more talented rapper than him.

‘If someone with such great talent is worried, should I be worried too?’

But Kim Hwan was now in a state of firm belief that he would drop out of college with one year left.

Eventually, his concerns led to musical ones. He also wanted to surpass Inhyuk, whom he respected. Their enemy was always the 888 Crew in the mirror.

‘Should I get out of the beat? How can I bring my own color to life?’

It wasn’t that Kim Hwan couldn’t use off-beats or variable beats. However, the regular beat was the most comfortable for conveying honest emotions and forming a non-artificial flow.

But the basics were something everyone could do.

Kim Hwan worried and worried, but couldn’t find any special answers. He just did his best as usual to create the verse for ‘National Team.’

But the crew members’ reactions were very strange.

‘Wow, what’s wrong with you, hyung [older brother/male friend]? What is it? How did you do this?’

‘Huh? What?’

‘No, wait a minute. What is this?’

Junhyung and Sanghyun began to whisper after listening to his verse. Soon, Hayeon and Inhyuk joined in on the whispering.

‘It’s a regular beat, but what is it?’

‘Why is it weird?’

‘No, it’s too good. But is it a little weird? The rhyme point keeps changing, but why does it feel like a regular beat?’

Sanghyun, who had been analyzing his rap for a long time, came up with the answer.

‘The central instrument changes every 4 bars. So it’s not a 16-bar regular beat rap, but 4 4-bar regular beat raps attached to each other. But those 4 bars are all different lengths.’

‘Can you call that a regular beat?’

‘We’re listening to it now. Wow, this is amazing.’

In rap, the expression ‘regular beat’ usually meant matching the rhyme to the ‘snare’ [a type of drum]. It meant matching the rhyme, which is the standard for rap breathing, to the snare, which is the standard for counting bars.

So, conversely, if you can keep the exact beat, you can arbitrarily set a standard and continue to match the rhyme to the same point in the rap.

But it wasn’t easy.

It was not easy to grab the same rhyme point in a completely different place while the snare was banging next to you and tempting you to put emphasis on it.

This was the same kind of difficulty as the happening that often occurs when jazz musicians play a 3-beat song for the public.

It actually happens, but it is more frequent than you think that jazz musicians lose the beat because of the applause that the public gives with support. This was especially true for student players who were learning.

This was because it was not easy to maintain the tempo of the 3-beat while listening to the public’s applause hitting the ears with a 4/4 beat of ‘clap clap clap clap’ all the time.

But Kim Hwan had done it.

‘Wow, this is perfect? The rhyme explodes so hard that it feels like a snare is hidden between the hi-hat [a type of cymbal] and the kick [a type of drum].’

‘Hyung, did you do this with a metronome on? Is this possible?’

Kim Hwan’s verse, which surprised all the crew members, was unanimously chosen as the first verse of the national team.

Sanghyun and the 888 Crew members thought that today’s performance was the key to upgrading Kim Hwan as a musician.

‘Show me!’

Kim Hwan’s rap started explosively, as if he had heard the members’ cheers.