The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 186

< Verse 28. Jaws >

Performing rap without accompaniment has a unique charm.

The biggest charm is that you can rap however you want because there’s no beat. You can spit out rap in a very flamboyant way that would be difficult with a beat (it’s possible by forcing it, but not stable).

Conversely, it also meant that unaccompanied rap had to be flamboyant. If you don’t equip a fancy flow, it’s easy to sound boring because there’s no beat.

Because of this, there was a slight difference between unaccompanied and typical rap. In rap itself, Park In-hyuk is better than Kim Hwan, but if the two were asked to do unaccompanied rap and the audience was given the right to vote, Kim Hwan would be very likely to win.

In-hyuk is the type to loiter around the snare and push and pull the beat, but since there is no standard of snare in unaccompanied, In-hyuk’s rap can’t help but sound very unstable.

But Sang-hyun’s unaccompanied rap was not flashy at all.

Uh, Champagne Life,

I don’t have love by my side, but Champagne Life

Because I have people by my side, Champagne Life

The same life – living – Champagne Life

Because there was no beat, Sang-hyun’s lyrics were thrown out, making it impossible to know whether it was the chorus, verse, or intro.

Sang-hyun’s voice tone was neither excessive nor lacking. It wasn’t emotionally overbearing or down, and the volume wasn’t too loud or too quiet.

Everything was in the middle.

To put it nicely, it was moderation that encompassed everything, and to put it badly, it was ordinary without any prominent parts.

‘What is it?’

The trainees and training managers at Oh Kyung Media, who were listening to Sang-hyun’s rap with tension, tilted their heads. It wasn’t a bad feeling at all, but it was a bit different from his usual self.

However, Sang-hyun was focused only on his rap, without paying attention to the gazes watching him.

But even if I live for a day, I enjoy every night

Because I do my best until the time I breathe
rapping, writing lyrics, and making music together
I’m so proud of this time I’ve spent, Uh

As everyone admits, Sang-hyun’s rap had a passion to spew out something inside. It was especially recognized that he didn’t have to shout loudly or express his emotions fiercely.

Because of this, Sang-hyun’s fans often expressed Sang-hyun’s rap with the metaphor of ‘spewing out his soul.’

But not now.

How should I put it?

It’s just very appropriate and adequate.

‘Wait a minute, appropriate? Adequate?’

Training manager Yoon Ki-soo was embarrassed by the word ‘appropriate’ that came to mind as soon as he heard Sang-hyun’s rap. The words appropriate or adequate were the same as saying it was just right.

If he felt ordinariness in Sang-hyun’s rap, the expression ‘it was smooth’ would be correct. If he wanted to criticize it, he could have negatively expressed it as ‘it was trite.’

However, Yoon Ki-soo was unconsciously thinking of the words appropriate or adequate.

‘What is it appropriate for? There’s no beat?’

At that time, a very strange sight came into Yoon Ki-soo’s eyes.

The main characters of the strange sight were the trainees.

The trainees were reacting to Sang-hyun’s unaccompanied rap, nodding their heads to the beat, but strangely, everyone was nodding to a different beat. No, not only the trainees, but also the two cameramen and one PD [Production Director], including himself, were doing that.

‘Ah?’

Yoon Ki-soo realized at that moment why he thought Lee Sang-hyun’s rap was appropriate.

Rap is basically a music genre that gives pleasure by going back and forth between ‘repetition’ and ‘non-repetition.’ On top of a beat that loops in units of 4 bars, the rap is constantly lying.

I want you to focus

Will you raise your head?

You can’t move now

If you are listening to a rap with these lyrics, people unconsciously predict the rhythm of the next bar. It’s even easier if you’re looking at the lyrics.

‘I’m freeze tag.’

But what if a completely different rhythm and rhyme that doesn’t follow these rules comes out in the 4th bar?

I want you to focus-

Will you raise your head-

You can’t move now-

Paused under the stage

The person listening to the rap unconsciously refreshes their senses and focuses on the rap.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you can change it however you want.

The person who changes the rhythm structure smoothly, freely, and attractively is the person who raps well.

In other words, rap is a music that pretends to continue the same rhythm and rhyme while constantly changing the structure.

The reason why unaccompanied rap needs to be flashy appears in this part. Since unaccompanied rap doesn’t have a snare instrument that serves as a standard for rhyme, the rhythm must be expressed more strongly and clearly to be able to ‘lie.’

However, Lee Sang-hyun was giving a lot of different options rather than lying.

With a lyrical and calm voice.

Uh, this is like the difference between heaven and earth

I’m creating it, pride in what’s mine

Your life and ours is Champagne Life

Cork, the higher it flies, the happier it is

The rap, which at first didn’t sound flashy, was actually very flashy. There is no place without flow in the middle of the rap, and there is no place without rhyme.

Looking at it broadly, it forms a large rhyme with ‘difference-life’ in bars 1 and 3 and ‘pride-flying’ in bars 2 and 4.

And in between, it forms a flow with the sibilant sound that emphasizes the consonant ‘ㅊ’ with ‘like-difference’, creates a head rhyme with ‘life-sham’, and forms a multi-syllable rhyme with ‘ga nae-stopper’.

Yoon Ki-soo was horrified when he focused on finding the skills in Sang-hyun’s rap. It’s not about finding skills, it’s about finding parts without skills.

‘How did this happen? Wasn’t this song made suddenly?’

Given Lee Sang-hyun’s personality, he wouldn’t pretend that a song he had already made was just made.

So this is luck and skill.

It’s not that he intended and set everything up, but that his basic skills and inspiration overflowed and he made parts without realizing it.

The first time someone does a difficult exercise, they try very hard to get the correct posture, but someone who is used to exercising seems to be doing it roughly, but stimulates all the necessary muscles.

Our life is champagne, everyone toasts

Light it up and explode like fireworks

We all have patience,

Because the things we’ve done have sweet tastes

The reason Yoon Ki-soo felt that Sang-hyun’s rap was appropriate was that he unconsciously realized that it was very appropriate for unaccompanied rap.

Also, the reason why the trainees are nodding their heads to different beats is because Lee Sang-hyun’s unaccompanied rap fits into the rhythm no matter what.

So, they unconsciously put an imaginary beat on Lee Sang-hyun’s unaccompanied rap according to the feeling they like.

It doesn’t matter if the BPM [Beats Per Minute] is 90, 100, or 110.

If you just think there is a snare at the point you want to catch, that in itself creates a lot of rap. A great one too.

What Yoon Ki-soo can be sure of is that even if you bring any beat to the current rap, it will be better than the title song of most mainstream rappers. Really any beat.

This is like DJs saying that some of Eminem’s raps have so many points that anyone can make a killer remix track if they just adjust the BPM appropriately.

I’m trying, and executing at the same time

A guy who enjoys it, a guy who celebrates happiness

My success is Korea, ‘attempts’ come together to make it happen

Like stacking a stone tower, I keep putting solid things on top

‘Crazy… how can you give this 3rd place?’

Giving this rap 3rd place is really embarrassing, and it lowers his level of evaluation.

Of course, the general public will not be able to properly catch the ‘excellent points of Lee Sang-hyun’s rap’ that they think of when they hear this rap. They will just vaguely feel good.

But the problem is that there are serious hip-hop hardcore fans among Lee Sang-hyun’s fans. Not all hip-hop fans are less skilled than him. He is from a composer background and not a hip-hop major, but he caught it, so he is sure that quite a few people will notice.

So what if someone takes several completely different beats and puts them on top of Lee Sang-hyun’s rap? What if they explain in detail the great points of Lee Sang-hyun’s rap?

He becomes a blind man with open eyes and a deaf man with open ears. With his face all over the documentary.

If Oh Kyung Media is his lifelong job, he would do it once, but the problem is that his contract is about to expire. If he goes on the documentary and his image is created as a ‘trainer who doesn’t know anything’, he will not be able to renew his contract.

In fact, there are more than one or two trainers who volunteered to play the villain as requested by the company, but were kicked out of the agency due to complaints from the trainees.

The kicked-out trainer becomes a duck on the Nakdong River, but from the company’s point of view, they can use it as a promotional device to show that they actively reflect the opinions of the trainees.

It is rare in large agencies, but small and medium-sized agencies sometimes do it to keep trainees with marketability.

‘I’m going crazy.’

Whether he knew Yoon Ki-soo’s worries or not, Lee Sang-hyun’s rap finally reached the chorus.

Uh, Champagne Life!

I do it for the great! in my Champagne Life!

Uh, Champagne Life!

I do it for the great! in my Champagne Life!

If the verse had a lyrical feel, the chorus felt like it was intended to give a rough and strong feel.

But it wasn’t just rough.

A man who looks manly but has a delicate feeling somewhere, rather than a tough guy with a shaggy beard.

Sang-hyun’s hook [chorus], which gave such a feeling, was sprinkled with a rhythmic yet thick feeling.

“Ah… !”

Although they didn’t approach the conclusion with high-dimensional analysis like Yoon Ki-soo, the trainees were also feeling confused by the feeling that Sang-hyun’s rap gave.

The expressions of the trainees who knew how to listen to music to some extent were gradually changing subtly.

He does it so easily, but I don’t have the confidence to follow him.

The vocalists were just admiring, but the trainees in the rapper position felt like their insides were turning upside down.

Yoon Ki-soo smiled inwardly at the sight. Those whose expressions are changing now are those who have a sense of music. The greater the feeling of surprise, the higher the understanding of music.

Yoon Ki-soo checked the names of the trainees with surprised expressions.

‘In this case, Lee Sang-hyun’s rap has become a yardstick for judging musical sense.’

Even while countless thoughts were crossing his mind, Sang-hyun’s rap continued.

The second verse that came out after the rough chorus.

Flashy flows and rhymes hidden in a calm feeling.

A message of praise for the joy of life, like the word Champagne Life.

It was the moment when the prejudice that unaccompanied rap can be stimulating but cannot produce a deep taste was completely shattered.

If you think about it, it would be tiring if all these flows and rhymes were checked strongly. The delivery system is complex, but the content being delivered is soft, so the taste is maximized.

The people who best understood Sang-hyun’s Champagne Life were not Yoon Ki-soo, PD Na Han-soo, or the trainees. It was Cha In-hyun.

Cha In-hyun knew that Lee Sang-hyun’s rap was an answer to his song. Lee Sang-hyun was pointing his finger, saying that his song full of anger was wrong.

‘Champagne Life?’

A crack appeared between Cha In-hyun’s expression, which was disguised as expressionless.

But the crack was quickly filled more firmly. With the emotion of malice.

That’s how Sang-hyun’s Champagne Life ended.

“Bravo!”

As soon as the song ended, PD Na Han-soo clapped and admired. He had seen it several times while filming popular music, but Lee Sang-hyun was really a friend who had something hard to express in words.

A being whose category as a musician is much larger than the category of entertainer.

He felt like he could understand the director’s feelings, who recalled Kim Kwang-seok [a famous Korean folk singer] at every drinking party and said, ‘All the singers these days are fake.’

Wouldn’t he also recall Lee Sang-hyun in 20 years and say that all the singers these days are fake?

‘But even after 20 years, I’m not even 40 yet?’

Sang-hyun lightly bowed on the stage to Na Han-soo’s applause. Then he waited for the evaluation of Yoon Ki-soo, the training manager.

“Uh… you did very well. It was very impressive to give various points to match the unaccompanied format.”

Yoon Ki-soo praised Sang-hyun’s rap with a slight stutter. He was stuttering because he couldn’t decide whether to just praise him or find fault with him.

“However, since it’s a place disguised as a broadcast stage, looking at the lyrics is bound to be a disadvantage. It’s separate from whether you’re good at music or not. Do you know what I mean?”

“Yes.”

“Uh… you did very well.”

In the end, Yoon Ki-soo ended the conversation like that.

After Sang-hyun, several trainees came out and showed off their stages. There was also girl’s hip-hop with beats bursting out, and melodic songs sung with guitars.

But it was true that it felt somewhat bland.

After all the trainees’ performances were over, the time for the monthly evaluation ranking announcement was approaching.

“The first place is… Kim Woo-seok. You did very well. I think you’ll be able to debut soon if you keep going like this.”

Yoon Ki-soo eventually chose the company’s system. But he left a bit of a loophole.

“And there’s one more first place. Lee Sang-hyun.”

Sang-hyun, who was called, had a bewildered expression as if he was thinking about something else.

“Yes?”

“You could have received a higher score if you hadn’t just looked at the lyrics, but that’s where the deduction factor came from. Of course, that doesn’t mean Woo-seok did worse.”

The title of ‘trainee who beat Lee Sang-hyun’ was gone, but the title of being equal in skill to Lee Sang-hyun was still within the range that could be used.

Yoon Ki-soo was thinking about how to report to the team leader. Even in the meantime, the camera was attached and taking interviews with the trainees.

Even in the midst of that, Sang-hyun and Cha In-hyun were standing in their places, thinking about something intently.

That’s how the filming of ‘Those Who Sing to Become Stars’ continued without a break.

< Verse 28. Jaws > end

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