The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 195

Verse 30. Fifteen Days

It had been exactly fifteen days.

Since the JFTR album had delivered a major shock to the Korean music scene.

The 888 Crew’s first official album, ‘Just For The Record,’ which Korean hip-hop fans had been eagerly awaiting, finally announced its release date.

Friday, June 16, 2006.

A total of 14 tracks, with a playtime of 72 minutes.

The artist name was 888 Crew.

The main producers were Woo Minho and Lee Sanghyun.

The session producer was Chae Daehan.

The featuring artists were Stars Records’ Bae Ga and Woo Yeonwoo, Soul Makerz’s Caliph, and the unknown rappers Kible and Texer.

Various information was posted on the 888 Crew’s website, but people’s attention was focused elsewhere.

It was on the sales figures that JFTR would record.

The 888 Crew was unofficially the team that had sold the most albums in the underground hip-hop scene. Their official bootleg, Triple Eight, had recorded so many sales that it was hard to believe it had been released without any special promotion.

A whopping 30,000 copies.

Of course, it was an unofficial record because it was not linked to official record sales channels, but rather they received orders and handled the shipping themselves.

However, the fact that the 888 Crew had recorded ‘first place’ remained unchanged.

So, hip-hop fans and 888 Crew fans couldn’t help but be curious and excited.

How many copies would JFTR sell?

-How many copies do you think JFTR will sell?

-I think it will easily sell 30,000 copies. The 888 Crew has only shown a better side of themselves since the official bootleg.

-It’s not just a better level.

-I think anyone who bought the official bootleg will also buy JFTR.

-But I’m a little worried that the 888 Crew isn’t releasing the number of pre-orders for JFTR. Could it be because it’s lower than expected?

-Well, is it necessary to release the number of pre-orders? The pre-order period is too short, so isn’t it a bit ambiguous to release it? The number of pre-orders is constantly increasing, so it seems difficult to release it at a specific point.

-That’s right. And since the price is a bit cheap for a regular album, I think that will also be a plus.

-How much is the price?

-9,500 won.

-Oh, that’s really cheap? Is it because the agency doesn’t take a cut?

-I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. It’s not like other underground rappers have expensive albums because they have agencies.

-I heard that they built a recording studio with the money they made from selling the official bootleg, so they didn’t have to pay for recording costs. That’s why it’s cheap.

-It seems like the 888 Crew cares about their fans even though they don’t do much fan service. The album is cheap, and the showcase was free.

-I heard the showcase was amazing.

-As someone who went to the showcase, I can say that JFTR is an album that surpasses the official bootleg. There’s no sophomore slump [a situation where the second work released after the success of the first work is less successful or complete than the first work].

-I think it could sell up to 50,000 copies at most. After all, the 888 Crew has a strong fan base.

-I also think around 50,000 copies at maximum.

Hip-hop fans’ predictions ranged from 30,000 to 50,000 copies.

Of course, there were people who sneered that it would fail, and there were people who expected it to exceed 100,000 copies, but usually it was 30,000 to 50,000 copies.

Employees of planning companies in the music industry were also thinking of similar numbers.

However, these predictions of music industry officials were not guesses but convictions, and movements befitting them were slowly taking place.

In order not to miss the purchasing intentions of hip-hop fans that would occur with the release of JFTR, the A&R [Artists and Repertoire] teams of the planning companies began to advance the debut of the hip-hop artists they had been nurturing.

***

JFTR chose the same sales method as the official bootleg. They did not entrust it to official record sales channels but only sold it on their domestic brand website, ‘Triple Eight.’

The reason for choosing this method was, of course, to release the album as cheaply as possible.

Some fans complained about why they couldn’t buy it offline, but those complaints were not loud. It was because the price was cheap.

Of course, JFTR’s sales method was not the same as the official bootleg’s sales method in every respect. In order to improve on the parts that were disappointing while selling the official bootleg, a pre-order function was added to JFTR.

The 888 Crew took pre-orders for the album from June 10, when the showcase took place, to June 15, 6 PM. Signed copies were scheduled to be delivered to 300 pre-order customers (100 on a first-come, first-served basis + 200 randomly selected).

The pre-ordered albums were to be shipped in bulk at 6 PM on June 15 through a contract with a courier company, and Jeju Island would be shipped one day earlier.

So, pre-order customers would be able to receive the album on Friday, June 16, when the album was officially released.

However, on June 15, 6 PM.

At the time when the 택배 [Taekbae, Korean word for delivery/shipping] was supposed to be delivered, the 888 Crew was feeling a great deal of embarrassment.

“Ah, what should we do about this?”

Sanghyun was on the phone, pacing back and forth in the studio living room, deep in thought. Not only Sanghyun but all the members of the 888 Crew had expressions full of trouble.

Looking at them with absurd expressions were the members of L&S, who shared the studio.

L&S’s leader, Bang Minsik, couldn’t stand it and opened his mouth.

“Ugh, you crazy bastards.”

“No, hyung [older brother/male friend], I’m dying of anxiety, why are you suddenly cursing?”

“Shut up, you unlucky bastards.”

Bang Minsik and Yongjun gave a hollow laugh as they looked at the 888 Crew members.

‘Is this even possible?’

L&S’s second album, which had been hugely popular with the Royal Band, had sold about 22,000 copies in three months.

It was by no means a small number.

Moreover, although the pace had slowed down, sales were still continuing. Considering that Triple Eight had sold 30,000 copies in seven months, it was not an impossible record to catch up with.

However, the 888 Crew had once again run away. And they didn’t know how much effort they would have to put in to catch up with this one step.

Of course, they didn’t feel bad or jealous.

Rather, they were happy.

The more successful the 888 Crew was, the more clearly they felt that L&S, who was with them, could also succeed.

Minsik calling the 888 Crew members bad guys was his way of expressing the surprise he felt.

Because something so amazing had happened that such intense expression was necessary.

‘Those guys are really amazing. What kind of pre-sales are…’

The 888 Crew had ordered 50,000 copies for the first run of JFTR.

Some of the crew members were worried that 50,000 copies for the first run was too many, but no one opposed Sanghyun’s decision. Because none of the things that Sanghyun had said would work had failed so far.

And as Sanghyun had said in the showcase interview with Park Hyeyeon, he firmly believed that JFTR could handle 50,000 copies.

That’s how the JFTR album was completed, 50,000 copies.

Considering that the first run of the official bootleg was 2,000 copies, it was a numerically twenty-five times increase in volume.

In just seven months, a whopping 25 times.

Even considering that the 2,000 copies of the official bootleg sold out in an instant and paralyzed the website for 2 hours, it was an incredibly bold choice.

‘What’s not to be?’

Sanghyun was confident that there would be no problem with the first run of 50,000 copies.

However, a problem did occur. Not the bold decision of 50,000 copies, but the minor problem that there was no place to store the huge number of 50,000 CDs.

The warehouse that the 888 Crew used as a storage for Triple Eight goods and a 택배 [Taekbae, Korean word for delivery/shipping] shipping center was located in Namyangju.

And no matter how much they organized the existing products in this warehouse, there was no space for 50,000 copies of JFTR. It was barely enough for 30,000 copies, let alone 50,000 copies.

Looking for another warehouse would cost too much in 택배 [Taekbae, Korean word for delivery/shipping] fees and storage fees for just a few days.

‘Let’s go with a revolving 빼기 [bbaegi, Korean word for subtraction/removal].’

Sanghyun thought simply after receiving a call from the logistics manager who was having trouble because there was no extra space. It was an answer he came up with from the ‘installment shipment’ that export companies often implement.

First, store only 25,000 copies out of 50,000 in the Namyangju warehouse, and finish shipping the pre-ordered albums on the 15th.

Pay the album manufacturer a small fee to keep the remaining 25,000 copies for a few days.

The remaining 25,000 copies will be received on the 17th, after the pre-order delivery is completed.

In other words, the remaining 25,000 copies would come from the manufacturer in Incheon to Namyangju on Saturday, after the pre-order sales delivery was completed and the warehouse was somewhat empty.

It was the most reasonable way to solve the problem with the least amount of cost. Sanghyun handled the work and was satisfied with his solution.

However, the problem was that there was no place as easy to break the word ‘reasonable’ as the art world.

“Yes? How many copies did you say?”

That was what Sanghyun said in absurdity after hearing the words of the online order manager for the first time.

At first, he thought he had misheard.

“What are you talking about? You said that the pre-ordered albums wouldn’t reach 20,000 copies until the day before yesterday?”

-The pre-orders were so concentrated from midnight on the last day… I should have checked one more time in the afternoon, I’m sorry.

“Are you sure about that number?”

-Yes, I checked it two or three times…

Sanghyun felt like he was doing business for the first time in a long time. If you think all the instructions are perfect and do something else for a while, it’s a bust.

Sanghyun hung up the phone with the Triple Eight manager, who kept saying sorry, and called the album manufacturer in Incheon.

-Can you ship our 25,000 albums that are being held there? Right now?

However, Sanghyun had to hear from the manufacturer that it was impossible.

The logistics outsourcing company was busy with other work, and the logistics line was set up according to the shipping order, so it was impossible to ship before Saturday.

When Sanghyun was pacing anxiously in the living room after hanging up the phone, the 888 Crew members happened to come out to the living room.

“Hyungs [older brother/male friend], we’re in big trouble. Junhyung, we’re in big trouble.”

“What? Why?”

“We don’t have enough album stock.”

“What are you talking about? Did all 50,000 copies sell out on pre-order? You said that pre-orders wouldn’t exceed 20,000 copies?”

Sanghyun’s explanation followed Junhyung’s puzzled question.

“Oh my god.”

“How many copies?”

After a while, the 888 Crew members had no choice but to pace back and forth in the studio living room together.

It was a few minutes later that the grumbling of the L&S members, who came down to the living room late and asked what was going on, began.

-38,145 copies.

There were only 25,000 copies in stock in the warehouse that the 택배 [Taekbae, Korean word for delivery/shipping] car was heading to, but the number of albums they had to ship had exceeded 38,000 copies.

***

Stars Records’ leader Bae Ga, Bae Sangeuk, finished showering and sat in front of the computer.

Today was the day that the 888 Crew’s first official album JFTR, which the Korean hip-hop scene was paying attention to, was released.

Of course, if he asked the 888 Crew, he could get an album, but that’s not how etiquette works between close musicians.

‘Oh, wait, I think I had this thought before?’

When he thought about it, he seemed to have sat down after finishing showering when he ordered the official bootleg.

However, 2,000 copies sold out in 2 hours, and there was a huge lag on the website.

In the end, Bae Ga failed to purchase and had to look at the notice that ‘we will secure the quantity as soon as possible’ in vain.

‘It won’t be like that today.’

They also received pre-orders, and he heard that they upgraded the website server with quite a lot of money. There was no way that the same thing would happen as last time.

Bae Ga drank milk and went to the Triple Eight website. In case there was a lag, he used his favorites to directly link to the ‘888 Crew Goods – Album’ category.

-Click.

There was a subtle feeling of 버벅 [beobeok, Korean onomatopoeia for stuttering/lagging], but Bae Ga was able to complete the album purchase without any problems.

‘I wonder what kind of killer thing they made this time.’

He could have listened to the guide version if he asked them to send it, but he didn’t want to ask because he wanted to listen to it on CD on purpose. That’s how much Bae Ga had high expectations for JFTR.

Bae Ga, who was happy to have successfully purchased it, went to the main page of the website without much thought and found a pop-up notice.

The notice showed that the shipment of 13,000 pre-ordered albums, which should have been completed on the 15th, had been postponed to next Monday.

‘What is this? 13,000 copies? Pre-orders?’

Bae Ga, who was surprised, clicked on the pop-up window, and the screen was linked to the latest post on the notice board.

And then, an exclamation came out of his mouth.

“These crazy bastards…”

-Due to an error in the shipment of albums on the 888 Crew’s side, only 25,000 of the 38,145 pre-ordered albums were delivered normally.

The remaining 13,145 copies will be delivered by Monday, June 19. The shipping cost for the 13,145 copies that were delayed will be borne by the 888 Crew…

It would have been surprising even if 13,000 copies were pre-ordered, but it wasn’t ‘just’ 13,000 copies.

38,145 copies

The amount that Stars Records’ 1st and 2nd album sales combined was sold as ‘pre-orders’ for JFTR alone.

“Pre-orders? Pre-orders are close to 40,000 copies?”

Bae Ga laughed in vain.

How many copies are they going to sell to make such a fuss?

It had been exactly fifteen days.

The time it took for JFTR’s sales to exceed 80,000 copies, which Sanghyun had predicted as the maximum.

< Verse 30. Fifteen Days > End

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