The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 212

< Verse 32. Through to New York >

***

Musicians who place 1st and 2nd in the Amateur Night weekly finals get the opportunity to advance to the monthly finals.

However, the rankings are announced up to 6th place to prevent potential no-shows.

Of course, it’s extremely rare for a no-show to occur at Amateur Night. The 3rd place might occasionally get a chance, but you could confidently say that the chances of anyone below 4th place advancing to the monthly finals are virtually zero.

And Sanghyun was ranked 6th in Amateur Night.

“The language barrier was significant, but if I could have understood the language better, it would have been a much better performance. I liked the feeling the rapper was trying to convey.”

That was the evaluation Sanghyun received.

Another judge said that it was a theme that suited Melting Pot New York well, but the song choice wasn’t ideal for a live stage.

They also expressed interest in listening to it with a translation if there was a video clip.

Sanghyun was grateful for the higher-than-expected result of 6th place out of 15 people.

Although he didn’t show it, Sanghyun also felt a bit of pressure.

As a musician who was number 1 on the charts in Korea, presenting terrible music could reflect poorly on the taste of the Korean public.

After the rankings were announced, Sanghyun and Standard attended a small party for the Amateur Night participants.

The female vocalist who took first place hosted it as a casual get-together for a beer. She was the participant right before Sanghyun, who sang “Theme From New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra.

“You said 56, right? What’s your real name?”

Melody, the first-place winner, approached Sanghyun and greeted him.

Her real name was Mallory, but she told Sanghyun that she had been called Melody more often since she was 13, so he should call her Melody.

She was a woman with an impressive appearance: reddish-blond hair, straight eyebrows, and lively freckles.

“It’s Sanghyun. The pronunciation might be a bit difficult. You can call me Lee for short.”

“Sanghyun? Sanghyun, Sanghyun.”

Melody corrected her pronunciation a few times and then showed surprisingly good pronunciation.

“It’s not that difficult, is it?”

“Really? Anyway, congratulations on first place. ‘Theme From New York’ was amazing.”

“Of course. You have no idea how much time I spent perfecting that song.”

Melody shrugged, not hiding her pride.

“How long did it take?”

“Do you know ‘Sex and the City’ [a popular American TV show]?”

“The drama? I haven’t seen it, but I know the name.”

“If you watch the beginning of Season 1, there’s a scene where Carrie Bradshaw is putting on makeup, and this song comes on. I heard this song for the first time while watching that scene, and I sang it like crazy from the next day. That was in ’98, so… wow, it’s already been 8 years.”

“So, you’ve been called Melody since then?”

“That’s right. The melody never left my lips.”

Melody said that and hummed a song that Sanghyun didn’t know.

Sanghyun quickly liked Melody, not in a romantic way, but as a musician he wanted to work with.

Melody, who was humming, took a sip of beer and asked Sanghyun.

“But why did you rap in Korean? At first, I thought you couldn’t speak English, but now I see you speak it quite well. It’s a bit… affected, like a private school teacher.”

Sanghyun burst into laughter at Melody’s sudden jab and replied.

“There’s a difference between being good at English and being good at rapping in English, right? That’s the difference.”

“Hmm… well, that’s true. The feeling of the chorus was good, but the rhymes were a bit… predictable.”

“Predictable?”

“Yeah, not lame, but predictable. Still, I didn’t expect you to put such a chorus on the N.Y State of Mind beat. You have talent.”

She was really straightforward. It reminded him of when he first met Miju.

“I don’t know what to do with myself after hearing that from the first-place winner.”

“But didn’t it feel like we were in a movie? Me singing ‘Theme From New York’ and you singing ‘N.Y State of Mind.’”

“It would have been better if the genre wasn’t a jazz movie.”

Melody laughed loudly at Sanghyun’s joke.

The two talked for quite a while after that, and they exchanged email addresses and phone numbers.

A moment later, Melody moved to another seat, and another participant approached Sanghyun and greeted him. After that, Sanghyun also moved around and greeted people.

‘Interesting.’

The after-party was very enjoyable.

Everyone was skilled enough to be on the Amateur Night finals stage, and they were doing music of different genres. As most of them were young musicians, it felt like sparks were flying in the conversation.

Thanks to that, Sanghyun was able to gain various inspirations and knowledge about things he didn’t know.

One of the interesting topics was Korean and American agencies.

Sanghyun had a business, but he wasn’t involved in show business, so there were many things he didn’t know. In particular, he had a lot of questions about the American side because he had only heard rumors.

The musicians at the after-party answered Sanghyun’s questions.

According to them, the goal of almost all underground musicians in the United States was to sign with a proper record label.

Some of them had specific goals of receiving a contract fee of hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.

Contrary to the Korean perception that underground music pursues musicality rather than money, the amount of the contract fee was a measure of musicality for them.

“Really? That’s strange.”

When Sanghyun told them about the advantages and disadvantages of large Korean agencies, the musicians tilted their heads.

To them, the idea that ‘albums’ are planned according to ‘promotions’ sounded very strange. It was normal for the album to come out first and then promote it according to the concept of the album.

“You’re not helping the album sell well, but you’re making an album that sells well? Then what is the role of the musician there?”

“Close to a marionette. That’s why many Korean underground musicians are reluctant to sign with large labels.”

“But can you enter the mainstream without the help of a label?”

Sanghyun wanted to tell them that he was the person they were talking about, but he held back because the situation was ambiguous.

Strictly speaking, he is a musician belonging to Ohkyung Media right now.

“But according to that friend, you’re a very popular rap star in Korea? Aren’t you affiliated with a label?”

A bassist named Royden, who had been listening quietly, asked Sanghyun. The friend Royden mentioned was, of course, Standard.

“I am now, but I’m going to leave within this year. If it’s late, it’ll be early next year.”

“What are you going to do when you leave? Oh, the American Dream?”

“Maybe.”

“Then you should go to LA. It’s almost impossible for rappers of color to succeed in places like Chicago or Detroit.”

“Really? How about New York?”

“In the case of Amateur Night, I felt that it was very inclusive because it is the pride and glory of Harlem, but if you approach the center of the actual hip-hop culture, it won’t be that easy. You’ll face strong resistance.”

“Hmm… even if I rap in English?”

“Of course. I’m saying that assuming you’re rapping in English from the start. You can’t succeed in LA if you rap in Korean. You don’t want to be a Koreatown rapper, do you?”

As Sanghyun nodded while drinking beer, Melody, who was sitting near Sanghyun again, asked.

“But what does rap star mean? Who is that friend?”

“Ah, that friend is Standard. He’s a friend who DJs in LA.”

“Huh? Standard? DJ Nerd?”

Then a rapper from LA, Chorus, opened his mouth in surprise. Everyone’s attention was focused on him.

“If it’s Standard, he’s a really popular producer in LA? I heard that rappers are lining up to collaborate with him. And what else did they say? That he’s working with KRS-ONE [influential American rapper]… Ah, so that’s why he’s in New York!”

Bassist Royden opened his eyes wide and said.

“What. So, you’re really a popular rapper in Korea? I thought you were just saying that. No wonder an Asian wasn’t intimidated on stage.”

“The hip-hop scene in Korea hasn’t been around for many years. We’re trying.”

“So, how many albums have you sold? Team? Solo?”

When Sanghyun said that he had sold about 150,000 copies as a team and about 100,000 copies as a solo artist, everyone nodded.

It wasn’t enough to be gold (500,000 copies), but it was a pretty good record for an underground musician. Of course, some underground musicians who hit the jackpot sold platinum (1 million copies) with their debut albums.

‘The scale is different after all.’

In Korea, they were talking about how a rap album exceeded 100,000 copies on portal sites every day, but here it’s just pretty good.

“Don’t you have any songs released in the United States?”

“I’ve registered a few copyrights, but not really… Ah, there’s a song that came out under Standard’s name. It’s a song our team sang called Eight, Eight, Eight Remix….”

“What? Really? That NPQ [New Music Weekly’s National Playlist Top 40 chart] number 1 track?”

Chorus shouted in surprise again. It was such a loud voice that Standard, who was flirting with a female black rapper in the distance, also looked over.

Other musicians showed interest in Chorus’s reaction.

“NPQ is the LA Billboard. You got number 1 there? With a Korean rap?”

“It wasn’t a rap single, it was a DJ party track, but… it was still pretty popular. Standard pushed it, but it was also replayed a lot on its own.”

The musicians nodded at Chorus’s additional explanation.

Like DJs remixing reggae in Jamaican native language to create party tracks, party tunes were a field with relatively low language barriers.

Nevertheless, it was still amazing.

“Wow, how much did you earn?”

Unlike Korea, even if you have a big hit only in the state, you can live lavishly for several years.

Sanghyun was also surprised by the amount of money Standard sent him. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it wasn’t the amount he had imagined receiving for one song.

The musicians were curious about how much Sanghyun had earned, and soon they began to compare the records of underground musicians who had big hits in their respective regions.

The fun time passed quickly.

The last part of the after-party, which lasted for more than 3 hours, was an impromptu performance.

Royden, who was talking to Standard, started playing the bass, and Melody sang an impromptu song to the bass.

A beatboxer, who was a walking instrument, quickly formed a drum line, and rappers who couldn’t miss a freestyle also participated. Sanghyun also did freestyle, mixing English and Korean.

Originally, he was only going to do it in English, but he couldn’t help but mix Korean because he was improvising rhymes.

Still, the musicians were happy to cheer him on.

Actually, it was also because they were drunk and excited.

A random performance took place in a small beer house in East Harlem, where there were few customers due to the terribly bad snacks.

The performance continued until the musicians were exhausted and collapsed.

In the end, Sanghyun, who had a fantastic experience as soon as he arrived in New York, returned to his accommodation close to dawn.

***

< Verse 32. Through to New York > End

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