The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 237

Verse 37. Next Stage

While EMI Music’s executives were discreetly gossiping about Plan Paper, the final rehearsal stage finally began.

“He’s good.”

“I know, right?”

“Those Sony Music bastards sure know how to pick people.”

They commented while watching Plan Paper’s final rehearsal.

However, the person they were praising wasn’t PiPi.

Regardless of whether PiPi was doing well or not, there was no way they, who detested PiPi, would praise him.

The person they were praising was Five, Sanghyun.

“He seems like a diligent guy. Usually, when PiPi acts up like that, it shows on stage… It’s a shame he’s Asian.”

“Still, he’s quite good-looking, isn’t he? He’ll probably appeal to people who like the Asian type.”

“He seems like a decent hype man.”

The public often equates hype men with backup rappers, but in reality, a hype man is slightly different from a backup rapper. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that a hype man is a broader concept than a backup rapper.

A backup rapper is someone who backs up the ‘rap.’ Their role ends with providing doubling to help with breath control and adding weight to the chorus.

On the other hand, a hype man plays the role of backing up the entire ‘stage’ and is known as the unsung hero of the performance.

Doubling is basic, and they must be able to produce appropriate side sounds (including ad-libs and sound effects) and induce audience participation by throwing ad-libs.

Occasionally, they even come to the forefront of the stage and act as an artist themselves.

Therefore, a skilled hype man requires various capabilities and qualities such as strong energy, appropriate ad-libs, a powerful voice, memorization of lyrics, and chemistry with the main performer.

However, this was just the theoretical aspect, and in reality, what took precedence over all of this was ‘friendship with the main rapper.’

Sanghyun and Junhyung were each other’s best hype men. Because they were so close.

They knew each other’s habits well, so they could provide perfect assistance even in unexpected situations.

Recognizing unconscious habits and subtle changes requires mental connection beyond skill. That’s why the friendship between the main rapper and the hype man is important.

In fact, PiPi’s act of buying a hype man was a bit embarrassing.

His personality must be so awful that no fellow rapper would volunteer to be his hype man. Even those who occasionally did couldn’t endure the abuse and ended up half-assing it before quitting.

In that sense, EMI Music officials thought PiPi should be grateful to Five.

Five was taking care of the lacking parts of the stage like a ghost, as if he were PiPi’s longtime friend. It seemed like he had even figured out PiPi’s unconscious habits through research.

Moreover, his vocalization and volume were so good that he burst through the compressor [an audio processing tool used to reduce dynamic range], which was heavily applied to suit the role of the hype man, and blew the peaks.

‘He’s really good?’

The staff was impressed by his performance. It wasn’t entirely unheard of, but it wasn’t an easy task.

However, PiPi stopped the song due to Sanghyun’s actions and expressed his dissatisfaction.

“Do it right! Your voice is too loud! Are you the artist? Are you the main act?”

“Sorry.”

PiPi flew into a rage at Sanghyun’s insincere reply, and the rehearsal ended like that. In fact, anyone could see that no further practice was needed.

With that, PiPi returned to the waiting room, and Sanghyun also came down from the stage.

The Curtain Call Tour 2008 was not PiPi’s solo performance, so the rehearsal continued.

However, the staff continued to talk about PiPi and PiPi’s hype man, Five. Almost all conversations were filled with insults towards PiPi and sympathy for Five.

This was not limited to the staff of EMI Music. The same was true for the other lineups and the staff of Sony Music.

Unless they were high-ranking officials from Sony Music who were careful around PiPi, no staff liked PiPi. Rather, the Sony Music staff, who had to witness his terrible personality up close, hated PiPi even more.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

When there is a common enemy, the internal bonds are strengthened.

If Sanghyun had participated in the tour lineup by backing up Hadel Raines, he would have received unfavorable attention. No matter how skilled he was.

However, Sanghyun and Hadel Raines did not do that.

They were subtly revealing their presence in the public opinion by entering the position of the weak.

***

In Korea, the 888 Crew is undoubtedly a top dog.

No, to be precise, they are like a pack of fierce wolves who don’t join groups and play among themselves.

This pack of wolves bit into an old magazine company called Show Business and brought the giant group, Ohkyung Media, to its knees.

The leader of this pack of wolves is undoubtedly 56, Lee Sanghyun.

When Sanghyun suddenly stopped appearing, Korean netizens began to pour out various stories.

-Ohkyung Media is using its influence behind the scenes to prevent him from broadcasting or performing.

-He’s fed up with the music industry’s tyranny and has given up on music.

Of course, it was no secret that Sanghyun had left Korea. All of his acquaintances knew, and Ohkyung Media and music industry officials also knew roughly.

However, none of Sanghyun’s acquaintances were the type to spread such stories, and neither were Ohkyung Media officials.

If Sanghyun’s story were to be mentioned in the media, the ‘negative actions’ that Ohkyung Media had taken would inevitably be mentioned as well.

Even if the negative actions were not mentioned, the executives of the Ohkyung Group did not like the name ‘Lee Sanghyun,’ who had screwed them over, being mentioned in the media.

The proposition that ‘Lee Sanghyun left for America’ inevitably led to the proposition that ‘Ohkyung Media put pressure on him from behind.’

In fact, Ohkyung Media officials speculated that Sanghyun left for America because he anticipated that his presence in Korea would restrict the activities of the 888 Crew.

Ohkyung Media remained silent, and the reporters were wary of Ohkyung Media, so Sanghyun’s departure to America became a strange fact that those in the know were aware of but was not mentioned in the media.

In the end, Sanghyun’s departure to America was properly mentioned in the media three months after he left.

This was also because Inhyuk joked during a performance at Club Homi, saying, ‘I guess some of you still don’t know, but Sanghyun has gone to the City of Angels.’

The number one search term on portal sites that day was ‘Lee Sanghyun Death.’

The City of Angels that Inhyuk mentioned was LA [Los Angeles], but the public took it as death.

After it became known that Sanghyun had gone to America, the public initially showed considerable interest.

Sanghyun had collaborated with famous musicians such as DJ Standard in LA and KRS-ONE in New York even in Korea. So many people thought that he had seized a significant opportunity and left for America.

However, as the first half of the year passed, the second half passed, and 2007 passed, there was no news that Lee Sanghyun had achieved visible results. People’s interest gradually waned.

Of course, Sanghyun had achieved tremendous results.

It was a great achievement for an Asian, especially in the LA rap scene where the influence of the Compton hood [referring to the Compton neighborhood known for its significant influence on hip-hop culture] was very strong, to enter the center of hip-hop culture.

However, it was not an achievement that would be reported in articles or talked about by people. It was not visible.

The story of ‘Hoodman’ was mentioned prominently in a famous local newspaper in LA, but it did not reach the Korean media, which had already lost interest in Sanghyun.

As such, Sanghyun’s topicality gradually converged to zero and soon became zero.

Occasionally, malicious commenters would mention, ‘Korean music is trash compared to American music. Look at Lee Sanghyun. He was popular in Korea, but he flopped after going to America.’

When Sanghyun first disappeared, music industry officials predicted that the popularity of the 888 Crew would not be as good as before.

That’s because Lee Sanghyun’s presence in the 888 Crew was enormous. The industry’s perception was that not only was his popularity significant, but his role in driving the 888 Crew was also significant.

However, their predictions were pleasantly wrong.

Sanghyun’s popularity disappeared, but not the 888 Crew. The 888 Crew was still going strong, and beyond going strong, their popularity was actually increasing.

For the first three months or so after Sanghyun left for America, the 888 Crew was also very quiet.

Industry officials were wary because they didn’t know Ohkyung Media’s course of action regarding the ‘888 Crew without Lee Sanghyun,’ and the members also needed time to adjust to the absence of Sanghyun, who had been the center.

They didn’t know until Sanghyun was gone, but once he was gone, the members realized that Sanghyun’s role was much bigger than they thought.

‘How did he do all this alone?’

Not only the musical aspects but also the business aspects of the domestic brand ‘Triple Eight’ were important issues. Sanghyun had taken some measures before leaving, but it couldn’t be perfect.

This business vacuum was filled by Inhyuk, who had returned.

Inhyuk, who had dreamed of becoming a record producer, led Triple Eight clumsily but without much trouble. It was possible because Sanghyun had paved the way well, but Inhyuk also had talent.

Junhyung thought that if Sanghyun hadn’t put Inhyuk back in his place before leaving, the 888 Crew’s slump would have been much longer.

If Inhyuk was responsible for the business aspects, Junhyung did his best in the musical aspects. Based on the 888 Crew’s greatest strength, ‘family love,’ he talked more, thought more, and led <888 Crew Version Three>.

The activities of the 888 Crew, which began after a slump of over a hundred days, were truly worthy of the word ‘bombardment.’

If Version 1 of the 888 Crew, which started from the bottom of Gwangju, was the ‘beginning,’ then Version 2, which started when they moved to Seoul, was the ‘leap.’

Version 3, which began after Sanghyun left.

Version 3 was a barrage of quantity.

Starting with Inhyuk’s mixtape , all the members’ mixtapes began to be released at weekly intervals.

Inhyuk, Hayeon, Minji, Hwan, Junhyung, Minho.

When Minho’s last work, the instrumental tape, was released, hip-hop fans and pop music fans thought that the six weeks they had enjoyed so much had finally come to an end.

However, that was not the end.

The following week, the collaboration album of 888 X L&S was released.

The mixtapes were free tracks, but was a formal album.

Consisting of a total of 11 tracks, showcased its power by lining up three songs, including the title track, on the charts and was nominated for first place on music shows on the three major broadcasting stations. It even took first place on CBC [a Korean broadcasting station].

The joint performance of the band L&S and the 888 Crew toured six cities nationwide and sold out every seat.

Like this, all the musicians of the 888 Crew showed off tremendous works and began to imprint the name of the 888 Crew on the public once again.

However, the 888 Crew member who decorated the major media outlets, news, and newspapers was someone else.

It was Sangmi.

Sangmi was a first-year student in the Department of Digital Content, which was newly established at Seoyul Arts High School in 2006, and the ‘rap musical’ she created during the final practical exam in 2007 suddenly began to gain popularity.

Originally, Seoyul Arts High School had a tradition of theater and film students holding external invitation performances as their final practical exams.

Seoyul Arts High School was one of the most successful arts high schools in Korea, so many university and entertainment officials came to the performances, and what caught their attention was not the students but the scenario itself.

After the performance, numerous production companies began to inquire about the release of the scenario and requests for a re-performance.

Seoyul Arts High School, which was contemplating, thought it was a good opportunity and held an encore performance, and surprisingly, CJ E&M [a major South Korean entertainment and media company], a top musical import company in Asia, expressed its intention to produce it.

Oh Yeonju, the ‘CEO,’ who heard the story, began to help Sangmi, and Sangmi’s scenario began to be produced into a musical under good conditions.

After a total production period of eight months, in March 2008, the performance of the musical began.

All members of the 888 Crew made cameo appearances, and numerous rappers who maintained good relationships with the 888 Crew began to make guest appearances. When performing in Busan, Busan rappers including LK appeared, and when performing in Seoul, members of Stars Records appeared.

Calib played a supporting role with considerable weight thanks to his handsome appearance and surprisingly decent acting skills.

In the United States, there was a rap musical called , which told the story of Tupac and Biggie, but it was a groundbreaking genre that was attempted for the first time in Korea.

It wasn’t a rap musical with 80% of the rap content like when Sangmi first created it, but the ratio of rap to song being 5:5 was revolutionary enough in Korea.

Thanks to this, the cultural and entertainment sections of the media were filled with articles about every day, and the small and pretty 19-year-old scenario writer also began to appear in the media.

At the point when the story of the musical being exported to China and Taiwan came out, the 888 Crew threw another winning move.

The release of their second full-length album.

However, the 888 Crew members stated on the radio, at concert halls, and on occasional broadcasts that this album was not their second album.

Their Just For The Record (official record) would begin when ‘someone’ returned, and this was only the first unofficial record.

As such, of the 888 Crew began to gain tremendous popularity, riding on various favorable factors.

‘Sanghyun, we’re moving on to the next stage. How about you?’

Junhyung fell asleep one night in June 2008, when the smell of summer began to fill the air, thinking this.

And the next morning, he woke up and felt surprised and delighted while looking at the newspaper.

‘That’s why you didn’t have time to talk on the phone for the past few months.’

The newspapers of the three major media outlets, as well as internet news and portal site search terms, were all filled with ‘Lee Sanghyun.’

The titles of the articles were different, but all the articles contained the sentence.

Next Stage.