The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 239

< Verse 37. Next Stage >

***

Whether in Korea or the US, the best way for musicians to make money is through performances.

Of course, unlike Korea, the US market allows musicians to earn from albums alone, but albums have always been an unstable source of income. They weren’t as reliable as tours.

That’s why production companies preferred tours. The more performances, the more money earned, so tour schedules were always packed.

The “Up in Smoke” tour, featuring rap superstars like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem, had a total of 44 shows from May 15 to August 20, 2000.

44 shows in 95 days. That’s roughly one show every 2.2 days.

The “Curtain Call” tour wasn’t much different, with a tight schedule of one show every 2.5 days.

However, the “Curtain Call” tour wasn’t as grueling as the “Up in Smoke” tour because the main musicians changed whenever the state or metropolitan area (an urban cultural sphere centered around a large city with surrounding smaller cities) changed, and some musicians were replaced.

But for Plan Paper, who was popular in California and never missed a show, it was quite a tough schedule.

This was true not only for Plan Paper but also for the hype men, sound and stage staff, and featured musicians.

Everyone was exhausted and on edge. In situations like this, you have to be careful with your words and actions, but Plan Paper was not known for such restraint.

The problem occurred in Chula Vista, the sixth city of the tour.

***

“PP! What are you going to do about this mess?”

“Yoshiki can just find another opening rapper!”

“In the middle of a tour? Do you think that’s easy? Does it seem easy to you?”

“…Isn’t it the manager’s job to make that happen?”

PP knew he was in the wrong, so he didn’t speak harshly to Yoshiki.

Yoshiki sighed deeply and opened his mouth.

“Okay, I can probably find a featured rapper somehow. But you know that if you keep doing this, your next contract renewal is not guaranteed. You know your current contract terms are worse because you keep causing problems, right?”

“…”

“You know you have to go on that crappy program that gets you nothing because of the accidents you caused, right? Do you really want to be terminated by Sony Music?”

“…”

Yoshiki sighed again, looking at PP, who stubbornly kept his mouth shut.

Plan Paper knew that his rap skills were overrated.

In fact, Plan Paper wasn’t a talentless rapper.

However, he couldn’t find the balance between image and reality, and he thought the gap between his skills and fame was much more significant than it actually was. So, he had a habit of severely criticizing opening or featured rappers who were better than him.

The incident in San Diego was also due to this.

PP was incredibly upset about the Big Thing Shit performance in San Jose. He couldn’t believe he had lost the spotlight to a hype man.

The anger affected the next performance in San Diego, where he made several critical mistakes.

In contrast, the rappers ‘Deron’ and ‘Black Connection,’ who were in charge of the opening and featuring, were in top condition. Five was also in good form, though it wasn’t as noticeable since he was just a hype man.

When the main musician performed the worst, there was an immediate reaction from the audience.

No matter how good PP’s image was, there were bound to be male fans who were jealous of his handsome looks.

After the show, high on marijuana, PP hurled insults that he couldn’t even bring himself to repeat at the two rappers.

As a result, the two enraged rappers disappeared.

‘Something’s wrong… How bad were the insults?’

Yoshiki wasn’t a manager dispatched by Sony Music, as some people misunderstood.

Although Sony Music was a Japanese company, it wouldn’t hire Japanese people even for field manager positions in its US branch. Rather, it mainly hired Americans to break the stereotype of being a Japanese company.

Yoshiki had been PP’s manager even before PP joined Sony Music, and he joined Sony Music along with PP. The ‘accident’ in Oakland that made PP a star was also planned by Yoshiki.

Anyway, Yoshiki knew PP’s difficult personality well, so he carefully selected the supporting musicians who toured with him.

The top priority in the selection criteria was those who were ‘desperate for money.’

Those who are desperate for money are less likely to give up in the middle of the tour, even if they see some dirty things. And Deron and Black Connection were truly desperate for money.

So, how could Deron and Black Connection give up the tour?

‘Did their money problems get solved? No, that can’t be.’

Moreover, Deron and Black Connection didn’t disappear from the tour immediately after being insulted by PP. They followed him to Chula Vista without complaint, and then disappeared the day before the performance, as if to say, ‘Screw you.’

Yoshiki was momentarily puzzled, but then he realized that this was not the time to think about that.

It didn’t matter that the two stupid black guys lacked patience; what was important right now was the casting.

The show was tomorrow, and there were no opening musicians or musicians to do the featuring in the middle. Given PP’s reputation in the industry, it would be impossible to get help from anyone in the lineup.

‘Damn it, I’ll have to go to San Diego or LA.’

Time was short.

San Diego was close to Chula Vista, but if he couldn’t find a suitable musician in San Diego, he would have to go to LA, which was over 150 km away.

However, Yoshiki couldn’t find a suitable musician in San Diego.

It wasn’t that there were no applicants, but he couldn’t find a decent musician to participate in the tour.

Decent musicians shook their heads at the mention of Plan Paper, and musicians who were desperate for an opportunity had terrible careers.

‘At least they need to have gone gold in the region…’

Yoshiki, who was rushing from San Diego to LA, suddenly got angry and burst out.

“This is bullshit!”

It’s not like the tour is a game of tag, how can you cast musicians so urgently?

But one way or another, Yoshiki and PP were in the same boat since they faked the accident in Oakland.

If PP opened his mouth, Yoshiki would be branded as a fraud and would never be able to set foot in the music industry again, and if Yoshiki opened his mouth, PP would be ruined.

In the end, Yoshiki had no choice but to calm down and head to LA.

However, the situation was not good in LA either.

“Double P? The guy who cut K-Dot? Looks like that bastard cut another opening rapper?”

“What the hell is this Jap doing here? Get lost!”

Yoshiki, seeing the black men threatening him in front of his eyes, belatedly remembered that the rapper ‘K-Dot,’ whom PP had cut during the 2007 tour, was from Compton.

There were no insults or discord when K-Dot was cut.

It’s a prejudice, but rappers from Compton have the image of being ‘gang members,’ so you can’t mess with them carelessly. In fact, K-Dot wasn’t a gang member, but many of his friends were in gangs.

K-Dot was cut simply because he was too, too good. PP couldn’t stand K-Dot’s rap. Enough to overcome his fear of gangs.

After K-Dot was unfairly fired, his gang friends threatened PP, saying, ‘If you’re coming to LA, you better wear a bulletproof vest.’

‘I’m screwed.’

Yoshiki realized that it had become impossible to find a decent rapper in LA as well.

Of course, there weren’t only hoodies from Compton in the LA rap scene, but any decent rapper who could be used on the tour would have connections with them.

Now, all that was left was to cling to other lineups at EMI or Sony, whether it worked or not.

Then, two black men spoke to Yoshiki.

“I happened to hear you while smoking nearby, are you PP’s manager?”

“Yes, I am.”

Yoshiki answered, pretending to be calm.

He was terrified as the two huge black men blocked his way. This was the infamous Compton.

The black men seemed to have noticed that Yoshiki was scared.

“Ah, there’s no need to be scared, we’re not trying to threaten you.”

“Yeah, we’re not gang members. We hate gangs too. We’re members of a rap label in LA. You know Psychadelic Records, right?”

“Ah…”

Yoshiki’s face brightened. It was a label he had heard of.

‘Are they trying to recommend a musician from their label?’

But when Yoshiki asked that, the two black men shook their heads.

“No way. We hate gangs, but we’re also members of Compton, so why would we go under PP for money? What would our friends think of us then?”

“Then what’s the matter…?”

“One of my friends is participating in that tour right now, so I’m telling you to use him. He’s amazing.”

“Friend? What’s his name?”

Yoshiki thought that he might be one of the outsourced staff members. If he was in the lineup, they wouldn’t have said ‘use him.’

However, what Yoshiki heard was a completely unexpected but very familiar name.

“Five, or FiveSix, I think you know him because he’s from the same country as you?”

“Mel, come to think of it, didn’t Five say he was PP’s hype man? Or was it?”

“I don’t think so. Or is it? Hey, do you know Five? He’s from the same country as you…”

“To think I’m from the same country as such a low-class race?”

The moment Yoshiki, a hater of Koreans, reflexively retorted, the expressions of the two black men, Westrun and Mel, hardened.

“Hey, do you know that the president of Psychadelic Records is Korean?”

“I think Five said he was a friend? Can you handle what you just said? This is Compton.”

Westrun, who said that, smiled, relaxing his expression. Yoshiki was even more frightened by that smile.

“I, I misspoke…”

“So, are you going to use him or not?”

“But you can’t just bring anyone to a tour like that. They need to have a certain level of recognition, or a career that can appeal to the audience even if they don’t have recognition…”

“Then he’s perfect. In terms of career, Five is more flashy than K-Dot.”

“Excuse me?”

Yoshiki wondered if the Five he was thinking of was a different person from the Five they were talking about.

‘That Korean guy’s career is flashy? He’s just a hype man?’

But there was only one person who was the hype man for the current Curtain Call Tour, was Asian, and had the name Five.

“What specific career does Five have?”

“There are too many to list… Isn’t being a platinum musician enough?”

“Platinum!”

Yoshiki was shocked. No, he was horrified.

Even PP’s second album didn’t go platinum (1 million copies) after his first album went triple platinum (3 million copies). But Five is platinum?

“Are you talking about in LA?”

“No, in Korea.”

Mel, who was listening to Westrun’s words, corrected the information.

“To be exact, one solo album and one team album each went gold. You have to combine them to get platinum.”

“Ah.”

According to the record market size announced by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Japan was 15 times larger than Korea.

And platinum in Japan was 250,000 copies.

‘Is platinum in Korea about 30,000 copies? Or 50,000 copies?’

At best, it was a record that wouldn’t even go gold in the United States.

Yoshiki shook his head.

“You can’t perform on the tour just because you achieved platinum in Korea.”

“What are you talking about? PP didn’t get platinum on this album either, did he?”

“The scale is different. How much is platinum in Korea? 30,000? 50,000?”

Westrun burst out laughing at Yoshiki’s words.

“Don’t get me wrong. The platinum record that Five achieved is based on US standards.”

“Excuse me?”

“1 million copies.”

When Sanghyun left the United States, JFTR had sold 420,000 copies, and eventually sold 550,000 copies, and 56 JFTR had sold 280,000 copies, and eventually sold 430,000 copies.

To be exact, it wasn’t 1 million copies, but it was enough to be called a combined platinum.

Mel’s additional explanation was heard in Yoshiki’s ears as he was flustered.

“The song he worked on with Standard hit number one on the NPQ chart, he participated in KRS-One’s album, he went platinum in Korea, and there was a commotion in Compton Black Block… Should I tell you more? The Hoodman story was in the LA Times.”

Yoshiki listened to the stories pouring into his ears and realized that he had no choice but to choose Five. He didn’t want to give a Korean guy a chance, but it was impossible to find a ‘musician’ of this caliber in one day.

So, from the next day, Sanghyun participated in the Curtain Call Tour as an opening rapper.

“San Diego! Wassup!”

It was the moment when FiveSix stepped into the ‘American popular music scene’ in the truest sense.

< Verse 37. Next Stage > End

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