The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 243

< Verse 38. Dungeon >

The California leg of the Curtain Call Tour concludes in LA.

However, this didn’t mean the Curtain Call Tour ended with LA. It meant the end of the schedule touring the ‘State of California.’

Now, the Curtain Call Tour would move to Arizona, adjacent to California, and start again, with Tour Gen reorganizing popular musicians in Arizona as well.

Of course, some musicians from the California tour group would also move to Arizona.

Old musicians who were once popular throughout the United States, or musicians who were popular in Arizona as well, did so.

Among them were Plan Paper and Pipi.

Pipi was a fairly popular musician in Arizona, though not as much as in California.

His appearance was attractive enough to appeal across state lines.

However, Pipi’s opening musicians, FiveSix and Sanghyun, were unable to follow him to Arizona.

This was partly because Pipi threw a fit, and partly because Sony Music and EMI Music had lost interest in Sanghyun. And decisively, Hadel Raines officially raised Sanghyun’s treatment conditions.

For various reasons, Sanghyun was dropped from the Curtain Call Tour in the ‘format of being cut by Pipi,’ but this was actually what Hadel Raines and Sanghyun wanted.

The final act of the No Color project was ‘Pipi not being able to stand it and cutting Sanghyun.’

Now, Sanghyun was about to perform his last show as a member of the Curtain Call Tour, in LA.

***

“Wow! Who is this? Aren’t you a superstar!”

“Cut it out, Mel.”

“Humble as befits a star, huh?”

Sanghyun smiled brightly at Mel’s joke and held out his fist. Soon, Westrun and Mel’s fists bumped against Sanghyun’s fist.

The first thing Sanghyun did upon arriving in LA was head to Compton City Shopping Center. Psychedelic Records was there, and familiar faces were gathered at Psychedelic Records.

President Kim Wan-joon and his son Kirk Kim.

The members of Psychedelic Records: Westrun, Mel, Rude, Neo Bakers, and Drone.

Finally, Bebo from Bebo Records, who had been waiting after receiving Sanghyun’s call.

‘It’s a shame Standard isn’t here.’

He had been too busy lately to talk to Standard.

Sanghyun greeted everyone warmly while thinking that.

He had interacted with quite a few LA musicians after the Compton Black Block event, but the people gathered here were the closest to Sanghyun.

“We saw it all! It’s crazy!”

Westrun shouted in an excited voice about Sanghyun’s videos posted on sites like World Star Hip Hop and Hip Hop DX.

Sanghyun smiled at the sight and asked.

“How did you see it? There’s no way it’s possible with Compton’s internet?”

“There’s always a way!”

After hearing the details, Kirk Kim had invited everyone to his house to watch it. Kirk Kim was doing business in Compton, but his residence was not in Compton.

“Quite a few friends in Compton are also proud. No matter what anyone says, you’re from LA.”

“Are there no critical voices?”

“Well… there can’t be none. But most are positive. Except for some of the gang members.”

Sanghyun listened to Westrun’s words and realized that some of the gang members didn’t like him.

But he didn’t care at all. Not everyone could like him.

He was just happy to be in familiar LA, and happy to see his friends after a long time.

“How’s the tour? Are there any groupies following you around?”

“Why the sudden talk about groupies?”

“Why? You’re a star now!”

After catching up for a while, they soon came out of the store.

It was because of Sanghyun’s generous offer to have dinner.

“Let’s go to Pasadena. It’s on me.”

“Oh, superstar.”

“Yellow Real Nigga Baby!”

After making separate dinner plans with Kirk Kim, who had to watch the store, and President Kim Wan-joon, who wasn’t feeling well, Sanghyun headed to Pasadena with his friends.

Laughter never left them as they headed to Pasadena in the large truck borrowed from Kirk Kim. Everyone was excited.

Sanghyun had worked quite hard with his Psychedelic friends, and the results would soon be revealed. The beginning would be Westrun and Mel’s duo album.

So, Sanghyun becoming famous meant that they could also benefit. The more famous Sanghyun became, the more attention their albums would receive.

But they were purely happy about Sanghyun’s success, apart from that.

In fact, if you only count the time, Sanghyun’s struggles in the LA underground weren’t that long.

But everyone knew how difficult it was because the type of hardship wasn’t a matter of skill, but the unsolvable problem of ‘racism.’

That’s why everyone was happy.

Also, they were determined that they could do it too, seeing Sanghyun’s success.

Soon, the seven people, including Sanghyun, arrived in Pasadena.

In Pasadena, quite an interesting, and very important meeting beyond just fun, was waiting for Sanghyun.

***

Unlike Korea, in the United States, if a star is enjoying their private life, fans generally don’t bother them much.

Of course, if they are a huge superstar or a crazy fan, the story changes, but Americans generally tend to respect privacy.

This is why it was possible for Plan Paper to walk around the streets of Pasadena.

This is also why K-Dot and his friends were able to run into Plan Paper by chance.

“Yo, are you wearing a bulletproof vest?”

Quincy Matthew Hanley, more commonly known as Q, patted Pipi on the shoulder and asked.

Matthew was shorter than Pipi and had a non-fierce impression, but Pipi felt fear towards Q.

Because Matthew was a gang member of the Crips, one of the two gangs that divided LA [a notorious street gang].

It wasn’t just Matthew.

Johnny Reed McKinzie, Jr., known as Jay, who stood behind him without stepping forward, was a member of another gang, Bloods [another major LA street gang].

K-Dot, the opening rapper that Pipi had cut and the next-generation prospect of Compton, was not a gang member, but some of his friends were members of Bloods and Crips.

“Huh? He’s asking if you’re wearing a bulletproof vest?”

Matthew was the one who threatened Pipi, who had cut K-Dot, saying, ‘If you’re coming to LA, you better wear a bulletproof vest.’

“Q, stop it.”

K-Dot, who had been standing still, stopped Matthew.

Jay, Q, K-Dot.

They felt like alphabet vowels, but they were the prospects of Compton and members of Black Hippy under T.D.E (Top Dawg Entertainment) [a prominent independent record label].

Pipi blamed his carelessness for entering the alley in Pasadena without much thought, and at the same time, he was embarrassed by the misfortune of meeting these guys while he was alone.

It was that moment. The name ‘Plan Paper’ was heard loudly from somewhere.

Pipi thought he heard the voice of his fan or a member of the tour and slowly headed out of the alley.

Matthew frowned at the sight.

Of course, Matthew had no intention of directly harming Pipi. His music career was just beginning, and he was a person with plans for the future, unlike some gang members.

But he didn’t want to pass by this easily.

The reason K-Dot participated in the Grand Tour 2007 was literally out of respect for the state of California. Better tours and better work were waiting for him.

However, all of these time costs and opportunity costs were blown away due to Pipi’s inferiority complex, so Black Hippy’s friends couldn’t have been in a good mood.

‘Who is it?’

Matthew focused on the voices of people uttering the words ‘Plan Paper’ or ‘Pipi.’

But when he listened carefully, the whole story was about cursing Pipi.

“That bastard cut you too? Not just K-Dot?”

“K-Dot, that friend, was also my opening rapper, right? How good is K-Dot?”

“He’s amazing. He’s good at rapping, but he writes lyrics really well. Not only K-Dot but also Jay and Q in the same team are great. Black Hippy members are all talented. Oh, you can’t leave out AB-Soul either.”

“But why are all the stage names alphabets? Did the Black Hippy team members match them?”

The answer came from somewhere else the moment Westrun was about to open his mouth to Sanghyun’s question.

“No. It just happened to be that way. What can we do if our names are like that?”

The voice was heard in an alley where white people don’t pass by often.

When Sanghyun and the Psychedelic Records members turned their heads, they saw a black man wearing a deeply pressed bucket hat.

“Q!”

Rude, who was friendly with Matthew, ran up happily.

“What are you doing here? Oh? Kay and Jay are also…”

What came into Rude’s eyes at that time was Pipi, who was making an ambiguous expression.

Westrun, who had trouble with Bloods because of the Bloods gang member who beat up his cousin, followed Rude into the alley. He paused for a moment when he found Jay, but he didn’t have any trouble with Jay.

Soon the alley was full of Black Hippy members, Psychedelic members, Bebo, and Sanghyun and Pipi.

“I happened to meet this guy,” Matthew said, shrugging his shoulders. Then Rude grabbed Matthew’s arm and pulled him.

“Q. Don’t cause an accident. Your mixtape is coming out soon.”

“I know, so don’t nag me. Pipi. I’m in a good mood because I met my friends, so get lost.”

Plan Paper nodded at Matthew’s words and quickly escaped from the alley.

After Pipi left, K-Dot, who had been standing behind Matthew without saying anything, spoke to Sanghyun.

“Hey, Five. I’ve heard a lot about you. I wanted to meet you.”

“Me too. We couldn’t see Compton Black Block because we had something to do.”

K-Dot and Q (Matthew) greeted Sanghyun quite kindly.

In fact, K-Dot had been friendly to the rapper Five from the beginning, and Q had half and half feelings. He thought it was okay because he knew he had worked hard in LA, but he still had the thought that he was Asian.

However, the moment he found out that Five was also Pipi’s opening rapper and was cut, he felt quite friendly. It was a kind of camaraderie.

“I just heard, Five, you were also cut by Pipi?”

“Uh……”

However, strangely enough, Sanghyun just trailed off and didn’t react much.

Q smiled and patted Sanghyun on the shoulder at Sanghyun’s ambiguous reaction.

“Look. It’s true that there are people who hate you among the Crips members, but I’m not. Neither are my friends. So you don’t have to be so difficult.”

However, Sanghyun was not difficult or afraid of ‘Q in a bucket hat.’

He was just too surprised to speak.

In fact, no matter how much of a heavy listener Sanghyun was and how knowledgeable he was about hip-hop, he couldn’t know which rapper was where in which year.

He could guess through the lyrics, but it was impossible to find a rap superstar who hadn’t yet become famous with that.

It was difficult even in Korea, but it was even more impossible in the United States, where each state is larger than Korea.

So, the surprise that Sanghyun felt for the two rappers standing in front of him was, in a way, natural. Because these two rappers were always in Sanghyun’s top ten favorite rappers.

In particular, K-Dot could be counted in one hand [meaning he’s one of Sanghyun’s absolute favorites].

“Ni…ce to meet you. K-Dot and Q.”

K-Dot and Q.

They were Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q.

< Verse 38. Dungeon > End

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