The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 250

< Verse 40. The Unknown Factor >

Verse 40. The Unknown Factor

As society continued to develop and diversify, numerous connections began to emerge between various sectors of industry.

Even in the primary industry of agriculture, countless processes have intervened between the simple proposition of ‘grow crops, eat them, and sell the leftovers.’ And these processes only grew more complex.

This complexity was most evident in the tertiary industry of services.

The music service was no exception.

In the past, the music industry consisted solely of musicians creating songs and performing under the patronage of the aristocracy. In modern times, however, numerous companies have become involved in the processes of creating, promoting, distributing, and performing music.

This shift meant that it became difficult to succeed based solely on musical talent, and external support could sufficiently compensate for any shortcomings in musicality.

But no matter how complex it became, music was still art.

True art always emerged from outside the system and shook it up.

The reason so many superstars could rise to fame from obscurity with just one CD was because music was art.

Like Five Six, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole’s MTB.

***

May 2008.

was selling like wildfire, recording astonishing sales figures.

In its first week alone, it sold 30,000 copies in LA, and in its second week, it sold a remarkable 120,000 copies throughout California.

150,000 copies in just two weeks.

Considering that 888 Crew’s first mixtape, Official Bootleg, sold 30,000 copies in a year, this was a truly incredible result.

But this was not the end.

The current sales figures were a result of demand outpacing supply. There were plenty more people who wanted to buy MTB. There just wasn’t enough stock.

-Ring, ring!

-Ring, ring!

Weber, who was in charge of MTB sales, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown from the constant ringing of the phone.

Due to the time difference within the United States, when someone called from New York at 9 a.m., Weber in LA would be fast asleep at 6 a.m.

However, this was entirely Weber’s own doing.

As the project Weber had been planning for a long time began, record stores wanting to receive MTB had to go through Weber directly. The only exception was Psychodelic Records in the Compton Fashion Center.

Of course, it was good at first.

Until MTB’s popularity spread from the eastern region to the whole of LA, Weber was happy, and when it spread to California, he hired more staff and made some efforts.

But as time went on, mentions from Jay-Z, The Game, and KRS-One spread, and rave reviews of MTB began to adorn hip-hop sites.

Interest in MTB expanded beyond LA and California to the entire United States.

People naturally have a strange longing for what they cannot have. This was even more true if others were praising it highly.

It wasn’t Weber’s intention, but the fact that he released MTB on a small scale only intensified the fans’ desire.

And finally, a system was completed where hip-hop fans who wanted to have MTB would badger their local record stores, and the record store owners would badger Weber.

In the end, Weber threw up his hands in less than two weeks.

“I quit!”

“Why? You’ve been planning this for a long time.”

“I quit! I said I quit! Get your company president!”

Sanghyun told the despondent Weber that ‘the scarcity strategy using the anchor effect was very important.’ Weber seemed to not understand what he was saying, but he was very happy.

With Weber’s resignation, H&R INC took over the production and distribution of MTB.

Kendrick and J. Cole were also in the process of negotiating contracts with H&R INC, so there were no particular problems.

Hadel Reins respected Sanghyun’s opinion and didn’t add any special promotions to MTB. All he did was create cleaner and more stylish posters and distribute a few to each record store.

Nevertheless, MTB’s sales continued to increase.

Seeing this, Kendrick said.

“This is not a CD, it’s Hot Cake.”

The English equivalent of ‘selling like wildfire’ is ‘To Sell like Hot Cakes’. [Meaning something is selling very quickly and successfully.]

In the United States, hotcakes were a very popular food, and Americans liked to eat them hot. Therefore, hotcakes had been selling quickly as soon as they were baked.

Kendrick compared MTB’s CD to hotcakes because it was being sold all over the country as soon as it was baked in the factory.

“Oh? That’s good?”

“So. Should we make the next song ‘Hot Cakes’?”

“No way. I’m going to make it as a solo track.”

“Greedy Yellow Monkey.”

“You’re just a Flip [derogatory term for Asian Americans] who covets other people’s ideas.”

Sanghyun and J. Cole laughed as they teased each other.

Kendrick, J. Cole, and Sanghyun shared a tremendous amount of mental connection even in the dark underground studio where they made music all day long. So, now that everything was going well, they couldn’t help but feel even closer to each other.

Perhaps it wasn’t just because of MTB’s popularity, but as MTB’s popularity increased, Kendrick, J. Cole, and Sanghyun’s friendship only grew stronger.

As H&R INC began to manage the album in earnest, MTB began to spread across the United States without a hitch.

Thanks to this, the sales figures in the third and fourth weeks after the album’s release were truly astonishing.

Although the sales figures for the fourth week have not yet been fully tallied, it is estimated that at least 700,000 copies have been sold, as all the released stock has been sold out and re-stocking requests are coming in.

Hadel Reins thought that MTB sales would easily reach 1 million copies, and if they were very lucky, they could aim for 1.5 million copies.

Due to the rise of MP3s, album sales were decreasing at an alarming rate. The annual album sales figures were visibly declining.

So, if MTB recorded sales of 1.5 million copies, Hadel predicted that they would be in the top 30 of the ‘2008 worldwide album sales rankings’.

However, Hadel’s prediction was more conservative than what would actually happen.

In 2008, only 11 albums recorded double platinum (2 million copies) or more in sales.

So, if MTB could sell 1.5 million albums, they could be in the top 20 of the albums released in 2008.

If limited to black music, it was the fifth-highest in the world, and if limited to rap albums, it was second only to Lil Wayne’s *Tha Carter III*, which was expected to sell 2.7 million copies. Of course, there was no guarantee that they could sell 1.5 million copies.

In fact, unlike 2007, 2008 was a year with very few mega-hit rap albums.

Among the rap albums released until May, none of them were mainstream hits. Lil Wayne’s *Tha Carter III* was scheduled to be released in June.

This was also a contributing factor to the praise from stars and the great interest from hip-hop fans for MTB. Hip-hop fans, who had been keeping their wallets closed because there were no albums worth buying, opened their wallets for the first time in 2008.

The praise for MTB from rap stars did not stop at Jay-Z, The Game, and KRS-One.

Lil Wayne expressed both favor and confidence, saying, ‘I’m glad to see a good competitor for *Tha Carter 3*, which will be released in June. Of course, I’ll win.’

His confidence may have been natural, as Lollipop, the pre-release track from *Tha Carter 3*, was the number one song on the Billboard singles chart in the first week of May 2008, when MTB was released.

Snoop Dogg, a rapper who represents the West Coast along with The Game, left a mention saying, ‘Listening to Kendrick’s rap reminded me of when I first heard 2Pac’s song.’

Thanks to Kim Wan-jun, the president of Psychodelic Records, who had a minor connection, Dr. Dre left a mention saying, ‘When I was raising a white guy (Eminem), I heard a lot of stories saying, ‘Why don’t you make that kid do rock or something?’ But what about it? That white guy ate up the rap scene. And now it’s black, mixed race, and yellow.’

In addition, praise from numerous other rappers continued.

It wasn’t that there weren’t rappers who gave bad reviews, but they were in the minority.

One review site even commented, ‘The only problem with this album is that it’s a debut. Can they overcome the sophomore jinx [the difficulty many artists face in matching the success of their first album with their second]?’

And, of course, this evaluation led to interest and sales in MTB.

Sanghyun, who knew the future, seriously thought that it felt like he was receiving the praise that J. Cole would receive for his first album in 2009 and the praise that Kendrick would receive for his first album in 2011.

When does a musician feel that they have succeeded, or have begun to succeed?

Sanghyun knew the answer to this because he had tasted enough fame in Korea.

It was when the audience at the concert gave them a ‘떼창’ (ttechang) [Korean word for collective singing or sing-along].

And the three lineups of MTB were experiencing tremendous sing-alongs at every concert they went to.

Sanghyun was still surprised every time he saw Americans singing along to his songs made in English.

Just 10 months ago, he was a completely ignored stranger.

And 7 months ago, he was barely able to get on the culture of LA.

And now he was a star with tremendous fame in LA.

-Kyaaaaaa!

-Nigga! Yellow Monkey! Flip!

Sanghyun was going crazy with anticipation for what was to come.

MTB made its debut on the Billboard R&B Hip-Hop Albums chart in its fourth week of release.

It seemed that proper counting began when album sales were taken over by H&R INC.

The debut ranking was as high as 39th.

Sanghyun, Kendrick, and J. Cole, who had never been on the Billboard charts before, were dumbfounded.

“Is Billboard usually this easy?”

“I know, right? It doesn’t seem like we’ve become that big of stars yet?”

“Why? You’re still popular in LA, right? If you go to Koreatown, Sanghyun is a superstar, right?”

From their point of view, it was so amazing that their name was on Billboard because they released an album without much change in their lives.

Of course, they had only made it onto one part of the 35 charts that Billboard publishes.

They were not on the Billboard Hot 100, which is a chart for all singles, or the Billboard 200, which is a chart for all regular albums, which are the two major charts of Billboard.

However, among the numerous sub-charts, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums was one of the top charts.

It was the first most influential chart (second for band fans) except for the two major charts of Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200.

It was by no means to be dismissed as a sub-chart.

“I’m looking forward to next week.”

Kendrick and J. Cole did not hide their expectations. Sanghyun was honestly a bit ambiguous because he didn’t fully understand how the Billboard charts were made up.

“Why? Usually, charts go down over time, right?”

“No. The album chart is purely a sales count. So, rookies often hit their high in the week after their debut, or the week after that. In the case of single charts, where radio play scores are high, there have been cases where they debuted at 96th and then went straight to 1st the following week.”

That was a week later.

MTB’s fifth week of release, the chart for the week after its Billboard debut, was announced.

***

< Verse 40. The Unknown Factor > End

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