The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 258

< Verse 40. Unknown Factor (End) >

“Hello, I’m FiveSix.”

As soon as Sanghyun greeted, Simon Cowell grabbed the microphone, expressing his surprise.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute. Is the person in front of me really FiveSix, one of the rappers from ?”

“Yes, that’s right. You already know, so why pretend you don’t? You even pushed my order to the very end; I was bored to death waiting.”

Sanghyun’s words caused some of the audience to laugh, and Cowell also burst into laughter.

“Ah, of course, I knew FiveSix was coming to The X Factor. But I thought you were participating in the LA auditions. I really didn’t know you were in New Jersey.”

The reason Sanghyun chose New Jersey among the seven states in the US holding X Factor auditions was because it was the first one.

Of course, this choice wasn’t just because he wanted to get the audition over with quickly.

Mel and Westrun’s mixtape would be released starting next week, and Sanghyun participated in quite a few tracks on it. Sanghyun was planning to get the audition over with quickly and help promote the mixtape until boot camp.

As Sanghyun gave an appropriate answer, Cowell spoke again.

Compared to the previous contestants’ pre-audition interviews, Sanghyun’s interview was quite long. He was the last contestant, and there were many sources to draw from on the broadcast.

“I can’t help but ask. FiveSix, why are you here?”

“I want to collaborate with Eminem.”

“Many amateur rappers have participated in The X Factor for the same reason as you. That’s how great Eminem is. But is that really all? Aren’t you tempted by the huge sum of 5 million dollars?”

5 million dollars.

The largest prize money in the history of audition programs.

5 million dollars was a very large sum, equivalent to about 5.5 billion Korean won at the 2008 exchange rate.

However, Sanghyun wasn’t very interested in the prize money.

If he wanted to make money, he would have gone into business instead of music. He could have made even more money that way.

Before his regression, Sanghyun’s assets exceeded 8 billion won, even though he lost it all in the end. And this 8 billion won was purely ‘personal assets.’ Considering the assets tied to the company, his wealth was almost at the level of a quasi-chaebol [a large, family-owned business conglomerate in South Korea].

If Sanghyun hadn’t jumped into uncertainty in 2005, his assets would probably have recovered to their past levels by now.

People are strange; they don’t often crave what they can have at any time.

As he stated in ‘Get That Money Welcome to School,’ the money that excited Sanghyun was always the money he earned through music. Money earned by fairly proving his musicality.

‘Haeundae, Haeundae [a famous beach in Busan, South Korea, often associated with wealth and leisure].’

Like he jokingly said in an interview once, money was a ‘byproduct’ of his musical activities.

Of course, the prize money from the audition program wasn’t unrelated to musicality.

But is 5 million dollars a fair value for the 10 or so songs needed to win the final? There would probably be countless things attached to that 5 million dollars besides the purity of music.

Of course, if he won and received the prize money, he would gladly accept it. But the purpose of music itself couldn’t be the prize money. At least not for Sanghyun.

“If I…….”

Sanghyun had countless thoughts in response to Simon Cowell’s question. But the answer was simple. And it was true.

“……If I wanted a lot of money, I wouldn’t have come to America and would have made money in Korea. Rap music is of great value to me, and American rap music, which stands at its peak, is worth more than 5 million dollars.”

Sanghyun retorted to Cowell.

“Simon Cowell. You seem to be misunderstanding something; getting into the Top 12 means collaborating with Eminem, not marrying him.”

LA Reid’s joke caused the audience to burst into laughter, and Sanghyun couldn’t help but laugh as well. However, the judges’ eyes looking at Sanghyun were filled with some favor and curiosity.

Strictly speaking, Sanghyun’s answer had a formulaic aspect.

Saying ‘Music is more valuable to me than prize money’ was something anyone could say, and in fact, some musicians had given similar answers.

However, Sanghyun’s words felt very genuine, unlike theirs.

Because Sanghyun was really a rap star in Korea, and despite being a superstar, he gave up everything and came to America.

“Wow. That was a great answer. I’m scared of being dissed [criticized or disrespected] by Eminem, but let’s be brave. Eminem has returned after a career gap of over 4 years; do you still think he’s at the peak of American rap music?”

For the first time since his regression, Sanghyun decided to talk about what would happen in the future.

“Of course. Eminem’s next single will top the Billboard charts, and his album next year will record the highest sales among 2009 hip-hop albums.”

Everyone chuckled at Sanghyun’s words.

They thought his exaggerated remarks were a joke revealing his fanboyism. Sanghyun also spoke as if he was joking on purpose.

“FiveSix, are you gay?”

“Of course not. But if the other person is Eminem, I will seriously consider my sexual identity.”

Another burst of laughter erupted at Sanghyun’s words.

The public who had listened to MTB [likely refers to a music album or group], watching the stage, thought that FiveSix was a different person from the image in the album.

In the album, FiveSix felt like a very confident and delicate person, but now he was cheerful and good at making jokes.

His pronunciation was also so charming that it didn’t feel like he was a foreigner from another country.

At that moment, Kelly Rowland, who had been silent, grabbed the microphone, saying ‘Hold on, Hold on.’

“I’m sorry, FiveSix. I don’t know anything about you. But listening to the story, I’m getting more and more curious. Can I ask how famous you were as a rapper in Korea?”

“Kelly Rowland. I know how great a musician you are, but Korean viewers are likely not to know you well. Could you introduce yourself for the Korean viewers who will be watching this broadcast?”

Kelly Rowland said to Sanghyun’s words.

“Are you indirectly expressing that you are embarrassed to answer my request right now?”

Those who were listening to the conversation with interest all thought that Kelly Rowland had accurately caught FiveSix’s intention.

But it wasn’t.

“No. It meant that you could attach all the modifiers you thought of to introduce yourself to me after hearing my question. Of course, you would have to change America to Korea.”

“……If you knew how many great modifiers I came up with in an instant, you wouldn’t say that.”

“It’s okay. Ah, the modifier ‘the best female singer in American history’ is not allowed. My sexual identity cannot be shaken by anyone other than Eminem.”

“Hahahaha!”

Simon Cowell was the first to burst into hearty laughter at Sanghyun’s words.

Cowell’s laughter soon spread to the audience. The time it took for these laughter sounds to turn into cheers and whistles was very short.

-Waaaaaaah!

-Wheeeee!

These cheers were a reaction to answering a difficult question so wittily, and they were also cheers filled with expectations for the rapper’s unique swagger.

If confidence is mixed with arrogance, it becomes conceit, but if confidence is mixed with wit, it becomes charm.

Besides, this was America.

“FiveSix, you made a mistake. Do you know how high our expectations are now?”

“I believe you will pay more attention to my performance because of that.”

“I like you very much right now. But I think I’ll be very disappointed if the stage is terrible.”

Simon Cowell’s words continued, making it impossible to let go of the tension until the end.

But Sanghyun smiled without saying anything.

“Okay. What song are you going to sing today?”

“The song I’m going to sing now is about the roots of my music.”

With those words, Sanghyun winked at the staff.

And the beat began to flow.

The beginning of the beat started with a calm yet dynamic piano performance.

The piano was an instrument with duality that could calm people down and excite them intensely. And the current intro had both feelings.

Something ticklish, but an anticipation that something would burst out soon.

The performance wasn’t very long.

As the performance that lasted about 15 seconds subsided, the drums popped out in time with the sound of the piano keys.

The snare was very solid.

The hi-hat was finely structured, as if it had been shredded.

The kick bounced on the beat with a steady rhythm, like a stone skipping powerfully across the water.

The drum source that made up these sounds was the 808 drum kit, which formed the basis of trap music.

“Oh…….”

LA Reid, who was most knowledgeable about hip-hop, exclaimed.

Until 2005, trap was simply a subgenre of South hip-hop. It was a kind of club tune that was popular mainly in southern clubs.

However, as time went by, trap was expanding its influence, and now quite a few musicians were starting to delve into trap properly. Not only hip-hop but also electronic musicians.

Nevertheless, such sophisticated and well-made trap music was rare. In addition, the BPM [beats per minute] itself was very slow, but the effect of finely dividing the hi-hat to double the BPM was refreshing.

‘With this beat, you can rap in any way.’

At the moment LA Reid thought so, the last change occurred.

Dubstep, the heavy metal of the electronic world, was mixed in.

“Wow!”

Now the audience reacted.

They were feeling that the beat was quite sophisticated.

But the audience didn’t know. That this beat was attempted in Korea in 2005.

That’s right. The beat that Sanghyun brought now was the twelfth track of Official Bootleg.

12. Eight, Eight, Eight Los Angeles Remix (Prod. DJ. Standard)

At that moment, Sanghyun’s chorus began.

We Eight That Eight That Eight That Crew!

We Eight That Eight That Eight That Crew!

Shout-out My crew! We Call ‘팔팔팔’ [Pal Pal Pal – Korean for 888]

never came out of my Crew! but I’m a far-outer!

Sanghyun’s voice, which had a dry yet rich resonance, was as solid as ever.

And what that solidity represented was a shout-out to the 888 crew.

We Eight That Eight That Eight That Crew!

We Eight That Eight That Eight That Crew!

Shout-out My crew! We Call ‘팔팔팔’

never came out of my Crew! but I’m a far-outer!

In KRS-One’s album, The way we live, Sanghyun’s intro received quite a bit of attention with the punchline Far-Outer (a groundbreaking person).

The English version of Eight, Eight, Eight Remix had a hook created by reconstructing the intro from that time.

The judges and the public were expecting FiveSix to spit out local swagger when he said he was talking about the ‘roots of music.’

It was very common in the United States for rappers to boast about their region, and musicians from LA, New York, and Detroit were particularly prone to do so.

However, the shout-out that FiveSix spat out was not about the region, but about his team.

The public didn’t know the 888 crew, but it didn’t matter at all. Because the hook was so attractive.

There was a reason why Eight, Eight, Eight Remix topped NPQ’s DJ party tune chart.

The audience began to stir, and the judges who glanced back smiled.

But it was just the hook now.

After the chorus was repeated a total of 4 times, the full verse began.

I already said it in LA UP, I’m a gun scope laser

A Sudoku Chaser who doesn’t distinguish between Korean and English

Rapping is like Sudoku, finding words depending on the situation

But the hint given to me is always 3 8s.

The moment Sanghyun’s rap started, the audience had to feel something strange.

At first, they didn’t realize the identity of the strangeness.

But they could quickly realize it.

What made them strange was ‘benchmark comparison.’

Perhaps because Eminem was announced as a collaboration lineup, there were quite a few rappers at today’s audition. Considering that underground rappers don’t participate well in audition programs, it was unusual.

Thanks to this, the audience heard quite a few raps today and remembered the rappers’ performances. And without realizing it, they were ‘comparing’ FiveSix’s stage with the previous rappers’ stages.

That’s why it was strange.

Compared to the previous rappers’ stages, FiveSix’s stage sounded strangely good.

It even felt like I knew these lyrics in advance.

And this delivery could only lead to concentration on the content of the lyrics.

You told me to be a yellow monkey, yes that’s right, I’m Caesar.

If you want to trample on me, you’ll have to face 7 Caesars.

LA-Sir in LA, Rap Emperor in Korea

The adjective attached to our team is always Imperial

People who listened to MTB and those who didn’t admired the line that connected ‘monkey’ and ‘Caesar’. And they admired the rap skills that perfectly packaged these lyrics.

They had no choice but to admit it with just 8 bars of rap.

That the oriental rapper in front of them was on a different level from ordinary rappers.

Of course, I love LA,

This is my second hometown

Compton that I felt is a place where Black, Blue, and Red are mixed

Black was naturally the color of the black people who make up the majority of Compton, Blue was the color of the Crips gang that represents LA. Finally, Red was the color of the Bloods gang that represents LA.

These lyrics were a bit obvious because rappers from LA used them so much.

However, Sanghyun’s development was never obvious, as always.

The three colors are the colors of the Korean flag,

The value is the same

I’m just filling empty bullets with rap in two places

The red and blue that fill the Taegeuk [the central circle in the Korean flag].

The black that fills the Geon-Gon-Gam-Ri [the four trigrams surrounding the Taegeuk in the Korean flag].

People who knew the Korean flag admired Sanghyun for equating the colors of LA with the colors of Korea. This meant that both Korea and LA were precious to him.

And these lines continued with the rapper’s swagger that his weapon was rap in both LA and Korea.

As the 12 bars ended, the synthesizer sound suddenly disappeared except for the drums.

Sanghyun’s voice echoed loudly over the beat with only the drum sound left. Sanghyun’s vocalization, which he hadn’t felt well because the beat was so loud, was shining.

My first album is Just For The Record.

My second album is 56 JFTR

MTB that decorated the third, opened the Golden New Era

Again, the fourth album is JFTR.

Listening to the lyrics, the audience could know that FiveSix’s first album in Korea was named JFTR, and the second album was named 56 JFTR.

And they also knew that the third album was made with the Golden New Era members.

But they couldn’t understand why he was emphasizing JFTR so much. And they didn’t know why the fourth album was also JFTR.

At that moment, Sanghyun’s mouth opened.

“No, Just For The Record.”

The fourth JFTR that Sanghyun said was not Just For The Record, meaning ‘as an official record’.

The fourth one he said was,

“Just Famous Than R.O.K [Republic of Korea].”

It meant more famous than Korea.

-Waaaaaaaaah!

-FiveSix!

A rough cheer erupted from somewhere.

And that cheer grew uncontrollably.

Because 4 YESs went up at the same time.

It was the first unanimous decision today, but FiveSix’s stage was a stage where it was a pity that there were only 4 YESs.

We Eight That Eight That Eight That Crew!

We Eight That Eight That Eight That Crew!

Shout-out My crew! We Call ‘팔팔팔’

never came out of my Crew! but I’m a far-outer!

Having belatedly confirmed the 4 YESs, Sanghyun smiled and spat out the last chorus.

The beat gradually subsided as the chorus was repeated. The engineer was fading out the beat because the pass had already been decided.

And finally, with Sanghyun’s 4th chorus, the speakers on the stage went silent.

But the audience was not silent.

Rather, it seemed even louder after the beat disappeared.

At that moment, Simon Cowell opened his mouth with an excited expression.

“I don’t know……, I don’t know what to say in my review. But one thing is certain. There is something indescribable in your music. And I want to give it the name Unknown Factor (X-Factor).”

Simon Cowell’s words were high praise that Sanghyun would soon become the main character of The X Factor.

Simon Cowell’s praise soon began to be broadcast on TV across the United States.

It was a trailer for The X-Factor US.

People who watched the trailer began to wonder who the harsh critic Simon Cowell’s review was directed at. But information did not leak out due to strict security pledges.

As time passed, the first broadcast day of The X Factor approached.

< Verse 40. Unknown Factor (End) > End

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