The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 280

< Verse 44. The End >

Verse 44. The End

What immediately grabbed the public’s attention after the BET Hip Hop Awards wasn’t the H&R INC team’s second cypher, nor the third cypher featuring Eminem.

It wasn’t Jay-Z and Sanghyun both winning three awards at the BET Hip Hop Awards, nor the amazing performances by the rappers who graced the BET Hip Hop Awards.

What captivated the public was Bell Force.

Bell Force wasn’t a famous rapper.

If he were famous, Kendrick or Schoolboy Q, being LA natives, would have known him. Of course, the LA rap scene isn’t just Compton, so it’s not entirely impossible.

-Who the heck is Bell Force?

-Maybe a rapper who had beef with FiveSix and Trouble in the LA underground scene?

-I don’t think so. I vaguely remember him being mentioned in some internet article as an underground rapper.

-I can’t find anything when I search. Where can I see the full article?

-Dad’s here. Today’s gift is the full article.

In a way, Bell Force was a pitiful person.

Sanghyun mentioning Bell Force specifically wasn’t for any particular reason. He just happened to notice him because the reporter in an internet article he randomly clicked quoted Bell Force’s rant.

In another way, Bell Force was lucky.

The hottest rapper at the BET Hip Hop Awards mentioned him and spat out crazy rhymes, so it was a golden opportunity to gain public attention.

The attention might start negatively, but if he had the skills, he could turn it into fame.

Even Eminem, who now receives immense respect, started by dissing famous people to gain attention.

But unfortunately, Bell Force didn’t have Eminem’s level of skill.

-He’s trash. He dissed FiveSix with this level of skill? Is he crazy?

-It’s not even a diss. A rapper has to release a track to diss. This guy just blabbered on a keyboard.

-He just wanted attention. ‘Why does FiveSix represent LA? I’ve been rapping in LA for over 7 years under the name Bell Force.’ It’s obvious from the fact that he mentioned his stage name.

-Yeah. I thought the same thing when I saw the article.

-Where’s Bell Force’s SoundCloud account? Where can I listen to this idiot’s work and laugh? I’m depressed these days.

-He doesn’t have a SoundCloud account, but I’ll leave a YouTube link. The comments are funny.

Bell Force was the target of netizens’ ridicule.

In reality, Bell Force wasn’t a terribly bad rapper. If he were, he wouldn’t have been rapping for 7 years.

However, unfortunately, his opponent was too strong.

And the card that the strong opponent played was also too strong.

The 2009 BET Hip Hop Awards were receiving tremendous attention even after the broadcast.

And at the center of it were the H&R crew’s cypher and the veterans’ cypher, including Eminem.

-A battle between rookies and veterans.

-Are Asians and whites leading black music in 2009?

The future Sanghyun remembered was only half right.

Whenever the BET cypher is mentioned, Eminem, Black Thought, and Mos Def’s cyphers will be brought up. It was a legendary collaboration.

However, it wasn’t just Eminem’s cypher that reached legendary status.

There was one more cypher.

Needless to say, it was the H&R crew’s.

-FiveSix is crazy. No other words are needed. He’s crazy.

-I don’t watch the Grammys or the X Factor. I happened to watch BET yesterday and became a complete fan. I’m watching other performance videos now, and it’s really amazing.

-What’s so amazing?

-He’s clearly using the same mic on the same stage, but FiveSix’s rap sounds so clean, like it’s been filtered.

-It’s so good that there’s even a lip-syncing controversy.

-Listen to the Grammy MTB Remix live version. It’s a track where you can see FiveSix’s true worth. It went single platinum, I think?

-Why is everyone only talking about FiveSix’s rap? Kendrick’s rap was also amazing in yesterday’s cypher. After watching yesterday’s cypher, I’m convinced that FiveSix and Kendrick Lamar will be at the top of the hip hop scene for the next decade.

-Why are you leaving out J. Cole?

-Hadel Raines seems really amazing. He has an accurate eye for musicians. Anyone who’s listened to the mixtape knows that Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul are also no joke.

-Standard’s sound, who was the general producer of Touch The Sky, is also attractive.

-In the sense that he brought a big change to the hip hop scene, we can see FiveSix as Tupac, and in the sense that Kendrick is inheriting the legacy of the West Coast, can we see Standard as Dr. Dre?

-It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but if you look at it that way, H&R INC is the reincarnation of Death Row Records [a highly influential, but controversial, hip hop label from the 90s] that appeared in the late 2000s.

-So, is J. Cole Nate Dogg and Hadel Raines Suge Knight?

-J. Cole, Hadel Knights.

-Five Park.

-LOLOLOLOLOL this crazy bastard?

Following this trend, interest in H&R INC’s musicians also increased.

People said that H&R INC was the Death Row Records of the 90s and were convinced that it would soon become a super hip hop label surpassing Aftermath [founded by Dr. Dre] and Def Jam Records [one of the ‘big three’ record labels, along with Atlantic and Columbia Records].

And records supporting these claims began to appear one after another.

First, all three albums entered the top 15 of the album charts. As all three albums were considered to have good staying power, it was generally expected that all three albums could enter the top ten next week.

It was already a huge record for albums released by the same company to be in the top 15 at the same time.

But that wasn’t the end.

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* The Billboard 200

1. -FiveSix / + 1

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9. -Kendrick Lamar / + 4

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12. – J.Cole/ + 2

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Sanghyun’s album, three weeks after its release, finally reached number 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

“Wow… He really got number 1. He did it.”

“Yeah.”

Touch The Sky reached 5th place in its first week of release, 2nd place in the following week, and finally reached the top spot.

There were countless musicians who couldn’t get their names on Billboard even if they made music their whole lives, and even those who did often couldn’t get out of the lower ranks.

Number 1, which only the chosen ones could reach, was a spot that only the chosen among the chosen could reach.

It was a record set by Sanghyun.

Of course, Korea was in an uproar.

Sanghyun had been frequenting the front pages of newspapers like his own home since the X Factor, but the media’s reaction now was on a different level. Even the word “blockbuster” was insufficient to express the Korean media’s reaction.

So, to express how much interest and love Sanghyun was receiving in Korea, other indicators had to be brought in.

-Touch The Sky Sales in Korea: 281,028.

280,000 copies.

That was the number of sales that Touch The Sky recorded in Korea.

And this was, surprisingly, the highest album sales record in Korea in 2009.

Touch The Sky was an album made in English, and it hadn’t even been officially released in Korea yet.

But Korea wasn’t an IT powerhouse for nothing.

Sanghyun, 888 Crew fans, or some media outlets started teaching ‘How to buy Touch The Sky overseas’ in a way that would be immediately counted by Nielsen SoundScan [the official source of sales data for Billboard charts] (an organization that officially confirms Billboard’s sales figures).

So, at the point of filling 3 weeks after its release, Touch The Sky’s sales were heading towards double platinum (2 million copies).

Some media outlets were still saying that Sanghyun’s album sales records were inflated by the help of Asian people, including Koreans, and Asians in the United States, but now it had become an empty cry.

When I was called a monkey

Those who never gave me a banana

Now that I’m a monkey

They’re annoyed that I climb trees well

Sanghyun’s lyrics at the BET Hip Hop Awards, which pointed out the attitude of these media outlets, were too perfect.

Over the past 30 years, there has never been a controversy over Irish people buying albums by the Irish band U2.

There were no criticisms of the sales of British musicians such as the Beatles or Adele being helped by the British people.

-The strict standards set only for FiveSix. Isn’t this also the unconscious racism of the conservative media?

Rather, public opinion began to turn around.

All of this trend was created by Sanghyun’s music. It was because he proclaimed that the art he was doing was right.

Sanghyun was a musician with the ability to reach number 1 on Billboard, and Touch The Sky was an album worthy of reaching number 1 on Billboard.

Now, people’s interest has turned to the possibility of a long-term reign.

Since Eminem’s Relapse, released in June, topped the Billboard 200 for two consecutive weeks, the throne of the Billboard 200 had been replaced every week.

It meant that the number 1 spot changed every week.

From this point of view, it was predicted that Sanghyun’s album would surpass Pearl Jam’s Backspacer, which was number 1 last week, and rise to number 1.

‘How long will it last?’

Hadel Raines was expecting at least 2 weeks.

It was highly likely that he would maintain the number 1 spot for the next 2 weeks, and if that happened, Touch The Sky would hold the number 1 spot on the album chart for a total of 3 weeks.

If Sanghyun really held the number 1 spot on the Billboard 200 for 3 weeks, he would be the rapper who has recorded the longest time at number 1 on the album chart since 2000.

Sanghyun was setting such great records and was the center of attention, so Kendrick and J. Cole were getting less spotlight, but they were also amazing.

In particular, Kendrick was showing more and more momentum and raised his ranking by 4 steps, and J. Cole, who was considered the most commercial of the three albums, was also showing solid endurance.

Like this, the H&R crew’s musicians were sweeping the Billboard album charts.

And this trend was similar on the singles chart, the Hot 100.

However, if the album chart showed a high-altitude march, the singles chart was not high-altitude, but it was flying many planes [meaning they had multiple songs charting, but not necessarily at the very top].

J. Cole put a total of 4 songs in the top 50, Kendrick put 2 songs, and Sanghyun put 3 songs.

The highest ranking among them was J. Cole’s Work Out at 7th place, followed by Sanghyun’s I Swear at 9th place.

Airplay, which is played externally through radio, etc., was very important on the Billboard Hot 100, and airplay also included what club DJs played.

In fact, the influence of clubs was also great in the fact that hip hop songs were strong on the singles chart.

The Black Eyed Peas, who recorded number 1 for 12 weeks with ‘Boom Boom Pow’ and then continued to be number 1 for 14 weeks with ‘I Gotta Feeling’, showing the power of club tunes, were a representative example.

Therefore, Sanghyun’s songs, which were not played well in clubs, were at a disadvantage on the singles chart.

Nevertheless, the reason why he recorded a high ranking of 9th place was because he was played a lot on the radio.

The interesting thing is that the song by Sanghyun that was listed on the singles chart other than ‘I Swear’ and ‘Lonely Road Part 2’ was No Color.

No Color was still recording in the top 50, coming back up when it was about to fall, and reappearing even after disappearing.

As racial discrimination, which is rampant in American society but cannot be resolved, seemed to be a constant consumption from various races and classes.

‘What else does FiveSix want to achieve now? What kind of vision should I present?’

Hadel was deeply troubled as a manager who had to draw a blueprint for the musician, and also as a fan who was immersed in FiveSix’s music.

That’s how fast Sanghyun was running.

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