The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 291

< Verse 45. On & On >

Verse 45. On & On

Returning home in glory.

Returning to one’s hometown in silk robes.

This was what Sanghyun was currently preparing for.

As soon as the Grammys were over, Sanghyun began preparing the ‘silk robes’ he would wear when he returned to Korea.

However, the way he proved his effort and passion wasn’t by wearing expensive clothes. Nor was it by driving expensive cars, of course.

Of course, Sanghyun had accumulated enough wealth to wear clothes made of diamonds, not just silk.

He was a superstar who earned enormous amounts of money from a single performance, a single advertisement, a single feature, and countless clothing companies were desperate to sponsor their brands to Sanghyun.

But those things didn’t mean much.

No matter how expensive the clothes, they couldn’t embellish the essence.

Because Sanghyun was a musician.

So his silk robes would not be material things, but music itself.

“Oh? What’s this? The timing is perfect?”

And, incidentally, to play some fun pranks.

Two months after the Grammy Awards, H&R INC officially announced to media outlets across the United States that they would be announcing two plans.

The announcement location was the recently opened New York branch of H&R INC.

“Good day, everyone. More of you came than I expected. Whitey, Nigga, Flip, Yellow Monkey… quite a diverse group.”

Hadel appeared at the press conference and joked.

It was because the song playing from the speakers at that moment was ‘Nigga, Yellow Monkey, Flip’ from MTB’s album.

Surprisingly, since Sanghyun consistently referred to himself as a Monkey in the album, the nuance of the word Monkey began to subtly change.

When I was teased as a monkey

The guys who never gave me a banana

Now that I’m a monkey

They’re annoyed that I climb trees well

It was still often used as a racial slur, but more often it was used to express a cool Asian person.

It hadn’t even been three years since Sanghyun released MTB and began his full-fledged activities in the United States.

So this was an indicator of how much influence he had as a star.

“Ah, that was a joke, so please don’t write articles saying I was being racist. Well, let’s get started.”

At Hadel’s gesture, the song was turned off.

Thus, H&R INC’s official announcement began.

“As I mentioned, there are two announcements. First, the Golden Nu-Era Tour.”

As the word ‘tour’ came up, a reporter raised his hand.

“If it’s a tour, are you talking about a national tour?”

“No. It’s a world tour.”

“If it’s a world tour, where…?”

“First, 10 countries have been confirmed. But there are still quite a few countries under discussion. If the conditions are right and there are people who love H&R INC’s musicians, we’ll go anywhere.”

“Then where are the confirmed countries? And how many shows will you be doing in the United States?”

“We plan to hold between 15 and 20 shows in 8 cities in the United States. It may seem small, but we’ve already had enough shows in the United States, so this tour will focus more on overseas. The countries that have been confirmed so far are Canada and…”

The Golden Nu-Era Tour was a massive tour that started in the United States, went through Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, and Australia, before entering Asia.

The Asian tour schedule only included Singapore, China, Japan, and Korea, but Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines were also under discussion.

Also, as mentioned earlier, there were many countries under discussion not only in Asia but also in North America and Europe.

One of the reporters who had been listening to Hadel’s explanation for a while said with an admiring expression.

“This is a world tour in the truest sense of the word, which I haven’t seen in a long time.”

“That’s right. It will be the largest rap tour since rap music became popular, and even if we don’t limit it to rap music, it will be a tour with meaningful records.”

Hadel’s confident affirmation was by no means a bluff. The Golden Nu-Era Tour was worth it.

Western culture and Eastern culture have many heterogeneous aspects.

Therefore, cultural arts that simultaneously satisfy the public in both cultures rarely appear.

The fact that American football, which Americans are enthusiastic about, is not very popular in Korea, and that baseball, a popular sport in Korea and the United States, is less popular than cricket in the United Kingdom, shows this.

And this gap applies to musicians as well. There are many world-famous singers, but there are not many singers who are truly ‘loved by the world’.

If I had to pick a few, it would be The Beatles or Michael Jackson.

In other words, there are not as many singers who have conducted a ‘world tour’ in the truest sense of the word as you might think.

Many musicians have held various tours under the name of world tour, but in reality, their tours are often ‘Western tours’. Japan, the second largest music industry in the world, is included in the tour list, which fills the name of the word ‘world’.

However, H&R INC’s Golden Nu-Era Tour, which is planned this time, was different.

It was a world tour in the truest sense of the word.

The countries included in the tour itself were more Western, but the ratio of Western and Eastern countries in terms of the number of performances was almost the same, and according to H&R INC’s business division’s own assessment, the profits would not be much different either.

In fact, until recently, rap was a culture that was treated as a minor genre in Eastern cultures.

In most Asian countries except Korea, Japan, and Singapore, even the underground where culture could bloom was not formed.

So the surprise that music industry officials felt at being able to hold a true world tour with rap music was enormous.

And at the center of it was FiveSix, who receives absolute support from the public in Asian countries.

World tour.

This was the silk robe that Sanghyun had brought out.

“Wait a minute, Hadel. I have a question after listening to you.”

“What’s the question?”

“Why isn’t there a return tour schedule?”

Most world tours start in the United States, go around the world, and then end with a performance in the United States again.

However, there was no United States at the end of the H&R INC tour that Hadel is announcing now.

“Thanks to the reporter, the topic transition went smoothly. As you said, there is no return tour schedule. The last country on the tour is Korea.”

“FiveSix’s home country. Are you planning to take time to recharge in your home country?”

“If that was all, I wouldn’t have used the word topic transition. I will make the second announcement. H&R INC’s second announcement is that FiveSix will be temporarily suspending his activities in the United States after this schedule.”

“What?”

“Suspension?”

The reporters were surprised by Hadel’s sudden words.

“If it’s temporary, does that mean there’s no promise?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Why?”

“Well… actually, this was a part that FiveSix didn’t want to announce. But I want to talk about it.”

As Hadel made a heavy expression and hesitated, the reporters focused.

An indefinite suspension of activities was equivalent to ‘virtual retirement’.

What could make a singer who has received diamond certification suspend his activities in the United States?

Could he be sick?

The reporters’ faces were full of curiosity.

However, Hadel did not clearly answer their questions.

Instead, he continued to frown as if he was choosing his words.

However, Hadel’s true feelings were completely different from his expression.

He was secretly enjoying it.

‘Sanghyun. The company is thinking of pushing for the Grammy Awards, what do you think?’

‘Are you going to raise objections to the fairness of the judging?’

‘That’s right. The public is all on your side.’

‘Has the judging ever been overturned?’

‘No. Ah, Milli Vanilli, who committed a fraud as a ghost singer, had their award canceled [Milli Vanilli was a pop duo whose Grammy Award was revoked after it was revealed they didn’t sing on their recordings]. In fact, we don’t think the judging will be overturned with our current action. However, we are laying the groundwork for an advantage at the next Grammys.’

Hadel thought that Sanghyun had already understood his intentions while he was speaking. Sanghyun’s insight sometimes surprised even himself.

So Hadel thought Sanghyun would agree with his opinion.

However, Sanghyun shook his head.

‘It’s okay.’

‘It’s okay?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why? You wanted to receive the Grammy Awards so much.’

‘Well… should I say I don’t care anymore? The Grammy Awards old men have no place in the third act of my life.’

Sanghyun, who said that, hummed the sentence I Don’t Give a Fuck and said.

‘Oh, this feels good. I should use it as a chorus later.’

Hadel looked at Sanghyun’s expression as he took out his smartphone and recorded the line he had just come up with, and realized that he really didn’t care at all.

Sanghyun is usually a rational and intellectual person, but at times like this, he was no different from the eccentric musicians he had met.

Seeing him turn the value of something he had desperately wanted for two years into 0 in an instant.

‘Then what if the Grammys give you an award next year?’

‘The Grammys are no longer valuable to me.’

In the end, he meant he wouldn’t accept it.

‘Hmm, good. But let’s take one action.’

‘What action?’

‘Do you know what the most annoying indifference is from the perspective of the person being attacked?’

‘What is it?’

‘Hit them once and then ignore them.’

‘……What is that childish conclusion?’

Hadel recalled his work with Sanghyun and realized that he was about to smile without realizing it, and quickly controlled his expression.

Then he slowly opened his mouth.

“FiveSix is entering a temporary suspension of activities because he is disappointed.”

“Disappointed?”

“The Grammy Awards are the most prestigious awards ceremony in the United States, or perhaps in the world. When FiveSix abandoned all his wealth and fame in Korea and came to the LA underground, what he thought about every night before going to bed was winning a Grammy.”

All the reporters realized what Hadel was saying.

“And as you know, FiveSix wanted to overcome the framework of racism with music. Like the great Michael Jackson or Eminem, who is becoming a legend.”

“Are you saying you were disappointed with the Grammy Awards’ racist attitude?”

“To be exact, it would be more accurate to say that he felt a wall. He had been running non-stop for one goal, but he realized that the goal could not be reached with any effort.”

“But isn’t it not confirmed that it can’t be reached? Maybe next year…”

Hadel raised his voice without listening to the reporter’s question until the end.

“Billboard album chart 1st place for 5 consecutive weeks. Three number one singles and two top 10 singles. Radio airplay score number one. Diamond disc certification… Do I need to say more?”

“……”

“Is the music lacking? What is musicality? In the end, the musicality of popular music must be evaluated by the public’s choice. A critic can better understand the value of an album than a thousand members of the public. But a critic who overturns the choice of ten million members of the public is more of a fraud or a deaf person than a critic.”

A black reporter who had been listening quietly to Hadel’s uninhibited remarks raised his hand and asked.

“Hadel. I’m asking this as a fan of H&R INC, not as a reporter. If this article is published, there may be retaliatory voting by NARAS members [National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences] at next year’s Grammys. In other words, it may be disadvantageous to J. Cole or Kendrick, or even Black Hippy members who are raising their stock price.”

“It’s okay. How can I take back what I’ve already said? I have no choice but to change my actions according to what I’ve said.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means that H&R INC’s musicians will not attend the Grammy Awards in the future and will refuse not only awards but also nominations.”

The reporters buzzed at Hadel’s last bombshell declaration.

In the end, Hadel’s words can be summarized as ‘We’re angry, so we’re not playing with you anymore.’ And the reporters knew this well.

But ‘we’ was H&R INC, and ‘we’re not playing with you anymore’ was a super strong move to refuse the Grammy Awards.

No singer has ever refused the Grammy Awards.

The only record was when female resistance rocker Sinead O’Connor refused to accept the award when the Grammy elders showed a nuance of supporting the Gulf War.

However, the weight of Sinead O’Connor and H&R INC was completely different.

What if FiveSix refuses all Grammy Awards after achieving the same results as FiveSix? What if Kendrick or J. Cole achieve similar results at the same time? And what if that happens for several years?

The authority of the Grammys, which was like an iron wall, could be damaged.

Thus, the two announcements that Hadel made spread like wildfire throughout the United States.

The news of the Golden Nu-Era Tour made fans around the world who wanted to see H&R INC open their wallets, and Koreans felt a strange sense of pride that the last city of the tour was Seoul.

And the news of Sanghyun’s temporary suspension of activities in the United States became a hot potato for numerous critics, commentators, columnists, and media outlets.

And in the meantime, the tour preparations for the H&R INC crew were proceeding smoothly.

< Verse 45. On & On > End

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