The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 300

< Verse 47. On & On >

Verse 47. On & On

Sanghyun left Korea in February 2007 and returned in January 2012.

Five years was by no means a short time.

Sangmi, who seemed so young, was already in her final year of university, and her older brothers, who were in their mid-20s, were now in their 30s.

Besides that, many things had changed.

Those who used to gather in cafes to discuss how to grow the 888 Crew were now the most famous rap stars in Korea.

Inhyuk, who had almost given up on music, no longer worried about his career path.

Nevertheless, something remained unchanged.

They were still within the same circle.

***

Sangmi headed to the studio in Pyeongchang-dong after a long time and called Junhyung.

“Oppa [an honorific term for older brother used by females], where are you?”

-I’m stuck on the road. The traffic is so bad that it will take about an hour?

“That’s why I told you to leave earlier. It’s already rush hour.”

-That’s the problem, I can’t control it. What time did Sanghyun say he would arrive?

“The news said he would arrive around six? He said he would come straight here, but there are reporters and fans all over the airport… I guess he’ll probably arrive around ten?”

Sangmi looked at her watch as she said that, and it was just past 5:30.

He said he would leave Tokyo around 3:10, so he was probably flying over the East Sea right now.

-Then we still have plenty of time.

“Yeah, so drive carefully and slowly.”

-The cars are crawling so much that it’s impossible to have an accident even if I wanted to.

“If I tell you to be careful, just be careful. Oh, and don’t forget to buy the cake when you come. Minji and Miju are coming with you, right?”

-Yeah. Picked them up a while ago. They’re all sleeping in the back seat now. It’s like I’m the only driver.

“If you’re not happy, come with Inhyuk oppa’s car.”

-Ugh, how come that hyung’s [another honorific term for older brother/male friend] driving hasn’t improved even after all these years? Inhyuk hyung’s driving skills are a blemish on the history of 888 Crew’s diligence.

“Well, he hasn’t been late for a performance since Club Homi. And the problem with Inhyuk oppa is that he wants to drive more than he can.”

-Minji noona [honorific term for older sister used by males] can’t stop him, no matter what she says.

Sangmi and Junhyung reminisced about the Club Homi performance after a long time and gleefully gossiped about Inhyuk.

As they were talking, Sangmi began to see the studio beyond the alley.

“I’m almost there. I’ll go ahead and start cleaning.”

-Do it together. Don’t do it first.

“I’ll tidy up a bit. Just hurry up… uh?”

-Why? What’s wrong?

“No, it’s like the tiger comes when you talk about him. That car parking over there looks like Inhyuk oppa’s car?”

-Really? What’s going on? He said he was leaving from the Gangnam studio, how did he get here so early?

“Maybe he left last night?”

Junhyung burst out laughing on the phone at Sangmi’s joke.

Then, a group of dark figures got out of the black sedan. It was hard to hear from a distance, but it sounded like they were swearing.

‘Looks like they’re swearing at Inhyuk oppa.’

Sangmi thought as she approached the men.

Sure enough, they were familiar faces.

888 Crew’s Woominho and Kim Hwan, L&S’s leader Bang Minsik, and another ‘familiar face’ came into Sangmi’s view.

Inhyuk seemed to be still in the car.

“Oppa!”

“Oh? Sangmi. You’re here early?”

“College students are always free during vacation.”

“Ah, it’s good to be a college student. I used to be a college student too.”

Inhyuk said as he got out of the car after finishing parking.

Bang Minsik clicked his tongue at his shameless appearance, completely unconcerned about the nagging he had been listening to.

“Park Inhyuk, this guy should have gone to a different department instead of law school.”

“Yes? Where to?”

“The driving department, you bastard.”

“Hyung [another honorific term for older brother/male friend], you’re almost seventy next year. I really didn’t want to say this, but please keep some dignity.”

“…Do you want to die?”

As always, they were noisy when they were together, and as always, Sangmi was the one who calmed them down.

“Stop playing around and let’s go inside and clean.”

“But Sangmi, do we have to clean up because Sanghyun is coming? He has a lot of money anyway, can’t he just stay at a hotel?”

“He might stay in a hotel during the tour, but after the tour, he needs a place to stay until he finds a house.”

“According to the newspaper, it seems like he could live in a hotel for about 10 years and still have interest left over?”

“…Oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“It would be good to clean up, just in case.”

Inhyuk, who had briefly argued back, said, ‘Yeah, just in case, that’s better than being a judge or prosecutor!’ at Sangmi’s cold gaze, and took the lead in pressing the door lock to the studio.

The joint studio of 888 Crew and the band L&S, which was located near Seolyul High School, was no longer used much.

To be exact, it was only used until the year Sangmi graduated and the year 888 Crew’s second full-length album was released.

From the next album onwards, they mainly used the newly established studio in Gangnam.

It was more convenient for various musical activities, and sound quality had become a basic requirement rather than a plus for them, who were now veterans.

In the past, when they were ambitious rookies and Korean hip-hop was still in its early stages, good sound quality was a plus.

From the fans’ perspective, bringing good raps was the top priority, and if those good raps had good sound quality, it was a bonus.

At that time, Korean hip-hop was in a growth phase, slowly emerging from the underground, so there were no clear standards and no average existed.

Therefore, if you listen to the official bootleg that properly made the name of 888 Crew known, there are quite a few disappointing aspects in terms of sound quality. Woominho spent several nights worrying and refining the sound, but at that time, he was more of a beginner.

However, at the time, most fans said, ‘The sound quality is a bit disappointing, but the rap is so good that you can ignore those parts.’ That’s why 888 Crew was able to gain explosive popularity.

But now it wasn’t.

Those who started before or around the same time as 888 Crew and were destined to fall behind had all fallen behind, and the remaining people had reached a position where they could proudly be called veterans.

Those who started making music after 888 Crew, usually called 888 Kids, struggled to catch up with the veterans.

That’s why 888 Crew also left the studio and hired professional studios and professional engineers.

They had built a proper ‘sound factory.’

And the factory manager of this 888 Sound Factory was someone Sanghyun knew very well.

It was Chae Daehan.

Chae Daehan was a person who went to New York with only a guitar to learn music and was not bound by conventions at all.

The reason why Chae Daehan belonged to Ohkyung Media was because of his mother, who was suffering from an illness that required enormous hospital bills. He was confident that he could earn enough money through music, but a fixed income was different.

However, about two years ago, Chae Daehan’s mother passed away.

And around that time, it was Chae Daehan and Ohkyung Media’s contract renewal season. There was no longer any need to be tied to Ohkyung Media.

At the time, Chae Daehan was the biggest player in the show business transfer market.

Singers and actors are ‘stocks’ that can go downhill at any time, but a proper hit-maker composer was like a ‘pension.’

And Chae Daehan was a composer of a lifetime pension, or even a lottery-level pension.

He had a bit of a bad personality, but if you could match his picky tastes, he would produce at least one hit song every quarter.

So, a huge number of entertainment companies came forward to catch Chae Daehan. Not only large agencies, but also small and medium-sized agencies who were prepared to tighten their belts sent love calls to Chae Daehan.

But that love call was unrequited.

Instead of responding to any love calls, Chae Daehan rather sent his own love call.

‘I’ll provide you with the sound you want, the beat you want, and all the recording you want, so will you work with me?’

‘Then what should we do for you, hyung?’

‘Set up a studio for me. In the location I want, with the equipment I want, and with the engineers I want to hire.’

‘Okay. Oh, but can we decide the name of the studio?’

‘Whatever. What are you going to name it?’

‘What else? 888 Sound Factory.’

‘Sanghyun and you guys are similar in that you’re both old-fashioned.’

888 Crew and Chae Daehan were talking about hundreds of millions of won without ever making a contract or legal talk.

The contract was only written belatedly, as if they had forgotten about it, after everything was finished.

This was exactly when Sanghyun’s first studio album was sweeping across the United States.

The influence of was definitely there in the fact that 888 Crew invested more than half of the money they had earned over the years to build the studio.

888 Crew members were incredibly surprised in two ways after listening to .

First of all, they knew that Sanghyun had gained musical enlightenment from The X Factor, but they were surprised that the enlightenment would be reflected in the album so quickly. And perfectly.

They had also grown and thought they had caught up with Sanghyun to some extent, but they felt a sense of challenge at Sanghyun’s back, who was running away again.

Their competition was always the 888 Crew in the mirror.

The second surprise was the quality of the sound.

’s previous album, , was an album that J. Cole and Sanghyun made themselves at Black Hippy’s studio. So there was nothing special in terms of sound.

Rather, it gave confidence to 888 Crew members.

Of course, Sanghyun’s producing was also top-notch, so MTB wasn’t a sonically lacking album. But it wasn’t a great album either.

‘Ah, the efforts we’ve made so far are working well in the United States.’

So 888 Crew members were able to gain this confidence.

However, , where the outstanding producer Standard was in charge of the big picture and H&R INC’s professional backup was involved, was a different level from MTB.

There was development in rap, but the sound was at an unbelievable level.

If rap had developed, the sound had evolved.

That’s why 888 Crew members created the 888 Sound Factory without saving any money.

They set up the best studio in Korea with Chae Daehan, an expert among experts.

At first, there was ridicule about ‘rap guys’ building the best studio in Korea, even though the status of hip-hop had increased.

Hip-hop was music focused on sampling, so it was evaluated as using a sledgehammer to catch a mouse.

But now, after two years, it was different.

‘Only singers who please Chae Daehan can use the 888 Sound Factory.’ Despite the extremely difficult condition, everyone was eager to outsource to 888 Crew’s studio.

It was now too familiar for super-sized singers from China and Taiwan to visit their studio to produce albums.

Even in Japan, which is evaluated to be several times more advanced than Korea in terms of sound, the name of 888 Sound Factory was high.

Chae Daehan, who had no use for money, used most of the money he earned to replace equipment, and when new equipment came out, he had to use it first, no matter how expensive it was.

-The most innovative and professional sound studio in Asia.

This was the modifier attached to 888 Sound Factory.

It wasn’t just Sanghyun who had grown like this. During the five years that Sanghyun was in the United States, 888 Crew had also grown every day.

And what is the result?

‘First of all, we have to clean this place that hasn’t been used for a long time.’

Inhyuk was sad that these amazing results would lead to cleaning.

As Inhyuk was about to enter the password on the door lock, he suddenly realized something strange. There were fingerprints on the door lock, which was covered in dust.

In fact, the studio in Pyeongchang-dong was located on the outskirts of the city near the beltway, so there were dangerous aspects after 888 Crew became famous.

Because there were few people around, fans with bad intentions could come too easily.

‘Did someone come and press it? But everyone knows we don’t use this place anymore?’

Inhyuk thought as he opened the door.

And he was able to find someone sleeping on the sofa in the first-floor living room.

“What? It’s not Sanghyun? Oh?! It is?”

“What… Oh?!”

“What’s wrong, oppa? Why are you here?”

Inhyuk, who was the first to discover Sanghyun, made a fuss, and those who thought he was playing another prank were also surprised.

Sangmi ran over belatedly.

“Umm.”

Then Sanghyun tossed and turned.

But he didn’t wake up.

“Oppa, oppa. Wake up.”

Sangmi woke him up once again when Sanghyun didn’t wake up.

Then Sanghyun, who had half-opened his eyes, mumbled.

“Shut the fuck up······.”

“······.”

“······.”

“…Did you just tell me to shut up?”

Inhyuk nodded at Sangmi’s question and said.

“Yeah. The first words of a blood relative I’ve met in 5 years are shut the fuck up.”

Sanghyun just thought that Kendrick or J. Cole were being noisy because the surroundings were noisy in his sleep. Like the past few years.

Sangmi was about to slap Sanghyun on the back to wake him up, but her anger melted away at the sight of her oppa’s face, whom she hadn’t seen in so long.

No, in fact, she wasn’t angry from the beginning.

She was just so happy…

“Get the fuck out of here······.”

“He’s telling us to get out of here?”

In the end, Sangmi slapped Sanghyun on the back.

Sanghyun, who had dreamed of a surprise appearance after deceiving the entry time to avoid the extreme reporters, had to greet the welcome faces he had seen in 5 years after being hit by Sangmi.

< Verse 47. On & On > End

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