The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 303

< Verse 47. On & On >

***

“Seoul City! WASSUP!”

Jay Cole’s shout reverberated through the concert hall.

Jay Cole surveyed the audience of approximately 30,000 people gathered before the stage.

Despite the chilly weather, everyone was drenched in sweat. Excitement shone in the eyes of the audience members who were gazing at him with flushed faces.

In the midst of that energy, Jay Cole, having finished his first song, spoke.

“I’m not sure how well you guys understand the language I use. But thanks to FiveSix, I believe Koreans are quite fluent in English, though.”

“Are you talking about me now?”

-Kyaaaaaa!

-It’s Lee Sanghyun!

-Lee Sanghyun!

At that moment, Sanghyun suddenly appeared, interrupting Jay Cole’s words.

The audience erupted in screams at the sight of Sanghyun emerging from the back of the stage.

The opening performances by famous Korean singers were over, and it was time for the ‘Golden New Era Tour’ to fully begin.

Sanghyun approached Jay Cole and placed his hand on his shoulder.

Then, he said in Korean.

“You’re too big.”

The audience burst into laughter at Sanghyun’s words.

Sanghyun wasn’t short, but when he put his hand on Jay Cole’s shoulder, who was over 190cm [approximately 6’3″] tall, he was in an awkward position.

“You probably understand well enough, but you don’t need to listen to English at a concert you came to enjoy, right? From now on, I’ll be this friend’s simultaneous interpreter.”

Sanghyun turned to Jay Cole.

“Hey, Cole. Say what you have to say.”

At Sanghyun’s prompting, Jay Cole spoke as if he had been waiting for the opportunity.

Jay Cole expressed his surprise at having fans in Korea, so far from the United States, and his gratitude for the enthusiastic response to his first performance.

Sanghyun listened and translated his words into Korean simultaneously.

“I am, a fool. When I was young, I fell from a persimmon tree and became a fool. I respect Lee Sanghyun.”

The audience roared with laughter once again at Sanghyun’s words. And that laughter quickly transformed into cheers.

“What? Why are you laughing?”

“It’s a sign of welcome. In Korea, we laugh when we’re happy to see someone.”

Jay Cole knew that Sanghyun was joking from the mischievous expression on his face as he shrugged.

But regardless, the atmosphere was heating up.

And if you weren’t excited in this kind of atmosphere, you weren’t a musician.

“Fuck it! Let’s go.”

At Jay Cole’s shout, the beat dropped, and Standard’s scratching, who was managing the concert’s sound from the DJ booth, began.

Sanghyun shouted in Korean in between.

“This song hasn’t been officially released, and there’s no music video, but I think you all know it. Everyone! Say!”

-Do it! Do it! Do it! For my People!

-Do it! Do it! Do it! For my People!

The audience began to sing along to ‘Do it’, a duet song by Sanghyun and Jay Cole.

As Sanghyun mentioned, this song wasn’t officially released. However, it had become incredibly popular after an unofficial version was uploaded to their YouTube channel.

So much so that about half of the comments requested an official release.

Amidst the wave of the sing-along, Jay Cole’s first verse began.

***

-The return of the Rap Star!

-Golden New Era Tour! A feast full of things to savor at the rumored feast!

-How did Lee Sanghyun go from an underground rapper in Korea to a rap superstar who dominates the world?

The Seoul performance of the Golden New Era Tour, held at the Jamsil Indoor Gymnasium, was a resounding success.

The Korean public truly understood why H&R INC is the hottest hip-hop label in the United States.

They grasped why they were taking the world by storm.

Kendrick’s almost supernatural rap skills left people speechless, and Jay Cole delivered the most perfect sound the hip-hop genre could offer.

The Black Hippy members effectively conveyed the rawness of hip-hop to the Korean public, who were largely unfamiliar with gangster culture.

But blood is thicker than water.

The person who excited the Korean public the most was, of course, FiveSix, Sanghyun.

The fans of 888 Crew were thrilled to see Sanghyun after 5 years.

The youthful appearance from Hip Hop the Vibe was gone. 25-year-old Lee Sanghyun was now a confident man and a star.

He shone the brightest even among the global rap stars.

In response, underground hip-hop enthusiasts who had liked Sanghyun since Fuck Tha ShowBiz were excitedly telling everyone about ‘Underground FiveSix’.

However, most of those stories were already well-known to the public.

Like the joke that Sanghyun would sell 1 million copies if he published an autobiography, the public was already familiar with Sanghyun’s history.

Critics generally agree that Korean popular music truly established itself in the mid-1970s.

If you include folk songs and ballads, it’s said to have a 100-year history, but if you limit it to commercial popular music in modern society, it’s considered to be about 40 years old.

And in this 40-year history, Lee Sanghyun was the most commercially successful singer.

Of course, if you ask who is the greatest singer in history, some might object to Lee Sanghyun. This is because there are those who laid the foundation for Korean popular music, from the “king of singers” Cho Yongpil to the late Kim Kwangseok.

However, there was no disagreement when it came to the title of commercial success.

Who else can sell ten million copies of a single album and reach number one on the world united chart?

And what’s amazing is that this commercial success wasn’t intentional.

Unlike the large Korean agencies that often create ‘music to make money’, he achieved success with 100% of the music he wanted to make.

Clearly, Sanghyun chose musicality over commerciality in The X Factor. That’s why he was eliminated.

Of course, L.A. Reid’s actions at Hadel’s request and Sony Music’s discomfort played a role, but Sanghyun’s pursuit of musicality remained unchanged.

So, a very small change occurred.

It wasn’t big.

The Korean popular music industry, which was already systematized, couldn’t be easily changed.

However, just as a stone creates ripples in a wide lake, Sanghyun’s success created ripples.

“Chief, isn’t he too bad looking?”

“Well… isn’t he too good?”

“Hey, is being good enough? You have to look good to be popular.”

“That’s not the case anymore. Look at Lee Sanghyun. Because he’s good, he earns as much money with one album as our company earns in about 10 years.”

“That friend is special. And isn’t Lee Sanghyun handsome?”

“Hey, honestly, there are tons of kids who are better looking than Lee Sanghyun. If you gather just our trainees, there would be four or five of them.”

“Well… that’s true.”

“Team Leader Kim. Let’s play in the big leagues too. Korean singers are popular overseas these days. If we’ve been around for 15 years, isn’t it time for our company to look overseas too?”

“So you’re going to pick him up?”

“Ah… but he’s too ugly. He said he would never get plastic surgery, right?”

“Yes. He says he will never do it.”

“Damn it, I don’t know. Let’s just go for it. Who knows? Maybe we’ll have a Billboard number one from our company too.”

It was a small ripple, but it was by no means small for those who got the opportunity thanks to the current.

And no one knew what kind of current these people would gather to create.

These waves were not only occurring in the popular music industry.

It was flowing much stronger in the hip-hop scene.

***

There was a PD [Production Director, or TV show director] who planned for after ruining in and despite everyone’s dissuasion.

It was PD Heo Taejin.

PD Heo Taejin thought that his life had changed thanks to . To be exact, it was because he cast 888 Crew in .

He hosted one more music entertainment show after ended.

And it was a great success.

Even in the flood of numerous music entertainment shows, PD Heo Taejin’s program always received good reviews and received great attention from the public.

This was because high-level casting was not difficult.

He easily cast musicians who did not appear on TV often, and underground musicians thought that PD Heo Taejin’s program could be appeared on without risk.

The reason was PD Heo Taejin’s filming philosophy of trying to show the musicians’ true selves without embellishment.

Everyone knew where PD Heo Taejin’s philosophy came from.

The program that PD Heo Taejin planned in 2012 was a hip-hop survival program called .

It was a program where rappers gathered to show and prove their worth.

And today was the day of the first preliminary round.

The eight judges were passing through the crowd of numerous amateur rappers.

The judges were listening to the amateur rappers’ raps and deciding whether or not they could advance to the next round.

And five of those eight rappers were familiar faces to those who had watched Hip Hop the Vibe 2.

Bae Sangwook and Woo Yeonwoo from Stars Records.

Park Inhyuk and Shin Junhyung from 888 Crew.

Dolphin, who is now a solo rapper.

They were the judges.

Even among them, the most outstanding presence was Park Inhyuk. This was because whenever Park Inhyuk approached, the participants greeted him with a ‘Keu’ sound [a respectful acknowledgement, like ‘yo’ or ‘sup’].

However, the rapper in the next turn was not.

He wasn’t saying a word.

Also, he was covering his head deeply with a hood, so the only visible parts of his body were his hands.

“Participant number 888. Keu, you have a very good number.”

“······.”

“Are you going to do it like that, all covered up?”

The hooded man didn’t answer and just nodded. If the hood hadn’t been slightly shaking, they wouldn’t have even known he was nodding.

“You’re so chic. Good. Let’s start.”

As soon as Park Inhyuk finished speaking, the hooded man’s rap began.

At the same time, Park Inhyuk began to make an ambiguous expression.

Even if they were to ignore the unpleasant sound coming from the excessive force in his voice, it was because he was performing a copy rap [performing someone else’s rap].

There was no rule that copy raps were not allowed, but according to the rules of Show & Prove, where you had to write your own lyrics to pass the round, copy raps could not be allowed no matter how well they were done.

‘His rap isn’t particularly good either. And the song choice is too obvious.’

The song the hooded man was singing was Reminiscence, where Sanghyun took the verse and he sang the chorus.

The song that held him back when he was struggling between music and the path of a lawyer.

Sanghyun’s grateful gift before leaving for the United States.

During that time, I spent diligently,

Even if it has nothing to do with money, it’s not bad

Me from two years ago, immature and learning about life

Was the same as now, rewinding those memories

Inhyuk nodded his head while listening to the hooded man’s rap. He was originally going to stop the rap, but strangely, the more he listened, the more he wanted to hear it.

Perhaps it was because he liked this song so much.

The repetition of writing and spitting lyrics

Satisfied with this, the process of continuing and developing again

My sensibility has changed since high school

But if there’s one thing that’s the same, it’s that the potential is still there

The man’s rap had a strange power.

He was putting a lot of force into his voice to create scratches, but what was clear was that he felt sincerity. Surprisingly deep and clear sincerity.

Inhyuk was now starting to worry.

He felt like he should disqualify him because it was a copy rap, but it was too charming. If he could just get rid of the excessive force in his voice, he could sincerely become a great rapper.

‘His voice is a bit similar to Sanghyun’s, too.’

Inhyuk was deeply contemplating with his head down, so he didn’t notice that the hooded man’s voice was gradually changing.

And by the time the man’s voice had completely changed, he was already too deeply immersed in the rap.

Chungjangro Sejong Instrument Store and Jeondae’s smooth straight line

L&S, 888 that’s the name of our family

A circle, the connection continues now

Even at this time, I pray that we all laugh together.

The moment the rap ended, Inhyuk came to his senses.

It was too quiet around him.

And the man’s voice was too familiar.

At that moment, the hooded man opened his mouth.

“It’s your turn, hyung [older brother or respected male figure]?”

Inhyuk, who had now completely realized, smiled and opened his mouth at the man’s question.

I remember this time even as time passes,

May we be forever in this song

I hope everything goes well – I hope everything goes well –

After putting down all the problems,

Let’s meet in a completely cool way

At that moment, the hood came down, and the face inside the hood was revealed.

-Wow!

-It’s Lee Sanghyun!

As Inhyuk expected, the man in the hood was Sanghyun.

“What are you doing? Weren’t you supposed to be in Busan for a performance?”

“The performance gap is long. I came up for a bit at PD Heo Taejin’s request. Ah, if this was our first meeting after returning to Korea, it would be truly touching, but life isn’t like a drama, is it? Right?”

“Keu, I would have cried then.”

At that time, Junhyung, who was judging other people in the distance, came over and said to Inhyuk.

“Hyung, disqualify him. Disqualify him.”

“Oh, right. What’s participant number 888’s rap name?”

“Hoodman.”

“Oh, Hoodman. Disqualified!”

“Ah, why!”

“You did a copy rap.”

“What are you talking about? This is my song.”

“It’s FiveSix’s song. It’s not Hoodman’s song.”

Inhyuk, Sanghyun, and Junhyung began to bicker.

Since he appeared in an event format at PD Heo Taejin’s request anyway, Sanghyun would not participate in the next round whether he passed or failed.

However, they were the type to always joke around if there was something to joke about.

And it wasn’t just Inhyuk and Junhyung who were here.

“Disqualify him.”

“Disqualify. Disqualify.”

Bae Gawa and Woo Yeonwoo, who arrived late, put their hands on Sanghyun and Inhyuk’s shoulders and said.
.
Sanghyun originally didn’t like Show Me the Money very much.

This was because he felt sorry that the heroes he liked were only showing distorted and sensational images through the television screen.

However, at some point, a climate was created where it was difficult to become a top rapper unless you were on Show Me the Money, so he thought that the rappers’ appearances were natural.

But now there is no Show Me the Money.

The Show Me the Money that was originally scheduled to start in 2012 disappeared, and PD Heo Taejin’s Show & Prove was taking its place.

And PD Heo Taejin said he wanted to discover real rappers. Just like he met 888 Crew.

‘Our influence will be a little bit there, right?’

Sanghyun hoped that the spirit of the underground would remain alive even as Korean hip-hop developed commercially.

Be the Underground.

Soon, an impromptu performance began at the audition site.

There were performances by 888 Crew, performances by Stars Records, and performances by Dolphin, who was still working as a rapper unlike the original history.

Sanghyun also saw performances by other judges he didn’t know well.

And the participants were more determined as they watched the stage presented by their heroes.

Because they definitely wanted to be like them.

Before leaving Korea, Sanghyun thought that 888 Crew and he had advanced the history of Korean hip-hop by three years or more.

But not anymore.

The history had completely changed.

Impulses gathered and gathered in a better direction.

***

< Verse 47. On & On > End

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