The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 35

< Verse 4. Cross Over >

Show Business First Edition – July 2005

P83-99. Music Interview.

Korean Underground Musicians

= L&S Band X 888 Crew

Subtitle: Cross Over

Editor – Chief Editor Hwang Ju-cheol

I’m not sure how familiar Show Business readers are with the term ‘Cross Over.’ ‘Cross Over’ refers to music that combines two or more genres.

Cross Over, which emerged rapidly in the late 1960s and became established as a term in the mid-70s, originally described the phenomenon of ‘classical musicians singing or playing folk songs or pop music.’

The term ‘cross over’ appeared as some vocalists, such as tenor Jussi Björling and Richard Tucker, began to enjoy singing folk songs and pop in the 50s and 60s. Cross Over began to be seriously used as a music term meaning the intersection of different genres in the 80s.

(Omitted)

The reason this editor went down to Gwangju, where my in-laws live, during my vacation and saw this performance was purely because of the poster design of ‘L&S8.’

(Poster photo)

The poster, which ingeniously mixed the symbols of the two teams, band L&S and 888 Crew, immediately made me anticipate the Cross Over.

Moreover, a collaboration between a band and rap music!

(Omitted)

In front of the venue with the interesting name ‘Soft Straight Line,’ the ticketing staff greeted the editor with a bright smile. The sound coming from the stairs leading down to the venue already put me in a good mood. It promised to be an excellent performance.

***

The music stopped the moment Editor Hwang opened the door to the venue. Instead of the decent performance that I had anticipated as the opening song, I heard the murmuring of the audience.

‘Why are there so many people?’

Even if a band performs in Hongdae [a district in Seoul known for its indie music scene], it is difficult to fill 50 seats unless it is a famous band that occasionally appears on music programs. However, there were over 100 people standing packed in this venue.

As far as he knew, the Gwangju indie scene was the smallest among the metropolitan cities, but this team had such a large audience. Could this team be the most popular in the Gwangju area? It was surprising.

-Click. Click.

Editor Hwang instinctively took pictures of the bewildered audience with the stage in the frame. Then, he asked a man leaning against the entrance, who seemed to be in a good mood for some reason.

“Excuse me, what’s going on? It seems like the song stopped.”

“Ah, I think the bass isn’t working. Tsk tsk, they should have checked it thoroughly during rehearsal……”

It sounded like the bass was working when I came down the stairs, but suddenly there seemed to be a problem.

‘What is this? A band without a bass.’

Editor Hwang clicked his tongue.

“Is that person the bassist of L&S?”

“Yes.”

“Then what is 888? How do you read it? Eight eight eight? Three eight?”

The man who answered Editor Hwang’s question chuckled. The man seemed to be in a good mood, but his tone was rude.

“They’re just high school kids pretending to do music.”

“High school students? The poster said it was a hip-hop team, are they dancers?”

“No. They’re kids who make music with some lame rap.”

‘Did this guy fail the L&S or 888 audition? Why is he so bitter?’

Editor Hwang thanked him roughly and walked away. He didn’t want to talk to him much.

There are guys like that. In Korea, where it is already difficult to make music, they make it even harder with their twisted views.

The guitarist and vocalist were approaching the bassist and saying things, but there was no distortion [a modification of the original sound], probably due to a connection problem.

The audience’s patience was wearing thin.

The murmurs that had started here and there soon grew into chatter, and soon it resembled a marketplace.

It was then.

The vocalist and bassist, who looked very embarrassed, and a pretty keyboardist girl went off the stage, and two men came up on stage.

‘They look like students?’

They were not adults, but looked like high school students.

‘Ah, are those friends the ones who rap under that strange name 888?’

Editor Hwang was a little disappointed.

It’s not that he disregards the hip-hop genre, but Korean hip-hop still has a long way to go.

In his opinion, Korean hip-hop is currently more than 20 years behind the United States, the home of hip-hop.

Of course, there are high-quality raps such as Garion’s first album and Epik High’s second album, but his negative view of the overall average of the Korean hip-hop scene remained unchanged.

The poor Korean hip-hop scene.

Gwangju, where musical infrastructure is extremely lacking.

To make matters worse, high school students.

It was a combination that didn’t arouse much interest.

Regardless of Editor Hwang’s disappointment, the performance resumed. A brief introduction to the song by the performers followed.

‘Move? That’s a strange song title.’

Soon, dry drums and acoustic guitar signaled the start of the performance. The djembe [a West African drum] followed.

Two percussions and one string.

A calm humming piercing through them.

“Oh……!”

Editor Hwang nodded his head, impressed by the unexpected sound.

The djembe player, who appeared to be a high school student, used only very basic playing skills, as if he didn’t have much experience, but his sense of rhythm was excellent.

The drummer tried to make a dry sound while minimizing his power as much as possible. A lonely feeling.

‘It would be interesting if the song continued with humming.’

As if to break Editor Hwang’s thoughts, Junhyung’s rap suddenly began.

***

Lee Kyung-min of Golden Finger didn’t like L&S from the beginning.

He criticized L&S at drinking parties for pretending to be nice, having poor vocals, and having music at the level of the 80s. But the biggest reason was because he hated Yongjun, the bassist of L&S, who played the bass much better than himself.

After that, his relationship with Lee Sang-hyun was completely broken, starting with helping Lee Sang-hyun’s performance at Sejong Instrument Store.

Band L&S8 Crew

Therefore, when he saw the ridiculous phrase on the performance poster at Sejong Instrument Store, he thought that the pathetic guys had gathered together. A cross over between a band and hip-hop? Who do they think they are, Linkin Park?

“Hey, are you going to that performance?”

“Uh…… I’m thinking of going.”

“Why?”

“No, I’m just going to go and laugh at how bad they are.”

He got angry when the drummer of the same team said he wanted to see the performance, but he just let it go. ‘Will there be even 10 people anyway?’

The majority of bands in Gwangju had fewer than 30 audience members even when holding free performances. Even if you exclude acquaintances, the pure audience is usually around 15 people.

The guys who set a ridiculous admission fee of 1888 won were stupid.

‘Moron bastards.’

However, after a few days, Lee Kyung-min had no choice but to frown when he heard that most of the musicians around him were going to L&S’s performance.

He didn’t know, but L&S had built up a good image due to the consideration and kind personalities of its members.

Also, it seemed that many musicians were interested in the fact that the ‘rapper’ from Sejong Instrument Store, who had been rumored quite a bit, had formed a team.

Finally, the performance concept of a band and hip-hop cross over pulled the trigger.

‘You pathetic bastards. Poor bastards with no money!’

In the end, Lee Kyung-min decided to go to the venue to see L&S and the rapping idiots’ failed performance with his own eyes. He thought of it as giving alms to the poor bastards.

However, when he actually went to the venue, he felt even worse.

There were a lot of people.

Too many people!

At least a hundred people.

Lee Kyung-min had never seen such a performance in Gwangju.

However, he soon examined the audience composition and sneered.

There were quite a few audience members who appeared to be middle or high school students.

‘They must have mobilized their friends and juniors for their first performance, those bastards who don’t even know they’re embarrassed.’

L&S’s leader made a pretentious comment that he was surprised that so many people had come, and soon the performance began.

However, after a while, the performance was stopped.

Because the bass sound could not be heard.

Lee Kyung-min, who was in a good mood due to the unexpected accident, even gave kind answers to a stranger who was asking him questions, which was unlike him.

“What? Is the performance canceled?”

“I don’t know. Can’t they turn on the air conditioner any stronger?”

“Ugh, it’s hot.”

When the short patience of the audience ended and the venue became noisy, Lee Sang-hyun, who had no manners, and a guy he had never seen before came up on stage.

“Djembe on the drums? And an acoustic guitar on top of that?”

When Lee Kyung-min snorted and sneered, the surrounding audience looked at him.

And the performance began.

***

< Verse 4. Cross Over > End

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