The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 49

< Verse 7. Eight, Eight, Eight >

Verse 7. Eight, Eight, Eight

“Hey, did you hear about that?”

“Heard it.”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“Fuck The Show Biz!”

Bae Sang-wook chuckled, hearing his crew members chattering during their break. ‘These rappers are so simple,’ he thought. Just until recently, they were calling him rude and whatnot.

“Has Show Biz Entertainment said anything?”

“I heard someone posted on the Show Biz website, demanding they release the recording. But they’re staying silent.”

“So, does that mean what that guy said is true?”

“No, putting that aside, his rapping is fucking amazing.”

“Sounds like foreign rap.”

“Yeah, it’s so natural. Something’s a bit… different.”

Bae Sang-wook agreed with his crew members, Woo Yeon-woo and Yeom Hyun-pil.

Lee Sang-hyun’s rap is natural. It doesn’t feel like he’s forcing it, but rather expressing what he wants to say through the form of rap.

After that, Yeon-woo and Hyun-pil continued to share their opinions on ‘Fuck The Show Biz’ for a long time.

“But I don’t understand what the last line means. ‘Succeeding you, father?’ What does that mean?”

“Huh? You don’t know that?”

Bae Sang-wook, who had been listening quietly, leaned in, curious about the part he had also been wondering about.

888, legitimately preparing to inherit the throne of Korean hip hop

If you want, I’ll even inherit the shitty noise marketing

“What are you doing, my son!”

Stabbing Show Biz in the back, Succeeding you, father.

“What is that? I was curious too.”

“Wow, that part is really chilling. You guys know Blizzard, right?”

“Who doesn’t know Blizzard?”

Blizzard is famous for creating backstories that rival great novels when making games.

They also use these backstories to build a story-driven mode called ‘Campaign’ into their games and create videos using CG [computer-generated imagery]. Anyone who has played StarCraft knows this.

There are many Blizzard story enthusiasts in the United States and Europe, and “Succeeding You, Father” from Warcraft 3 was one of the most famous lines.

When Prince Arthas stabs his father, King Terenas II, Terenas asks in a dying voice,

What are you doing, my son!

(What are you doing, my son!)

Then Arthas replies in a very calm voice.

Succeeding you, father.

(I am succeeding you, father.)

In other words, this lyric shows the will to inherit the noise marketing that Show Biz Entertainment started through a diss track, while also implying that they will kill Show Biz.

It also mocks Show Biz by attaching the image of ‘King of Noise Marketing’.

“So, they’re not denying that their diss track will become noise marketing?”

“Wouldn’t it be a more active expression than that? It’s saying they’ll kill Show Biz with their skills and inherit the benefits of noise marketing.”

“Wow… I want to see this guy perform on stage. He must have a lot of unreleased tracks.”

“Right? It’d be fun.”

“Right? But he’s in Gwangju, so it’ll be hard to see him, right?”

“It’d be faster for us to go to Gwangju for a performance. How long does it take to get to Gwangju? About ten hours?”

“You crazy bastard. It doesn’t even take five hours to get to Busan. Is this America?”

Bae Sang-wook burst out laughing as Woo Yeon-woo and Im Hyun-pil glanced at him, whispering to each other.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Huh? What?”

“You two planned this, didn’t you? You want to put 888 on the lineup?”

“No. Really, no. We decided that you have the sole authority to create the lineup.”

“Yeah, we said that regardless of the lineup. What are you planning?”

However, Woo Yeon-woo and Im Hyun-pil’s tone was stiff, as if they were reciting something they had memorized.

Bae Sang-wook, who had been laughing for a while, casually tossed out,

“I called them.”

“Huh?”

“I called them because I wanted to see them too.”

“Called who…? Really?!”

“Yeah. I talked to Lee Sang-hyun last night. The 888 crew will be on this lineup.”

“Wow! Awesome!”

“Is the whole crew coming?”

“How many crew members are there?”

“How much time did you give them?”

A storm of frantic questions poured out. That’s how big of an impact ‘Fuck The Show Biz’ had on the rappers. It’s ridiculous to make such an evaluation based on just one song, but it felt like they had heard a different level of rap.

“There are six crew members, and I decided to give them a thirty-minute performance time.”

“Thirty minutes?”

“There are a lot of people. Instead, they said they wouldn’t take a fee.”

Originally, Bae Sang-wook was going to scout Lee Sang-hyun alone and have him play three songs for about 10 minutes.

However, when he talked to him, he said that it would be difficult to perform unless the entire 888 crew came. Because of this, they looked for various compromises and ended up excluding the fee.

“Still, thirty minutes is too long… This month’s performance is the first of the Hommie performances. If thirty minutes fails, it will have a big negative impact on next month’s performance.”

“Sang-hyun said this. He said that the 888 crew members are as talented as he is, so please trust his team. He said he felt so sorry for getting all the spotlight alone.”

“That rascal, that’s admirable. I’m looking forward to the 888 crew.”

“Oh, and there was something he wanted me to tell you guys.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“It’s not 888, it’s the 888 crew.”

“It’s all the same. Anyway, we have to work hard so we don’t get outdone by high schoolers. We’re the host team.”

“That’s right. Aren’t the others coming today?”

“Myung-jin and Yu-hwa said they’re coming in the evening.”

“Bae Sang-wook! You’ve rested enough, haven’t you? You lazy bastard! Let’s run again.”

“You guys were the ones resting.”

Bae Sang-wook grumbled and got up from his seat, and soon, the Hongdae practice room of Stars Records began to fill with the dull sound of beats.

***

Sang-hyun was realizing the saying ‘a blessing in disguise’ more than anyone else these days. Originally, he had been in business for over 10 years and didn’t believe in the saying ‘a blessing in disguise’.

Originally, business is bad if it’s bad. And to turn bad into good, you have to build it up again from the beginning.

But it was different now. Now he belonged to the music scene, not the business world.

They could change a lot with just ‘Fuck The Show Biz’.

Of course, there are still people who curse at them.

About half of the band players who criticized 888 turned to 888’s side, and about 30% forgot about the controversy and became indifferent, saying, ‘Whatever.’ And the remaining 20% still curse at 888.

There are people who are fighting hard with them online, and they are hip-hop players.

Of course, Show Biz Entertainment failed to post the recording, which became circumstantial evidence supporting the contents of ‘Fuck The Show Biz’.

Blood is thicker than water, so most hip-hop players supported 888. No, they showed a reaction beyond support.

Sang-hyun’s analysis and lyrics of Fuck The Show Biz were posted on the HipHopLE bulletin board. Among them, the passage that captivated listeners the most was Succeeding You, father.

It was also compared to Simon Dominic’s ‘In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen’. There were also quite a few articles comparing the two rappers who had emerged as super rookies.

In addition, the 888 crew, with Sang-hyun as the center, represents Gwangju in the Honam region, and Illest Konfusion (IK), with Simon Dominic as the center, represents Busan in the Gyeongnam region. Perhaps because there was a provocative code called regionalism, they were often mentioned together.

‘I dare to be compared to Illest Konfusion.’

He felt awkward. Illest Konfusion was remembered as a great team in Sang-hyun’s memory.

Illest Konfusion, or brothers in confusion.

IK for short.

Illest Konfusion was a hip-hop crew created by Simon Dominic.

It started with a crew called ‘Black Area’ that Simon formed in middle school in 1998. At first, they used the name IK Finestrouble, but in 2005, when Mr. Jinx joined, the name was changed to Illest Konfusion.

A team that drew a line in Korean hip hop based on various rap styles and unique members.

Simon Dominic, E-Sens, Beenzino, Beatbox DG, J-Tong, Swings, Vida Loca, DJ Freekie, DJ Pumpkin, etc.

A crew that included people who could not be left out when talking about Korean hip hop from the mid-2000s.

Therefore, when the fact that it was disbanded around 2013 was announced, many hip-hop fans were sincerely disappointed.

Of course, in 2005, it was a team that was building a career like the 888 crew, but Sang-hyun felt grateful because he remembered their results.

There were more good things.

First of all, it was reported in the Internet news on portal sites. Of course, it didn’t attract attention from the public, but the unique name ‘888 Crew’ became known in the music industry.

This was even more so because a famous band called Under Kid and a famous magazine called Show Business were intertwined.

“888 Crew? I think I’ve heard that name somewhere?”

This was the reaction that the 888 crew would receive if they performed for the public.

Sang-hyun knew better than anyone how helpful this awareness was. This is because there is nothing like ‘branding’ to increase the public’s purchasing power.

The second was the performance invitation.

Currently, the number of plays for Fuck The Show Biz is close to 200,000. As of 2005, the number of people who consume hip hop in Korea is estimated to be a maximum of 15,000 to 20,000.

Media Amp’s widget counts the number of plays by click count, not IP statistics, so duplicate plays are also included in the count.

Nevertheless, the high number of plays of 200,000 means that Fuck The Show Biz was enjoyed by people outside of hip hop.

Of course, most of them were band players and their fans who cursed at the 888 crew, but it’s still an attractive figure. Because of this, several event organizers were seeing the 888 crew as ‘a team that is worth inviting’.

Sang-hyun received about 10 invitations and accepted 2 of them. One is the Chungjang Festival, the largest festival in Gwangju in October. And the other is an underground hip-hop performance at Club Hommie at the end of August.

To add one more thing, Sang-hyun will participate in the Jeonju World Wide Indie Music Festival.

“So, you’re performing in Seoul at the end of this month? In Hongdae?”

“It’s Sinchon.”

“Sinchon or Hongdae! Oh, Billboard isn’t far away.”

Everyone laughed at Park In-hyuk’s excitement.

The entire 888 crew, who had gathered together for the first time in a long time, were sitting around in Sang-hyun’s house, talking. Sang-mi was lying on the bed in the studio, reading a comic book.

“The performance time is thirty minutes. It’s a huge pull.”

“How many songs can you do in thirty minutes? If you fill it with three-minute songs, is it ten songs?”

Sang-hyun and Jun-hyung, who had performance experience, shook their heads. When I actually performed, the song was important, but the ment [MC talk] to induce the atmosphere was important.

Also, people need a break.

“We’re going to do six songs.”

“You’re only doing that?”

“Instead, more than three people will participate in every song. So, if you calculate it roughly, you can say that each person does three songs.”

“Aren’t you going to do Fuck The Show Biz? In a way, we got the opportunity because of that song.”

Sang-hyun smiled slyly at Ha-yeon’s question.

“I’m not going to do it. But I’m going to do it.”

“Is that a word? Is it makgeolli [Korean rice wine]?”

“We have thirty minutes, and we have to use those thirty minutes efficiently. But what if people want to hear Fuck The Show Biz…? That’s unavoidable.”

Park In-hyuk clapped his knees at Sang-hyun’s words.

“Oh, you sly bastard! So you’re saying you’re going to do it as an encore song?”

“If there is an encore request.”

It has no choice but to come out. Because it’s the most talked about song in the current scene.

Jun-hyung chuckled as Sang-hyun smiled slyly.

< Verse 7. Eight, Eight, Eight > End

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