The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 78

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HiphopLE – Magazine – Interview

Interviewer: Lance D

Interviewee: 888 Crew (Shin Junhyung, Lee Sanghyun, Lee Sangmi, Kim Hwan, Park Inhyuk, Woo Minho, Shin Hayeon, Oh Minji)

September 25

[Interview] 888 Crew

It is often said that the first Korean rap was ‘Kim Satgat,’ released by Hong Seo-beom in 1989. However, Hong Seo-beom’s Kim Satgat is lacking because the use of rhyme, an essential element of rap, is almost non-existent.

In the 90s, popular singers Hyun Jin-young, Deux, and Seo Taiji and Boys heralded the beginning of Korean hip hop with a genre called rap dance. Around the same time, 015B, Shin Hae-cheol, and others attempted to incorporate rap into their songs.

After that, from the mid to late 90s to the early 2000s, ‘Overground Hip Hop’ acts such as Uptown, Jinusean, and DJ DOC emerged. Simultaneously, Korean ‘Underground Hip Hop’ began, centered on online communities like Hitel (BLEX) and Nownuri (S&P), as well as clubs at various universities (Master Plan).

The Korean hip hop scene achieved significant growth after 1999. Of course, it was still largely confined to its own dedicated circles, but crews and labels were created, listeners appeared, and the foundation of the scene was being laid until 2005.

Many things are needed for a genre to break into the mainstream. The timing must be right, and it must resonate with social changes. But more than anything, it needs a ‘superstar.’

There may be various reasons why the *ssireum* [Korean wrestling] scene, which once captivated audiences of all ages, declined, but a key reason is the absence of an outstanding superstar since Lee Man-ki.

That’s why Korean hip hop fans have always been waiting for a rap star, like Run-DMC, N.W.A, and Wu-Tang Clan, who ushered in the golden era of hip hop.

And perhaps we may soon be welcoming a rap star, and not as an individual, but as a team.

This ‘Musician of September’ is, as everyone expected, the 888 Crew. The writer believes that what Showbiz Company did was not an interview but a PR stunt, so this is the first real interview of the 888 Crew.

I met eight members of the 888 Crew at a cafe in Mapo-gu.

(For reference, LE delivered the recording file and the original interview transcript to the 888 Crew!)

*

LE: The 888 Crew has become a huge topic among Korean hip hop fans since the ‘Showbiz Incident’ and the ‘Club Homie’ performance. Could you give a brief introduction to hip hop fans who don’t know the 888 Crew yet?

Shin Junhyung: Hello. I’m Shin Junhyung, the Hollywood-style leader of the 888 Crew. The 888 Crew consists of eight members, and as you know, our main stomping ground is Gwangju.

LE: That’s an interesting introduction. Do you know how many views Lee Sangmi’s ‘The Reality of the 888 Crew’ got? I enjoyed watching it too. But what exactly is a Hollywood-style leader?

Park Inhyuk: I gave him that nickname, so I’ll explain it. If you watch Hollywood hero movies, there are a lot of formulaic and predictable scenes, right? Scenes that induce cringe-worthy emotions… Junhyung is exactly like that.

After the Showbiz interview came out, he suddenly gathered the crew members and said, ‘Guys, you don’t need to start your careers with the 888 Crew. I won’t resent you even if you leave the crew.’

So I said one thing: Cringe, Hollywood.

(Edited out in print, but Park Inhyuk used the exclamation ‘Cringe’ about six times. Truly a Cringe authority)

LE: I don’t know if this is the right expression, but the 888 Crew really appeared out of nowhere in the scene. There are no established artists mentoring you. So you’re aware that there’s a lack of information about you, right?

All: Yes (laughs)

Lee Sanghyun: To add a little, musically, the band L&S guided us. Without L&S, there would have been no Soft Line performance, no trouble with Showbiz, and no participation in the Jeonju World DJ Festival.

As for rappers, Bae-ga *hyung* [older brother/mentor] of Stars Records is the senior musician who guided us. Giving a new team 30 minutes at the Homie performance was also a great favor.

Oh, and we can’t leave out Hong, the president of Sejong Musical Instrument Store, the godfather of Gwangju underground musicians.

LE: Ah, come to think of it, there’s a lot of speculation among netizens about the relationship between L&S and the 888 Crew. Let’s talk about that later, and ask about the 888 Crew first. First of all, what does the crew name 888 mean?

Shin Junhyung: It has several meanings. First of all, the shape of 8 symbolizes ∞ (Infinity) on its side. Another is the simple idea that the music is energetic.

Park Inhyuk: What? There was such a cheesy meaning too?

Lee Sanghyun: In addition, when we created the crew, there were only Junhyung and me, and we were both born in ’88. If you combine the two, it becomes 8888, but we named it 888 in the sense that the crew members combine to form a single ‘fate’.

Park Inhyuk: What? There was such a cool meaning too?

(Park Inhyuk’s words were all ignored)

LE: This question wasn’t originally planned, but I want to ask it because I heard the story of combining fates. It’s about the lyrics. First of all, does the 888 Crew know that they are different from the rappers in the current Korean hip hop scene?

Lee Sanghyun: Our members spend a lot of time together, so our music styles tend to resemble each other. And we also know that the musical direction we’ve come to pursue while resembling each other is different from current Korean hip hop.

LE: Specifically, how do you think it’s different?

Lee Sanghyun: As you hinted, it’s probably very different in terms of lyrics. Rap skills tend to follow the form of the lyrics.

LE: Listeners often say that the lyrics of the 888 Crew are deeply immersive. There are opinions such as ‘raw, fun, and easy to accept.’ What do you think?

Lee Sanghyun: I think they’re all connected. When we write lyrics, we think of it as saying what we want to say rather than just writing lyrics.

The most important thing in speech is to convey the message well, and in order to convey it well, it shouldn’t be nonsensical. If you’re telling a friend about school, it would be strange to say, ‘I was called to the faculty room yesterday, so I watched TV?’

Also, I think fun is important. There’s a guidance counselor teacher at our school called Heiachi, and if I rhyme and say ‘Heiachi I see every morning’ to my friend, they’ll find it funny.

Our way of writing lyrics is the same as speaking.

First, we clearly think about what we want to say. Then, we develop the story without breaking the flow of the lyrics. If there’s a word that really needs to be written but doesn’t rhyme, we sometimes give up the rhyme.

Finally, we think about witty rhymes, ‘everyday words’ that are not often used in hip hop, and ‘punchlines’ to make the listeners laugh.

LE: So you see speech and lyrics as the same thing?

Lee Sanghyun: If you can bring out the flow, rhyme, and groove, I don’t think there’s any reason to distinguish between speech and lyrics. In fact, there’s also a humor video series that puts a beat on black people’s interviews and comments, ‘If you play a beat when a black person speaks, it becomes rap.’

LE: I see. But didn’t you just use the term punchline? As far as I know, isn’t punchline a comedy term, used in comedy?

Lee Sanghyun: Pun means a play on words using synonyms, and punchline means the core phrase of a joke. In Korean, it would be a clever play on words.

LE: Ah, you’re talking about the puns of American rappers. So the pun that is the core of the verse is the punchline?

Lee Sanghyun: Similar. However, I don’t think a punchline necessarily has to contain a double meaning. You can think of a punchline as a bigger concept than just a pun.

LE: Then, could you introduce a few of the punchlines you’ve written?

Lee Sanghyun: Hmm… There’s a song called Gotta Move in my songs. This song contains the message ‘Let’s work hard’ as the title suggests. The theme of the song is the determination to just do it without worrying too much!

So the punchline I thought of was,

Success is like morning.

You don’t know it’s coming until you try it.

Here, ‘try’ has a double meaning of ‘Do’ and ‘Look at the Sun’ in English.

Another is the chorus of Eight, Eight, Eight. As you know, the group song Eight, Eight, Eight is a song that promotes the ambition, swagger, and pride of the 888 Crew. So it has the theme that we are the best.

Looking at the chorus of this song,

We Eight! Even if you chill every day, we’re still above you

If you compare yourself to us, you’re nine is too young

Here, Chill originally means ‘enjoy’ in English. ‘Nine’ is a phonetic transcription of ‘age’.

As you may have noticed, We Eight. Since we are 8, even if you are 7, we are above you. We are young, and your nine (age) is too much, which contains a double meaning.

Finally, there is a punchline that does not use homonyms, that is, double meanings.

In Fuck the Showbiz, the part ‘Succeeding You, Father’ is a line that encapsulates the entire song with that one sentence. It means that we will destroy Showbiz Company and inherit their noise marketing tactics.

LE: Ah, it’s really fun to hear it like this. There was such a meaning. Then, what are some other punchlines written by other members of the 888 Crew?

(Omission)

LE: We talked a lot about the lyrics of Fuck the Showbiz, but are there any stories that you haven’t told through the lyrics? Or is there anything you really need to talk about?

Shin Junhyung: Fuck.

Park Inhyuk: Fuck.

Woo Minho: Fuck.

Kim Hwan: Fuck.

Lee Sanghyun: Since all the team members are saying the same thing, I should say something different. Fuck-You.

LE: If Fuck the Showbiz made the 888 Crew known to underground fans, Gwangju UP is making the name of the 888 Crew known to the public, right?

When the story first came out in the community that Gwangju UP was being used as a baseball cheer song, I didn’t believe it either. How did Gwangju UP get adopted as Han Gwangsoo’s cheer song?

Lee Sanghyun: In fact, there is no special backstory to Gwangju UP becoming Han Gwangsoo’s cheer song. Han Gwangsoo’s girlfriend liked Gwangju UP, and Han Gwangsoo, who was transferring teams, heard the song through his girlfriend and came up with the cheer song called Gwangsoo UP.

LE: Then how did you get to shoot the music video? The video is very fun, did Woo Minho plan it all?

(Omission)

LE: I’ve never been to Gwangju, but I’ve heard that it’s a city with great baseball fever.

Oh Minji: Yes, the fever is great.

LE: Then do you realize your fame? All the members appear in the music video, so there must be people who recognize you?

Shin Hayeon: I was standing at a bus stop the other day when someone came up to me and asked if I was the person in the baseball video. So when I said yes, the people around me were shocked.

LE: Shocked?

Shin Hayeon: That… among men, baseball videos are also used in a different sense…

All the men: (Laughter)

Park Inhyuk: What! Why didn’t you tell me such a fun episode?

Woo Minho: If I was next to you, it would have been really funny if I said, ‘I’m the director who filmed that base↗(ball↘) vi↗(deo↘)’. (laughs)

Shin Junhyung: But in the case of Hayeon or Minji *noona* [older sister/female friend], people recognize them very occasionally, but none of us guys have ever been recognized. Or did they recognize us but didn’t talk to us?

Lee Sanghyun: It seems that the music video was posted on the Gwangju Tigers website not long ago. Han Gwangsoo hasn’t been wearing the Tigers uniform for long either.

LE: Then do you think the 888 Crew will become famous over time? (laughs)

Lee Sanghyun: Not necessarily…

Park Inhyuk: Hey, tell them.

Woo Minho: Yeah, tell them.

Lee Sanghyun: Ah, it’s not confirmed yet.

LE: It’s okay, whatever it is. Please tell me what it is, because I’ll definitely add a comment that it’s not confirmed yet.

Lee Sanghyun: It’s something that will be decided in a couple of days, so I’ll post an announcement on our crew website at that time…

Lee Sangmi: We’re performing! At the Gwangju Tigers home stadium!

LE: What? Are you saying you’ve rented the Gwangju Tigers stadium?

Lee Sangmi: No, if the Gwangju Tigers advance to the fall baseball league, the Tigers’ first game will be at the Mudeung Stadium. In that case, our 888 Crew is scheduled to perform as an invited guest!

Lee Sanghyun: Ah, this is not confirmed yet. If the Gwangju Tigers win 2 out of the remaining 3 games, they will advance to the fall baseball league on their own, and if they win 1 game, it will depend on the results of the remaining games of the Ulsan Pythons.

LE: Then the results will be out by the time this interview is released on HiphopLE, right? If the Gwangju Tigers don’t advance to the fall baseball league, hip hop fans will be very upset, right?

Lee Sanghyun: Will they? (laughs) When the New York Yankees advanced to the World Series, they invited Frank Sinatra to perform ‘Theme from New York, New York’ at Yankee Stadium. At that time, all the New York citizens sang along to ‘New York- New York-‘, and I hope we can do that someday.

LE: If Han Gwangsoo becomes a franchise star of the Gwangju Tigers, it doesn’t seem impossible.

(Omission)

End

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