The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 93

Verse 14. Be the Underground

***

Sanghyun, hearing the cheers of the audience, caught his breath. He wanted to say something to acknowledge their support, but he was too winded.

Singing “Lonely Road,” a song with a narrative structure spanning 6 minutes and 40 seconds, live felt twice as challenging as during rehearsal.

Moreover, Sanghyun’s unaccompanied 16 bars and final 4 bars were longer than Hayeon’s or Junhyung’s rap sections. This was thanks to his friends, who recognized Sanghyun as the ace without a hint of jealousy and shortened their own parts to accommodate him.

‘Can I pull this off?’

The remaining song was “Gwangju UP,” the highlight of the performance.

Composed of two 16-bar verses and three choruses, “Gwangju UP” was solely Sanghyun’s solo performance. Therefore, even with Junhyung and Hayeon providing vocal support, he felt it might be too much to handle.

“The band backing us has been active in the Gwangju indie scene for years, L&S! Please give L&S a big hand!”

Junhyung, noticing Sanghyun’s struggle, skillfully stalled for time. Thanks to him, Sanghyun was able to recover his breath somewhat.

Sanghyun grabbed the microphone.

“Does anyone know what our last song will be?”

To Sanghyun’s surprise, many people shouted, ‘Gwangju Up!’

“That’s right. We’re going to sing the cheer song for player Han Gwangsu. The original title of the song, which was arranged as the cheer song ‘Gwangsu Up,’ is ‘Gwangju UP.’ As some of you may know, the music video is also available on the Gwangju Tigers website.”

Voices, mostly from women, shouted, “We know!” and some audience members, including the cheerleaders, began to sing “Gwangsu Up.” The cheer, ‘Gwangsu Up! Gwangsu Up! Light Gwang! Can Do! Gwangsu Up!’ soon spread like a round song throughout Mudeung Stadium. When Han Gwangsu’s face, wearing an awkward smile, appeared on the electronic display, the cheers grew even louder.

“Hey, even if Han Gwangsu is handsome, you shouldn’t shout louder than during the performance!”

Junhyung’s joke caused the die-hard fans to cheer even more.

“When we sing this song, there’s something you all need to do together. Please hold your cheering sticks in both hands.”

Since red was the color of the Gwangju Tigers, the cheering sticks held up by the Tigers fans were also red.

“When we say Gwangju-, you say UP! and hit the cheering sticks hard above your heads. Easy, right?”

“Let’s practice. Gwangju-!”

Up-!

Mudeung Stadium was filled with a surprisingly loud ‘Up!’ and the sound of the cheering sticks colliding.

From the stage, the swaying red cheering sticks looked like surging red waves. And the sound created by those red waves was so loud that it entered Sanghyun’s microphone in the center of the stadium, echoing through his in-ear monitors.

“Wow, everyone has an amazing sense of rhythm! How can so many people be so in sync? Do you guys have any thoughts on trying rap?”

Junhyung threw out a gag to the audience. Hayeon’s face, which had been wearing a sour expression at Junhyung’s bad joke, was caught on the electronic display. Hayeon was startled and quickly changed her expression to a bright smile.

“Not everyone here is a Gwangju Tigers fan, right? Although there are fewer of them, I want to hear the voices of the Incheon Sky fans, who are worth a hundred each. Incheon-!”

Up!

“A little quiet. Incheon!”

Up-!

“The song ‘Gwangju Up’ expresses my affection for the city of Gwangju, where I live, but when we sing the chorus, I hope you’ll shout out your own cities.”

Sanghyun’s final comment, agreed upon with the staff, concluded the introduction.

At that moment, the stage lights and the screen on the electronic display showing the stage went out. A few seconds later, the words ‘Gwangju Tigers X 888’ slowly began to fade in on the electronic display.

The “Gwangju Up” music video, ambitiously prepared by the 888 Crew, began to play on the stadium’s electronic display.

Originally, there were two versions of the “Gwangju Up” music video.

One was the version that Woominho made to release to hip-hop fans, and the other was the version made by the Gwangju Tigers for promotional purposes.

The Gwangju Tigers website currently featured Woominho’s version. Therefore, the ‘Gwangju Up Ver. Tigers’ music video was being revealed to the world for the first time.

-What is that!

-What! Hahaha!

From the moment the music video started, the audience burst into laughter.

When a static noise was heard, the Tigers players began to look around, stopping their training. But their acting was so awkward that it made the audience laugh even harder.

The embarrassing bad acting ended when the chorus came on, timed with the end of the static.

Gwangju UP! Gwangju UP!

Light Gwang(光) Town Ju(州) Gwangju UP!

Gwangju UP, the city of culture and art!

Gwangju UP, where we live!

As the music played, subtitles appeared at the bottom of the music video. It was a thoughtful addition from the Tigers club.

By listening to the music and watching the video, the audience was able to grasp the song much faster, and before they knew it, they began to hum the chorus.

“Gwangju Up” was a bit faster than Han Gwangsu’s cheer song, “Gwangsu Up,” but the rhythm and feel weren’t much different. Thanks to this, it sounded like a familiar song to the audience, not a completely unknown one.

The music video on the screen progressed according to the lyrics, just like Woominho’s music video. The difference was that baseball players from the Tigers appeared and created funny scenes.

In the scene ‘Capturing beauties arriving at Gwangju Station,’ catcher Ryu Yeonseong scanned passing women with a perverted smile. Female baseball fans jeered, “Eww.” Because Ryu Yeonseong’s expression was genuinely perverted – an expression that only a true pervert could make, not just acting. He was the epitome of a true pervert.

Ryu Yeonseong, seeing that scene, grabbed his head and screamed.

The players in the dugout started laughing hysterically.

The video was more fun and lighthearted than sophisticated. Unlike the music video produced by Woominho, it had more comedic moments than a hip-hop vibe. This was also the case in the scenes where the 888 Crew appeared.

Park Inhyuk entered the batter’s box with a bat. But before he could even swing, he was hit in the butt by a ball thrown by someone. Inhyuk, angry, ran to the mound for a bench-clearing brawl, but the 888 Crew members sitting in the dugout paid no attention.

Regardless, Park Inhyuk pointed his finger at the pitcher and shouted wildly. From the camera angle, only Park Inhyuk’s figure was visible, and the opposing pitcher was not visible.

The audience’s curious gazes were focused, and finally, the camera revealed the pitcher. The opponent being scolded by Park Inhyuk was none other than the pitching machine (a machine that automatically throws balls).

Some audience members hadn’t laughed up to that point. However, when Park Inhyuk soon reconciled with the pitching machine, put his arm around it, and kissed the part where the ball came out, there were screams and laughter.

“Keu.”

Park Inhyuk smiled proudly. When the 888 members, who had previously performed with their favorite Tigers players, created a funny scene, the audience’s engagement reached its peak.

Of course, not all scenes were comedic.

When the lyrics ‘We engrave our jersey numbers, we are all 062’ came on, the Tigers players wore uniforms with 062 [the area code for Gwangju] engraved on them and showed off their cool backs.

Finally, the first verse ended, and it was time for another chorus. The scene that followed was a video that appropriately mixed the “Gwangju Up” performance scene at Club Homie and the “Gwangju Up” performance scene at Gushicheong intersection.

As the chorus, which had become quite familiar, played, the audience hit their cheering sticks and sang ‘Up!’ together. The audience was completely engrossed in the music video.

Gwangju UP! Gwangju UP!

Light Gwang(光) Town Ju(州) Gwangju UP!

Gwangju UP, the city of culture and art!

Gwangju UP, where we live!

Mudeung Stadium was filled with the sound of popping and ‘Up!’ The audience watched the music video, curious about the scenes of the second verse that would follow. But the music video suddenly ended.

“What?”

“Huh?”

The audience showed puzzled reactions. Because it wasn’t the time for it to end.

At that moment, a loud noise began to be heard through the main speaker.

-Jijijijik.

At the same time, sparks flew on the stage. The audience’s attention was riveted. Before they knew it, the eight members of the 888 Crew were on stage.

-Jijijijik.

The 888 Crew members began to perform method acting.

‘Where is this loud noise coming from? Where is it coming from!’

‘This mischievous noise! It’s on par with sound wave interference!’

The members struggled to channel their inner emotions into exaggerated acting. It was the ‘pretending to be embarrassed’ performance of the “Gwangju Up” intro, which had already become familiar to hip-hop fans.

The few hip-hop fans who were at Soft Straight or Club Homie followed along, pretending to be embarrassed, or they nudged their friends and explained the performance.

Even so, they began to look forward to the chorus that would soon be heard.

“Balloons-!”

Junhyung shouted loudly.

Following Junhyung’s voice, the red wave of Gwangju Tigers fans and the blue wave of Incheon Sky fans began to surge in the audience.

The chorus signaling the start was about to begin.

***

The time the music video was broadcast on the electronic display was about 1 minute and 15 seconds. In the first place, the music video edited by the Gwangju Tigers did not have a verse 2.

“Are you tired?”

Hayeon, quick to notice, approached Sanghyun and asked. Sanghyun, who was drinking water, grumbled.

“Ah, it’s all because Minji is so good. The rest of us are struggling to keep up!”

“It’s the first time I’ve ever had such a hard time rapping a verse.”

Influenced by Minji, who rapped like she was possessed, Park Inhyuk and Kim Hwan rapped without holding back. And that also affected the performers of “Lonely Road.”

Originally, “Lonely Road” was a difficult song that had to express a majestic feeling against the background of the orchestra’s grand narrative structure. Moreover, in the second half, they had to energize the audience by raising the intensity.

Since the previous performers raised the tension so much, Sanghyun had no choice but to rap as if he was pouring out his soul.

“But you did really well!”

“There’s no way we could have failed, right?”

Hayeon chuckled at Sanghyun’s words and ruffled his sweaty bangs.

“You can do “Gwangju Up,” right?”

“I can do it. But…….”

“But?”

“I’m not going to do it.”

“What? You’re not going to do it?!”

Hayeon was surprised and questioned Sanghyun’s sudden statement. But Sanghyun remained calm.

“Yeah, I’m not going to do a solo song.”

“Then what about the performance? Are you really not going to do it?”

“I’m not doing it solo. Let’s all do it together.”

Hayeon didn’t understand Sanghyun’s words until she realized it later.

“Ah, you scared me!”

‘I’m not doing a solo song. So let’s all do it together.’

That’s what Sanghyun was trying to say.

Of course, Sanghyun can perform “Gwangju Up.” It will be a little difficult, but he is confident that he can do well. But didn’t he say in “Lonely Road”? This road is narrow and lonely, but there are colleagues who go with him.

Verse 14. Be the Underground> End

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