The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 95

The Rap Star – Episode 95 (95/309)

Verse 15. Flow

Time flows equally for everyone. However, how one uses that time is entirely up to them.

From that perspective, the 888 Crew was using their time more efficiently than anyone else. No, they had no choice but to. Because a tremendous number of things were happening to them.

“Minho, remember that other design we made last time? The gray one.”

“Oh? What about it?”

“I was thinking of making it into a New Era cap.”

“What? Absolutely not! That’s totally a guide version [a preliminary or draft version]. If we release that as a product, hip-hop fans across the country will laugh at me!”

Sanghyun pointed to the design computer in the studio, which was ‘for Woominho only,’ at Woominho’s familiar whining. Following Sanghyun’s finger, Woominho could see a phrase written on the computer’s desktop.

-Just do it, hyung [older brother or respected male figure].

The letters, engraved in a cool cursive font, painfully pierced Woominho’s eyes.

Woominho resisted fiercely, trying to avoid eye contact.

The coloring wasn’t even finished yet, the layout needed work, and there was a mountain of effects to add! Right now, it was closer to a sketch than a design, and if that came out as a product, it would be garbage rather than a sketch!

“No, no, no, no. Well, not that I don’t want to, but wait a bit. I’ll finish it within a week and give it to you.”

“Hyung, the unfinished feel is what’s cool about it! Designs don’t necessarily have to be perfect, do they? You know Lee Jungseop’s ‘Bull’ [a famous Korean painting known for its rough and expressive style]? That rough touch is cool too!”

“Ah, no way. Don’t try to persuade me!”

Sanghyun sighed deeply and pointed to a piece of paper attached to the wall above the monitor. A sentence handwritten by Kim Hwan was plastered on the paper.

-Shut up and do it!

Every time Woominho pursed his lips and shook his head, Sanghyun pointed to the paper. After a long argument, Woominho had no choice but to give in.

“Evil boss!”

The changes that occurred to the 888 Crew after the Gwangju Tigers’ performance were truly numerous.

It wasn’t just that the number of subscribers to the Cyworld [a popular Korean social media platform in the early 2000s] crew club had jumped to 2,000 from just over 500, or that quite a few people recognized them when they walked down the street.

There were much more important changes than those.

‘First of all, Triple Eight.’

The sales of ‘日日日 X 日日日’ [888 x 888] products from the domestic brand Triple Eight, which had recently started selling, began to surge.

Sanghyun thought that even if he sold the products for a year, selling a thousand would be considered a great success, as the merchandise market had not yet fully taken off.

However, Sanghyun’s idea was proven wrong in a very pleasing way. It didn’t just cross the water; it crossed the Korea Strait and went all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.

Currently, Triple Eight handles a total of four products. Each of the four products started with 200 units in stock when sales began. But now the phrase displayed on the product page was ‘Sold Out.’

It wasn’t that hip-hop fans’ wallets had suddenly become thicker. The trend was steadily increasing, but the number of Korean hip-hop fans was still relatively small. This sold-out state occurred because the 888 Crew had gained a different fan base with no overlap with hip-hop.

It was baseball fans.

‘Considering how many uniforms of player Han Gwangsoo were sold, this is nothing.’

Sanghyun and the 888 Crew members wore ‘日日日 X 日日日’ t-shirts while performing at the Mudeung Stadium. Because the performance was during the day, they couldn’t show the 062 X RAP engraved in glow-in-the-dark ink.

L&S members also wore matching outfits.

(Picture: Attached to the author’s note)

It was a t-shirt with LNS X 888 engraved on it.

This was something Sanghyun had prepared in advance for the band L&S, who were like family.

Perhaps because the t-shirt looked cool, player Han Gwangsoo came to Sanghyun with his uniform right after the game. He wanted to have the 888 Crew’s t-shirt.

Sanghyun gladly gifted him the t-shirt. And a few days later, player Han Gwangsoo uploaded a photo of himself wearing the 888 Crew’s t-shirt on his mini-homepage [a personal blog or profile page] with the phrase ‘Gwangsoo Up!’

‘Wow, that guy’s build is amazing.’

Han Gwangsoo was so big that Triple Eight’s largest size, XXL, felt a little small. But it still suited him quite well.

This was the route through which baseball fans began to purchase the 888 Crew’s products, and it was the reason why Sanghyun was working hard to secure inventory. There’s a saying that you should strike while the iron is hot.

‘I’m going to talk about something important today.’

Sanghyun gathered the crew members one evening and started talking. What he was about to say was related to money.

Sanghyun wanted to be clear about money matters. The 888 Crew might not seem like it, but even friendships that seemed like iron fortresses could easily break when money was involved.

The crew members who heard Sanghyun’s story also thought it was important and actively participated in the meeting, expressing their opinions.

As a result, it became ‘30%, 60%, 10%.’

This ratio only applied to the money the crew earned together, and not to personal features or solo performance fees.

First, 30 percent was unconditionally put into an account under the crew’s name. This was the cost of preparing for shooting music videos, renting concert halls, or releasing albums. It was also planned to be used for website management costs, merchandise production costs, and crew members’ family events.

The 60 percent was divided by the number of people. If 10 million won [Korean currency, approximately $7,500 USD] in profit was made, 6 million won was divided among the seven members. There were eight members, but the reason why it became seven was because Sangmi adamantly refused to share the profits.

‘I don’t make songs, and I don’t perform? I shouldn’t receive it.’

The members persuaded Sangmi, but Sangmi was unwavering. Instead, Sangmi demanded that they buy her delicious food every time they received payment.

The remaining 10 percent went to Sanghyun. The members jokingly decided to call it ‘Ace’s maintenance fee.’

In fact, the 10 percent was the studio maintenance fee.

The crew members had been insisting that the members should contribute money to pay for the studio maintenance fee for a long time. Although Sanghyun strongly refused.

‘Isn’t ten percent too much?’

Sanghyun sincerely thought so. He didn’t know how much the 888 Crew would earn in the future, but if they earned 100 million won, it would be 10 million won, and if they earned 1 billion won, it would be 100 million won.

However, the members unanimously said that 10 percent was too little. Compared to the efforts Sanghyun had made for the crew without showing it and the studio maintenance fees he had been bearing alone. Also, the 10 percent included consideration for Sangmi, who strongly refused to share profits. Sanghyun’s income was Sangmi’s income.

The 888 Crew members now all knew Sanghyun’s family history. They had originally guessed, and Sanghyun had told them directly. Because of this, the members always paid a lot of attention to Sangmi. On days when Sanghyun was not home, one of the members would always come to spend time with Sangmi.

Before they knew it, Sangmi had a large family of four older brothers and two older sisters.

The last change that occurred was ‘recruitment.’

The 888 Crew was receiving an enormous number of performance invitations. It seemed like almost every event in Gwangju was calling, and quite a few invitations were coming from other regions as well.

Of course, they had received quite a few invitations after the Club Homi performance as well. But at that time, there were many invitations that were just probing. It was an attempt to find out how much their price was and which areas they could cover.

But the invitations they were receiving now were different. The 888 Crew was no longer a team in the position of ‘Are these guys okay? Should we call them?’ They were not a team classified as amateur.

Show & Prove. Show and prove it.

They proved their value and rarity at the Mudeung Stadium, where 12,000 people were watching. Thanks to this, the 888 Crew became a very attractive entity to performance agencies and stage production companies.

A team that was cheaper than entertainers with companies and whose skills were more reliable than them. A team that could be used immediately after matching the festival with A-list celebrities.

‘How much is this altogether?’

When Sanghyun received too many performance invitations, he calculated it once. Assuming they did all the performances they were invited to, how much money would they earn?

The calculation result was over 50 million won. Most of the dates overlapped, so they couldn’t do all the performances, but it was a rewarding thing.

In addition, three mid-sized entertainment agencies called, and four famous singers offered to feature them. Even a local broadcasting station offered them a broadcast appearance.

Sanghyun declined all the invitations. It was partly because they were busy, but also because there were many ridiculous calls that said, ‘We’re personally inviting you like this, so gratefully accept it.’

He experienced many absurd things while receiving invitations, but the most absurd thing was separate. It was when Codename tried to recruit the 888 Crew. They wanted to put a collaboration song with the 888 Crew on Codename’s upcoming mini-album.

The invitation was made by Codename’s leader, Dread, who called Sanghyun directly. But it sounded strongly like someone was forcing him to do it from the side.

“I’m sorry about what happened last time.”

Dread said in a voice that sounded like he was chewing on poop, and a small, angry voice was heard through the phone, ‘Don’t you speak properly in honorifics?’

Dread, who had been subdued, said again.

“We seem to have made a mistake last time. We apologize once again.”

Soon after, Dread made it obvious that he was looking at something and reading it, and he rattled off a lengthy comment about wanting to work with the 888 Crew. He also explained the concept of the song and said that he wanted to meet and talk in person. In a voice that sounded like he was incredibly proud.

Sanghyun initially felt a sense of satisfaction. But as he continued the call, the satisfaction disappeared, and Codename felt very small.

No matter how much they acted like thugs and behaved arrogantly, they were ultimately beings belonging to the system. Beings that could not deviate even slightly from the large framework of show business (the entertainment industry). Beings that would be abandoned if their show business marketability disappeared. Yet, beings that could not even think of escaping.

On the other hand, the 888 Crew was a truly free team. They were a team that created new systems rather than belonging to the system, and they could do anything within the value of being the underground. The 888 Crew and Codename were different beings from birth.

Suddenly, The Game’s My Life lyrics came to mind.

We are not the same, I am a Martian

Sanghyun didn’t want to hear Dread’s voice full of humiliation anymore. He still hated Codename and had no intention of forgiving them for threatening Miju. But the ideal that the 888 Crew was pursuing was a place where Codename could not even leave a trace.

‘I will refuse the collaboration. I’m hanging up.’

Sanghyun said that and hung up the phone.

And he thought that he would never be involved with Codename again. But that was Sanghyun’s delusion.

“HipHop the Vibe?”

-Yes. You know about it, right?

“Yes, of course, I know. But didn’t that end?”

-This time, some of the programs that were reorganized when it was integrated with KM [a Korean music channel] have been newly configured. HipHop the Vibe is one of them. What do you think about the invitation?

“Ah… Can I discuss it with the members?”

-Then I will contact you again at this time tomorrow.

HipHop the Vibe was the first hip-hop program that started on Mnet [another Korean music channel] in the early 2000s. At the time, there were no programs or even content dealing with hip-hop on TV, so it received great support from hip-hop enthusiasts as soon as it started airing.

In addition, HipHop the Vibe covered underground hip-hop quite faithfully. You could also get a glimpse of the pre-debut 모습 [Korean word for appearance or form] of Epik High, Dynamic Duo, Garion, Leessang, etc. here.

Because of this, HipHop the Vibe became a kind of measure of the musical achievements of underground musicians. Tablo even said in an interview that he made music to go on HipHop the Vibe.

In the past, Sanghyun also ran to the TV every Tuesday at 10 PM. It was to watch the live broadcast.

HipHop the Vibe ended in 2004 when KM and M.NET merged. Although the viewership was low, it had tremendous support from a niche audience, so many hip-hop fans regretted the end.

But now that HipHop the Vibe was trying to start again. While recruiting the 888 Crew.

End

ⓒ