A Love Rap on a Drill Beat
I arrived at the conference room right on time, only to find a familiar face waiting for me. It was Roadkill, the rapper from Hammer Shock label—the very same Roadkill who had taught me and Tasha how to rap.
“Whoa, what brings you here, Kill?”
“Nice to see you, Yeri. I have a business proposal. It’s about Cha Entertainment’s new girl group—Ashy-Bloom, was it? I think this could be mutually beneficial.”
Roadkill had come to our company because he needed a featuring artist. A rapper from Hammer Shock was dropping an album and apparently required someone who could deliver a refreshing, melodic singing-rap. Since it would even include a joint stage appearance on music shows, it was a good opportunity for us too. But who exactly was releasing the album? Hammer Shock was known for putting out nothing but raw, drill-style tracks. A bright, breezy singing-rap felt like a total mismatch.
“Who’s dropping an album that needs singing-rap?”
“Ah, it’s Danger. You know him, right?”
“Of course. I’ve seen his face several times. But isn’t Danger… a pure drill guy?”
“Pfft, what do you mean by ‘pure drill guy’?”
“Come on, you know what I mean. The man basically only does that one thing—he just goes da-da-da and tears everything apart.”
“You’re not wrong. But no one can keep doing the exact same thing forever, can they? If you want to climb into the major leagues, you need some softer tracks too. And honestly, this direction is bound to perform better on the charts.”
“That’s true.”
Danger, one of Hammer Shock’s ace rappers. A classic drill artist who cursed the world with his rough, husky delivery. The fact that he needed a soft, melodic singing-rap feature suggested he was planning to release something quite different from his usual style. Well, no one can only do what they want forever.
“If it’s refreshing singing-rap… does that mean it’s a love song?”
“Yes. The theme is love.”
“He’s gonna get dragged for this, isn’t he?”
“Rappers get dragged all the time. In the end, the chart performance will speak for itself, won’t it? What do you think? Danger doing a love rap.”
“Hmm… well. If it’s Danger, maybe he really could break into the majors?”
Danger was the rapper who had greeted me and Tasha when we first visited Hammer Shock. Though his popularity didn’t quite match his skill, he was widely acknowledged as one of the strongest forces in the hip-hop scene when it came to pure rap ability. His chart performance was decent enough, and most importantly, he was the most handsome guy in Hammer Shock. If the theme was love, his looks would be a pretty solid weapon, which meant the song had a high chance of performing much better than his previous releases.
Of course, there were still issues. Among hardcore hip-hop listeners, plenty of people looked down on soft love raps. Especially if it came from someone like Danger, whose signature was aggressive rap, there would probably be accusations of selling out. But I wasn’t particularly worried. There was no way a guy like Danger would make an entirely fluffy, saccharine track just because the topic was love.
“Anyway, Danger isn’t going to put some overly sweet, cuddly rap on the track, right?”
“Exactly. That’s why we desperately need a featuring rapper who can act as a buffer. Ideally, someone attractive, and if their voice is soft and gentle, that would be perfect.”
“That’s literally Tasha.”
“Bingo. What do you think? Sounds good, doesn’t it?”
A beautiful rapper whose mere appearance on a music show stage could completely shift the atmosphere. A singing-rap specialist with a refreshing voice who could nicely cushion Danger’s tough style. If Roadkill had gone out of his way to visit our company, it was obviously because he needed Tasha.
I didn’t think I was any less attractive than her, but my voice was the problem. If Danger had wanted to go full authentic drill, I would have been the better fit for the feature. But since the theme was love… Plus, if Tasha got to do the music show appearances, we could stay quiet for a while. No matter how battle-hungry she was, she wouldn’t be able to think about anything else with her first broadcast looming.
Right now, the entire world was screaming for Blood Rabbit. This was a time when we needed to lie low. If even Tasha—one of the phantom duo’s two heads—kept a low profile, we’d have a much better chance of getting through this period quietly. The more I thought about it, the better it sounded. Not only would one of our members get her face out there early, but it was also a chance to keep her well-behaved for a bit.
“Tasha, what do you think?”
“Does that mean I have to write my own part?”
“Yes. The hook is already written, but you’ll need to write the eight bars for your individual verse, Tasha.”
“Hmm, I see. But is that really okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“If I stand on stage with him, the spotlight will shift toward me.”
“Oh come on, it won’t be that bad, will it? Our Danger has plenty of experience.”
“No, I’m talking about visuals. Of course Danger is good-looking for a rapper, but if he stands next to me…”
“Ah… yeah, that might be a problem?”
She had a point. Danger was decent enough, but Tasha wasn’t on the same level. Our team might be a mess in every other way, but when it came to visuals, we devoured everyone else. The spotlight might actually swing pretty hard in Tasha’s direction.
“It might happen, but we’ll just have to accept that. Since when have rappers been popular because of their faces? This track is one that Danger put a lot of effort into, so it should be fine.”
“True. Skill makes you look more attractive anyway.”
“And we need something to generate buzz in the early stages too. Danger’s power is still a bit weak compared to his actual ability.”
“In that sense, Tasha would be a perfect trump card.”
“More like a win-win situation. Since you’re debuting soon, getting your face known in advance is good for you too.”
“That’s true.”
“If there are no issues, I’ll do it.”
“Great. We’ll go with that then. Recording starts next week, so just bring the lyrics. I’ll send you the beat right away.”
Just as the discussion was wrapping up, Manager Cha entered the conference room.
“So, have you finished talking?”
“Yes, Manager Cha. Thanks to your consideration, everything worked out well.”
“I’m glad.”
“I was honestly surprised when you told us to negotiate directly with the member herself.”
“That’s how our company operates. We’ll cut anything that’s completely unacceptable, but for most things, we prefer to give the members the chance to decide for themselves.”
This was one of Cha Entertainment’s strengths. They didn’t force unwanted schedules on you, and they usually let you take the ones you wanted. It was thanks to this kind of care that every member of Purple Swan whose contracts had ended chose to stay with Cha Entertainment. From the atmosphere, it seemed they planned to treat our group the same way. In that case, we had no reason to complain.
“Yeri, as you know, we don’t have a rap trainer at the company. So please help Tasha with this.”
“Of course.”
“Then we’ll take care of the remaining contract details.”
We left the minor contractual matters to Roadkill and Manager Cha and returned to the practice room. Trailing behind us was the filming camera that had been following us around lately. I’d wondered why they’d called me in for Tasha’s contract discussion—it turned out they planned to film me helping her as well. Just like how they’d filmed me going to support Seong Jiyeong on her audition day.
This was kind of funny. At this rate, it would be hard for Jiyeong’s anti-fans or Tasha’s anti-fans to reject me, wouldn’t it? How could they turn on the team leader who had been following them around and helping them even before debut? What justification could they possibly use? Even in the anti-fan community, justification mattered. If they just hated someone mindlessly, it would cause internal conflict.
“The beat is rough.”
“It really is… and he wants to whisper about love over this?”
“I haven’t seen the lyrics yet, but I don’t think it’ll be a whispering vibe. More like…”
“Struggle and conquest. Overcoming adversity. Something like that?”
“Probably.”
“I mean, when a rapper who only does hard drill stuff suddenly announces a love rap, I did wonder what was going on…”
Once we entered the practice room, we checked the beat Roadkill had given us. Unbelievably, it was a drill beat. Wait, he was going to sing a love rap over this? What exactly was he planning to do with it? At this point, the female feature felt even more crucial. Without something to gently ease the mood, the theme of ‘love’ would probably get completely crushed.
The lyrics would probably need to be somewhat soft too…
“…Will this work?”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing, um… Well, just start writing the lyrics first.”
“I suppose I should. Love, huh. Listening to this beat, something is already coming to mind.”
“That’s good.”
There wasn’t much I could help with here. Maybe just give some simple feedback? We still had a whole week, so writing eight bars should be easy enough for Tasha to handle alone. She said something had already come to her while listening to the beat. Thinking it was no big deal, I quietly stepped aside.
The next day.
Tasha, who had finished writing her lyrics in just one day, decided to practice her rap in the recording studio. The news that Tasha had written her own lyrics brought out not only Seong Jiyeong and Yu Hana, but even Ji Seoeun. Before we knew it, every member had shown up at the recording studio. Since they were all aspiring idols, it seemed they were curious about a fellow member’s recording session.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
“Sucheol, please start the track.”
The rough, violent beat roared past, and finally it transitioned into Tasha’s part. It was softer, more wistful. The atmosphere itself was somewhat gloomy, but it didn’t feel completely hopeless. If Tasha sang about desperate love with her refreshing voice over this, it would probably create quite an impressive twist.
But then—
—Kicking off with both legs, escaping the black swamp of despair.
Putting passion and due reward into these two fists.
Break it all down~ Eh~~~
Tear it all apart~~~ Uwoah~.
…What the hell is she doing right now?
Is this… correct?