Chapter 184
Chapter 184
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: Crafting Logan's Beats
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Yeonwoo searched for songs with melodies but found them too common and predictable, so he decided to drop the idea.
Yeah, hip-hop is all about the beat.
Yeonwoo resolved to express emotions purely through beats.
"Alright, go ahead and do it your way. I'm curious. Hip-hop made by someone who knows nothing about it."
Elkind Logan gazed fondly at the genius who was a year younger than his granddaughter.
Yeonwoo felt dissatisfied with Elkind Logan's attitude.
We're partners, even if he's older.
It was annoying to be looked at like a grandchild putting on a show when they had to collaborate on music.
"Shall we make one now?"
"Hmm, you want to?"
Yeonwoo nodded and headed down to the studio with Elkind Logan, pondering what to use for the bass. Yeah, let's go with violin for a lyrical feel.
As soon as Yeonwoo entered the studio, he layered in chords that immediately came to mind, added violin sounds, and on top of that, inserted electronic beeps—like heart monitor tones—at regular intervals: beep, beep.
Then he overlaid repeating piano.
It was the section from his earlier performance in the second-floor living room that had elicited the most passionate, sorrowful reactions from everyone, repurposed as a beat.
Elkind Logan, who had been quietly watching Yeonwoo's work, asked,
"Wasn't that just free jazz earlier? You remember it?"
"I never forget a sound I've heard once. Not even my own playing."
With that, Yeonwoo played the completed track.
Elkind Logan closed his eyes and listened.
It was subdued overall.
But sorrow seeped through that restraint.
He imagined himself rapping over it—calmly conveying sadness in sync with the beat.
"Not bad."
"It's good? Then what about this?"
Yeonwoo produced a new track. Once he got started, composing flew by.
"This one's good too?"
Yeonwoo nodded at those words and quickly whipped up several more samples in succession.
"This one..."
Elkind Logan's expression grew serious.
With each track he created, the depth changed.
It was as if the kid who'd never rapped was playing with beats while imagining himself doing so in his head.
"For the last track, Logan, you'll need to go off-beat. From what I've heard so far, you seem to like staying on the straight rhythm, but trying this wouldn't hurt, right?"
"Off-beat, huh..."
The straight-laced Elkind Logan even approached hip-hop conservatively.
He preferred precise rhythms and enunciation in his raps.
Even in fast raps, he was known as the rapper with the world's fastest flow and the clearest pronunciation.
Him, off-beat?
"Sounds fun."
"Right?"
Yeonwoo grinned and said,
"Now, let's do Logan's hip-hop."
With that, Yeonwoo started tweaking the track again.
Several songs came together in a flash.
"This one's in the Wolverine era vibe."
During his Wolverine days, Elkind Logan feared nothing.
He was cocky, convinced he was the best, vowing to crush everyone above him and claim the top.
On one hand, it was desperate too.
He'd become a father before adulthood, struggling to make ends meet, betting his family's future on this path.
It was laced with venom, sharp as a blade.
Yeah, pure Wolverine.
The track Yeonwoo made...
"Hmm..."
It reeked of that Wolverine era.
"And this one... from the Wolverine-to-Logan transition."
After the savage Wolverine days—when even beasts steered clear—he began watching his school-age son and softened. Elkind Logan changed his stage name to Logan and sang of hope.
The hip-hop scene criticized it as too commercial, blinded by money, calling it his dark period.
But it was the time that made Elkind Logan most famous.
His mainstream tracks topped the Melboard charts, sweeping Grammys and major awards that year.
Yeonwoo perfectly captured even that, producing a song in that era's vibe.
"And now... Elkind Logan's music."
At some point, Logan added his real surname, becoming Elkind Logan.
This was his peak.
He churned out perfect albums blending mass appeal, musicality, and hip-hop cred.
In this phase, he earned the GOAT title from the public and the scene alike.
His divine raps were one thing, but the beats he crafted were sampled endlessly by hip-hop artists for their own flows.
Yet no one could touch Elkind Logan's toes.
"Uh..."
He was flustered.
Countless people sampled or imitated his work, but no one had ever depicted him so perfectly—until Yeonwoo did it effortlessly.
It nailed his feel so well that if Yeonwoo had snuck these into his computer folder without telling him, he'd have mistaken them for his own old tracks.
Seeing Elkind Logan utterly shocked, Yeonwoo chuckled inwardly.
Of course, the tracks did capture his essence—but really, he'd gotten help from Elkind Logan's fairy.
For someone like Olivia Snow, familiar music made it easy to craft her style or even evolved versions.
But unfamiliar hip-hop was different.
So he'd borrowed a bit from Elkind Logan's fairy.
Influenced strongly by its host, the fairy was exceptionally kind to Yeonwoo.
It offered meticulous advice on his tracks and praised him when satisfied.
*You're the first fairy like you.*
Elkind Logan's fairy grinned, winked, and gave a thumbs-up.
*So, what do you think Elkind Logan's future will sound like?*
The fairy crossed its arms and pondered.
Fairies apparently couldn't predict the future.
*It's fine. I'm starting to get it now.*
The fairy tilted its head at Yeonwoo's words.
*Hip-hop, I mean.*
Leaving the fairy with its *already?* expression, Yeonwoo turned to the real Elkind Logan and said,
"And if you keep going like this, maybe you'll make music like this in the future?"
Yeonwoo worked busily.
*'My ideal hip-hop?'*
Elkind Logan crossed his arms, staring at Yeonwoo.
What was this kid on about?
Predicting his future direction from these tracks?
Was that possible?
He asked himself.
No, absolutely not.
No one could predict Elkind Logan.
Not even with a fixed style.
But...
"Listen."
In just five minutes, Yeonwoo finished and hit play.
From the start, the ominous beat demanded his attention.
This astonishing boy who'd replicated his past styles into new tracks...
*'What the fxxk...!'*
Elkind Logan—who hadn't sworn once since his son was born—cursed inwardly.
This was undeniably his hip-hop. If his current style evolved unchanged, it'd surely sound like this.
No, not quite.
It was his established style, refined and advanced—the completion of his current sound.
Probably.
As he aged, the passion for stylistic shifts would fade.
He'd console himself that this was his hip-hop's pinnacle and be content.
"No words."
"Why?"
"Can't deny it."
Yeonwoo giggled at that.
The baby angel sent by the god of music seemed pleased with his prank.
"Then let's layer jazz on this style. I bet it'll be the hip-hop you're envisioning, Logan."
"Y-Yeah?"
"But that's for today. I want to learn a lot from Elkind Logan."
"...Dunno if there's much to learn."
Yeonwoo nodded.
"Hip-hop isn't just beats. I want to watch you write lyrics and rap up close and learn."
"Lyrics, huh... Not easy. Especially in hip-hop. Rhymes and flow to the rhythm... and punchy messages too."
"Exactly."
Yeonwoo had never written lyrics. Not all composers do, but he wanted his own words in his music.
In lyrics-heavy hip-hop, collaborating with Elkind Logan could help him grow.
"Then... shall we settle in and work?"
"Yes. But it's already seven. Let's call it here."
"Oh, yeah. Time flies."
Yeonwoo agreed and asked,
"Do you like ribs by any chance?"
"Ribs...?"
"You haven't had Korean BBQ since coming to Korea?"
"Nah, I have. Samgyup... something? Hard to pronounce, but I ate that."
"Samgyeopsal. Delicious, right? Americans only make bacon out of that tasty pork belly."
Elkind Logan was surprised.
"That's the cut for bacon?"
"Yeah."
"Amazing. Such a difference from the same meat."
Unlike Olivia Snow, Elkind Logan didn't disdain bacon as plebeian food for the poor—but he didn't like it either.
Anyone could see it wasn't healthy.
"Ribs are ribs. Marinated in Korean sauce and grilled. Beef or pork. As tasty as samgyeopsal."
"Sounds intriguing. Mel would love it."
"Then let's go to a rib joint!"
Yeonwoo beamed, stood, and led Elkind Logan back upstairs.
"Grandma!! Dad!! We're having ribs tonight!"
Heo Ok smiled and said,
"I figured you'd want to eat out, so I didn't prep dinner. Shall we all go for ribs? Hope there's room."
"I'll call."
As Shin Jihoon made the call, Olivia Snow rushed down from the second floor.
"What? Ribs? When? Now?"
"Why'd you come down? Slept in my bed again?!"
Olivia Snow shook her head firmly.
"Nope, was chatting with Mel. She had tons of questions. Anyway, ribs? Let's go!!"
"Yeah!!"
And so Yeonwoo's family, Olivia Snow, and Elkind Logan's duo headed to the rib restaurant.
Elkind Logan, who surprisingly took to Korean food, fell for the new world of ribs that day.