The Anecdote

 

• Title: [types field=”song-title” output=”raw”][/types]
• Artist: [types field=”artist” separator=”, “][/types]
• Album: [types field=”album-title” separator=”, ” output=”raw”][/types]
• [types field=”year” format=”FIELD_NAME: FIELD_VALUE”][/types]
• [types field=”original-lyrics” title=”Original lyrics” target=”_blank” separator=”, “][/types]

 

Verse 1)
I quit school full of spirit and became dejected after only one month
Without anything to do, I played online games all day long
I dumped my initial attitude, “I need to do something, anything((The lyrics jump back and forth between past and present tense, so for them to make sense in English and also to avoid having to change the tense everywhere, I added quotation marks.))
In this pathetic state,((= situation, sight)) saying that I do music is nothing but an excuse for bumming”

“If you wanna be a rapper, you gotta be a few levels above the noraebang kids((Reference to so-called ‘noraebang rappers’, people who only rap at noraebang))
There’s a competition,((Youth Hiphop Festival (청소년 힙합 페스티벌) in Daegu))  shall I participate?”
My first challenge at the age of seventeen. “There’s no other kid
who quit everything like me so I should participate and win against them all”

I went there and the judge was Onesun. JJK who had won in the previous year
held a congratulatory concert with rappers from Daegu
I didn’t know that there were other rappers
in the Korean underground besides Master Plan

After seeing them, I realized that there were others like me who quit everything for rap
I was probably thinking too naively and got a bit nervous
After rapping in front of passersby who stopped to watch,
the result was that I won, yeah

When it ended, someone who rapped on stage earlier called out to me:
Virus’ Minos. He told me to come hang out at his place some time
I went. He said there was going to be a hiphop concert at club Heavy((Hiphop Train))
so I should go and rap one track. Shit, on that night I went wild

Hook)
On to the next level
Just on to the next level
One step after the other in order
If I’m going to do this, then I do it properly
Now just on to the next level

Verse 2)
The first concert of my life, the entrance fee were 3,000 won
I was definitely rapping with my eyes open but I didn’t see anything
At that time I felt it, “Ah, I’m still just an amateur”
Afterwards, I followed the hyungs around, went to clubs too

Five months after having dropped out of school, I participated in a competition in Seoul((According to this source, it was the ‘5th Hiphop Festival with Topics’ (주제가 있는 힙합페스티벌) which was held by the Women’s Center as part of the Cultural Activities for the Youth and the topics were The Youth’s Thoughts on Relationships/Dating and Messages against Bullying, School Violence, Corporal Punishment.))
I went to Dongdaemun for the first time, there were quite a few guys with stylish clothes
The judge was MC Meta, I won again,((Winner: Kang Minho, first-year student of Dukwon High School with the song ‘수줍은 용기’ [Shy Courage] (topic: Youth’s Thoughts on Relationships/Dating), he received high points for his excellent storytelling; you can watch a fanmade video with the song here.))
smiling as though naturally everyone from Kyungsang-do had this attitude

Third place was Fana, who was second place again? Anyway,
at the congratulatory concert performed the competition’s previous winner, The Quiett
It was since then that I went back and forth between Seoul and Kyungsang
I’ve seen a lot of people, I also have a label now

But at the time we hadn’t been to the center of this game yet
Paloalto, Deepflow, Simon D in Busan
21-year-old RHYME-A- was the jungle prince((Possibly a reference to the manga and anime series Kimba the White Lion; the Korean title is Jungle Prince Leo))
I was the best high school rapper, it was my source of pride all the time

When we all held a concert together, there were about 60 people in the audience
At the afterparty we said: “Let us too turn the scene around!”
From Blue Oyster Farm, MP, to club Geeks
After changing [location] twice, I stood on that stage for the first time

Hook)
On to the next level
Just on to the next level (don’t talk about it, be about it)
One step after the other in order
If I’m going to do this, then I do it properly
Now just on to the next level

Verse 3)
After the contract with Karasadae((가라사대, former hiphop label of e.g. Primary, Koonta, Jinbo, P-type, Isaac Squab, TKO; dissolved due to the leave of its CEO Saatan)) we dissolved, and then after the contract with Tyle Music
I elatedly moved to Seoul where I lived at a stranger’s place
I thought I had come closer to my dream, but in only a few weeks
the contract fees of 500,000 won were spent and I started feeling the pinch

The label went broke and, “Fuck it, I don’t need the deal, son”
My position was a bit different from Dok2 who didn’t want
to appear on TV as All Black. I couldn’t pay my rent so I helped out at construction sites
I was ready to row, but the water wouldn’t come in

Ten days a month I worked, made music for fifteen days, and went to drinking parties for five
Because of my damned attitude of staying true to myself, my music was in reality profitless
Four rappers living together on a rooftop in Yeongdeungpo
miserably ordered one chicken and shared it

“It can’t go on like this.” I formed a team with Simon D and went to Busan to work part-time
at a b-boy musical((Here‘s a short video of the musical B SHOW, hands down if you can spot E SENS and Simon D)) where I received 3 mil a month
However, that became a big hit every weekend in Hongdae
The first solo concert under our name had an audience of 1,200, wow!