#solo:rap

MARCH EVALUATION !

               skills tested: rapping + creativity

Rapping. It’s something Jinri had never even come close to considering for herself. After only a tiny bit of practice, she realized she really can’t pull off the whole tough girl rapper dynamic. However, she can hold a beat fairly well, though she always manages to sound like she’s trying to half-sing, half-speak the words instead of just rapping them. 

Key hasn't had to spend as much time on set this week -- nobody has, not even the ones playing main characters, like Mina and Taemin. They're still filming, of course, but apparently there just aren't as many things to work on as usual. It's nice, honestly, to be able to go back to training with everyone, even the main actors who haven't had as much training time lately.

Key's been thinking about trying this for a while now, but he kept putting off actually attending the workshop. However, now that everyone else seems to be excited about having time to actually focus on their training now, it seems he's gotten a surge of motivation as well, so he figures that now's as good a time as any to try out rapping.

The moment he steps into the workshop, he realizes that he's one of only two trainees present: and he even got here a little bit late. There are two coaches in the room as well, so while one stays wirh the other trainee, another comes over to work with Key, who mentally cheers: it'll be nice to have a coach all to himself for a whole workshop.

He didn't expect it to be this sparsely populated, though he supposes he probably should have. Rapping is hardly a staple of Royal, which focuses mostly on singing and charisma. He thinks for a moment that being a rapper here must be even worse than being a dancer: it's not like rapping is necessary for an idol, not like dancing. Everybody has to dance, but Royal's groups could probably get by with one or two mediocre rappers, if any at all.

key already knows how to rap. he started picking up the ability when he was a dancer on the street, and he's done it on occasion, but for the most part he's focused on dancing and honing his singing skills in lessons with jieun. however, he's never had a formal lesson in rapping, he just kind of figured it out from listening to rap songs and watching others do it on the street. he's certainly not as confident in his rap skills as he is in his dancing, but he figures that he can't be horrible at it, right?

in the workshop, he learns that rapping is all about rhythm, though he had known that going in. he did learn something new, though: unlike dance, in rap you can create your own rhythm. key now knows why choreographing a song that's nothing but rap is hard for him -- its rhythm is often different than the standard one most songs and dances follow.

to the untrained ear, the instructor explains, rapping can seem like nothing more than speaking on top of a beat. but it's definitely more than that; a rap is the performer's chosen method of expressing what's important to them. it's definitely a cheesy way of putting it, but key can't say he doesn't understand. what else is performing, if not a way to express yourself?

he zones out for a few minutes, thinking about how sad it is that in the eyes of companies, performers are nothing more than ways of making money. music and performance is a method of entertainment, sure, but for key it's so much more than that: it's a method of expression, and he feels like sometimes idols and idol hopefuls like the people in this workshop with him tend to forget that.