School House Rap

So I was forced into doing this school festival today. Three-four weeks ago, I said "no" ten times to Mr. Bae. And not just Korean "no's," or "aniyo" in Korean, but I said big, FAT, American "no's" to Mr. Bae: "no, I will not sing a duet with you in this year's school festival." I said "no" ten times. He left with a sad face, but I finally got to say "no" to something. (By the way, Koreans rarely say "no." Its just part of their culture. So, when you flat out say "no," they are shocked!)

Two weeks later:

Mr. Bae: "Hey Mark, I saw that your name is in the program for the school festival. So looks like we're going to do a duet together after all...so we must prepare something for the program. The kids are expecting to see something from you soon."

Mark: "...great." (I should have said "no" one hundred times)

But in my mind, I was like, "forget this man, if I sing, I will turn into the laughing stock of the school." My singing skills are so bad that people wonder if I am the cat on the fence doing the yowling.

So, I turned my attentions to something I'm decent at, but I have no true affinity towards: hip-hop. I am no Theory Hazit or Ohmega Watts, but I like to rap now and then. I certainly don't have the skills to go and rock a crowd, but I enjoy putting together my own rhymes and making something flow with a beat.

So I opted out of singing a duet and recruited one of my students to help me. This boy, Kim Suk-jin, from class six, volunteered to do a beatbox: making verbal hip-hop beats.

Beatboxing is an art form, technically, that is long gone now. In the 1980's, when the hip-hop revolution was growing, some of the more fun aspects of young hip-hop was breakdancing and beatboxing. Kids in America were definitely into it, I was into it when I was growing up in Germany trying to mimic the dopest techno beats. (I remember in 1992 when Germans were all into Shaquille O'Neal's first hip-hop album...which was one of the worst hip-hop albums ever)

But kids in Korea are into this beatboxing/breakdancing phase (20 years late), and they are pretty good at it. Its funny now cuz the hip-hop interests back in America are more into newer things, while the kids in Korea are picking up from the 80's.

So this kid and I practiced for around 3 days, just 3 days right before the festival. I wrote a quick rap, in English of course, and this kid and I were trying to find the perfect beat to go with it.

But in the end, I was thinking to myself: "why should I be too concerned about my lyrics? 90% of the crowd won't understand anyway!"

Then, something came over me: "Do it for God. Do it for Him."

You know, I don't have too many chances to perform all the time. Some people are called to do the music ministry, but for me, I was not that talented to do anything on stage. Maybe give a testimony or two...but to rap?

I rapped once in 2003, with my boy Amir and I doing a Thanksgiving rap for a few dozen plus at a inter-Christian organization Thanksgiving service. It went down real well, receiving a standing ovation as Amir and I traded rhymes and beatboxes.

Then comes this in 2007. I have not rapped in four years live...like I have a career in the first place! These people won't understand my lyrics, they don't understand the true essence of hip-hop in the English language...since it was Americans who started the art. So I was like, "I'll make my audience God and Heaven."

I stepped on stage with Kim Suk-jin, and I was real nervous. It was a huge audience. All the students eyes on me...the foreigner about to rock the stage.

I just started rapping, and confidence came on me...something that picked up more and more, and I started flowing. Suk-jin was doing fine on his end of the mic, but then I signaled to him after a certain rhyme to stop his beatbox so I could finish it off with this one hook where I rapped really fast.

Again, I'm not the best MC, but for some reason, God made that rhyme special. The kids were into it, and I finished it off well.

I put a lot of lyrics in their about giving glory to God, and the cool thing was one teacher, Mrs. Kim Eun-jung, a teacher at my school who is married to an American man, caught that in my rhyme. She said, "I like that idea, giving Glory to God." If I could at least touch one person's heart, my job is done. Maybe it can open the door to something new.

So, the school house rap, while no one else got it, but at least one person got the whole idea and that's great. Someone listened, and all of that backbreaking practice was productive.

Thanks God for the assist.