บท 7: Young talents.
Mark's recent studio album seems to be performing at least better than the ones he had dropped in the past. The streaming numbers the album had gathered in the music streaming platforms seemed a bit encouraging, but it wasn't enough to bring him to the limelight at all. On that very Saturday morning, at the time of 9:00 am, Mark was still lying flat on his bed, he just felt like laying like that on the bed all day, he was in his lazy mood. He checked his statistic tablet to see how well his recent studio album was performing. He was supposed to be amused by the streaming numbers the album had already gathered within a day, but he wasn't. The album got a few more streaming numbers than what he was used to getting within a day, but he didn't want a few more streaming numbers, he wanted much more streaming numbers.
"Can a few more streaming numbers make me a big artiste and attain me fame? No, so it's a waste". Mark said to himself asking and answering his question.
Today had been scheduled for the shooting of the music video of one of Mark's songs in his recent studio album. The studio album consisted of 7 track singles, but only one of the track single was going to have visuals for it. Mark jerked off from his bed only because he knew he had a video shoot to participate in. The music video director and his crews were already prepared at one of the locations where the video shoot was to take place. Everyone was fully prepared and ready for the video shoot, the dancers were ready to spice up the music video with their dancing skills, the video director was fully ready to direct the music video well and make it colorful, the sound managers and the rest of the crew were prepared and ready, but Mark was nowhere to be found.
They were already getting tired and impatient of waiting for Mark, they had been waiting for over an hour now.
"What is keeping Mark so long, we've been waiting here for long, or has he forgotten about the video shoot"? The video director inquired out loudly with a bit of anger in his voice.
They waited for a few more minutes before Mark arrived at the location of the video shoot. He was such a fashionista, his dressing was so smart and cool. The video director burst out in rash loud words towards Mark immediately he saw him,
"Mark, what's wrong with you, do you know how long you've kept us waiting here? I thought we scheduled a time for us to meet for the video shoot to be done immediately, so why do you kept us waiting".
Mark didn't like the loud and rash voice the director was using on him, but he knew he was at fault here for keeping them waiting, so he calmed down before replying to the director.
"Calm down bro, chill, I was very lazy this morning, so lazy that I couldn't even get off the bed, so.....
"You were so lazy this morning that you couldn't get off the bed, is that enough reason for you to keep us waiting for so long". The director said cutting his words short.
"Ok, I am so sorry for keeping you guys waiting, I am really sorry". Mark said apologizing, he didn't want the issue to be prolonged.
The expression on their faces showed that they accepted his apology, so he blurted out once more,
"Can we go ahead with the video shoot now"?
"Yh". They said.
The makeup artist and fashion designers played their part by grooming Mark and the other participants that were going to take part in the music video. The cameramen set up their cameras well to the right spot for the shoot, the sound managers played their parts and the dancers were ready to spice up the video shoot with their dance steps. The video shoot began and the director tried his best to direct the video in the best way he could. The video was well shot and completed in that location, they were to move to the next and final location for the video shoot to be fully completed.
They moved over to the next location with the director's van. The next shoot was for Mark only, no dancers or other participants were to take part in it. The shoot was done and finalized within an hour, what was remaining was for the video to be well packaged and well-edited by an editor before releasing it. Shooting of music videos was one of Mark's favorite hobbies back then when he first got signed to the 'COOL BOIZ' record label. But as time passed by, that zeal Mark had for shooting music videos gradually shrank because his music videos do gather little views on his YouTube channel. While other big artiste in the music industry were gathering up to 60million views and above from their music videos, his music videos gather nothing higher than 100 thousand to 250 thousand views on YouTube.
He was so depressed back then, not only that his music videos were gathering views lesser than his expectations, the streaming numbers his songs and album do gather in the music streaming platforms were way lesser than his expectations also. Even though he is still fed up with how slow his music career seems to be moving for years now, he isn't as depressed and sad as he was back then, thanks to ben's encouraging words.
After the music video shooting was completed, everyone went their separate ways. The traffic on the main road was so much that all vehicles had to be on standstill, there was no space or chance for movement at all for all automobiles. That gave Mark more reason to trek to his destination, the mid-afternoon sun wasn't that hot, it was warm in a cool way, there won't be much body sweats and it will make trekking much easier. On his way to his destination, something caught his attention that he had to stand on the spot looking at that amazing stuff that left him on standstill.
A young boy in his early teens was rapping as he was vibing to the beat that was being displayed by a DJ. A rap competition was taking place among the young ones around that environment. What marveled Mark was how swift and cool the young boy rapped, Mark couldn't just move a bit from where he was standing. He had to find a nice shaded place to sit on, he was hooked to the young boy's rapping skills, he wanted to watch the competition to the very end. The whole place was filled with people who also wanted to watch the rap competition to its climax.
Mark watched as young children took turns to display their rap skills, he was so amused by what he was seeing. He was more amused when he saw young female ones displaying their rap skills also, but none of their rapping skills was as amazing as the first boy's own.
"Wow! what a nice talent from young ones, our future musicians and rappers". Mark said to himself smiling a bit and nodding his head in affirmation.
The rap competition was done and over with, now it was about time for the people watching to vote out the winner of the rap competition. The voting was done and over with, and the first boy that rapped so swiftly emerged as the winner. The young boy was so happy as he received lots of cheering and praise from people that loved his rapping skills and voted for him. Other young ones who participated in the rap contest received gifts, but the young boy received more gifts.
Mark was so glad to see that the boy emerged the winner of the rap contest, he expected it from the very moment he heard the young boy's rapping skills. He wanted to converse with the boy to know more about him and how he came to love rapping to this extent, so he approached the young boy,
"Young boy, how are you doing? I can see that you are so happy to win the rap contest". Mark said to the boy with a welcoming face.
"Yes sir, I am so happy to win the contest, I put in my best while rapping, but I didn't expect to emerge as the winner of the competition". The young boy said with happiness written all over his face.
"To be very sincere, you are such a good rapper, the moment I heard your rapping skills, I had to wait to listen to it to the very end". Mark stated complimenting and boosting the boy's morale.
"Thanks so much, I had always loved music from when I was very little, and I discovered that I was also good at rapping, so I have been exploring it since then, and my parent does support me a lot". The young boy said.
"Wow! that's so nice of your parent, if I may ask, what's your name and how old are you". Mark inquired.
"My name is Samuel, and I am 14years old". The boy replied to him.
"That's cool, all I can say to you is for you to keep on chasing your dreams of becoming a rapper, keep on striving, and someday, you gonna fly and go to greater heights". Mark said tapping the boy's shoulder.
"Thanks so much, I appreciate your encouraging words". Samuel said with a face and voice filled with so much happiness.
Mark smiled at the boy and walked away, on his way moving, he thought of the last encouraging words he said to Samuel and said to himself,
"I wish I could attain such height as an artiste".
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