Breaking Rules

RULE # 55: BREAK AWAY

The Chains of the Past

Mai looked out the very bust street as morning traffic began. She, and the rest of the group had just finished eating and were being served coffee, when she decided that it was high time she began her story. She had known that they would have to learn of this soon but she had not expected last night's events. However, there was nothing else she could do. "The President came to L.A. to meet me after months of saying no to Brothers Entertainment. I initially didn't want to come here because I had a vision where us – Asian women – can rule the Undergrounds of L.A."

"They called you the princess of the underground there" Dae commented, showing his familiarity with Mai's publicized background.

She nodded. "I had to battle out a lot of great rappers out there. Some of them's even made it big up in Cali."

"Missy Elliot was with you" Seung-ri added.

"Well... she and me really didn't get to do a lot of things because I was about to leave when she'd just begun but we've kept ourselves in contact because I admire what she's been able to do. The President has offered a chance for me to change the hip-hop and rnb music scene here in Korea. I've followed his career with Seo Taiji and admired their work as well. I thought I should give this a chance because as he told me – if I wanted to change how Asian women are seen in the music industry, I should begin from home."

"So... you came down here then?" Bom asked.

"I did but I wasn't alone. At that time, my boyfriend – you'll remember him, he goes by the name MURD.O.C. - came with me. He's also half-Korean and half-Japanese. We both decided to train under YG."

"I thought you and Danny-hyung and Manager were the ones who trained together?" CL inquired.

"I came a year before Danny and Teddy. Danny had been my friend ever since and a month before I left I got the chance to meet Teddy. I introduced them to each other and the both of them hit it off right there. I'd seen potential in your manager the first time I heard him rap and I told Danny to make sure to always tag him along underground. I wanted the both of them to come down here too. And when they'd seen the potential of what they can do out here as well, they became very excited about it."

"The President was skeptical about them because he had not even heard of what they could do. He was also really busy and didn't have the time to see to new recruits. So, I decided to fly back and do some records with them. My boyfriend decided to stay because at that time, Jinu and Sean were recording collaborations with him."

"It had been a year since I came back and I immensely missed Danny and the rest of the guys. I'd become close to Teddy because we've exchanged e-mails and they usually made me listen to their songs over the phone. The phone bill at our apartment skyrocketed but the President knew that I could be in to something so he let me."

"Was this the time you realized you were in love with Manager-hyung?" Seung-ri asked excitedly, earning a jab on the rib from CL who was listening intently.

"Ow! We'll come to that" Mai told him with a smile "But no. I'd only seen Teddy as a really really good friend. He has this dorky side –"

"The Manager?!?" Minji exclaimed.

Mai laughed "Yes. You're Manager. He can be dorky" she sipped coffee and continued "I talked to Brothers Entertainment so we could use a good studio for the recording. I promised them a commission from my first album out here if they would support Danny and Teddy."

"The President liked what they could do and they both came down here to train. We looked for other recruits here too because the President had a lot of plans. He wanted to form a group of ladies and a group of guys other than just solo artists and duos. He even wanted to have artists who'd be just acting. Everything that YG is now is because of all the visions that the President had."