inspiration // voltron ✧ klance soundcloud au
Ch. 1:
Formally: The Tailor
FULL FIC HERE:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
"I don't know, Hunk. 'The Tailor' doesn't really work for me anymore."
Lance whirled around to face Hunk in his desk chair, and crossed his legs.
"I was thinking 'The Sharpshooter' instead. Got a nice ring to it, right?"
He laid back in his chair in satisfaction, while Hunk just nodded, continuing his work.
Lance was sitting back at his desk, scrolling through his phone, and visibly procrastinating on the school project he had up on his laptop screen. The desk was at the foot of his bed in their dorm room, where Hunk’s setup was mirrored on the other side of the room. With their beds up against the wall and desks at the end of their beds it was a bit cramped, but what dorm room isn't? A beat up guitar case and a bunch of other musical equipment were leaning up against the wall closest to the door, in a delicate way, almost as if that were their most precious belongings, as they were the only organized things in that room. A small mini-fridge was in between their beds with a cheap coffee machine sitting on top, along with a loose extension cord. It seemed like they used the top of the fridge as a nightstand of some sort, at least Lance did, anyway. He had tan skin and wavy hair, in much need of a haircut but it suited him well. He was wearing a hoodie and pajama pants. Hunk wasn’t much different with wardrobe, but had his mid-length hair up in a bun and big headphones on his head. He enjoyed working on music, and had already finished his homework to be able to. They enjoyed engaging in parallel play when they weren’t chatting it up or making music together.
The two boys have been creating music for over a year on SoundCloud, and got tons of positive feedback. This was Lance's last album being 'The Tailor', and decided to go with a different name. They've been a dynamic musical duo since they met at Garrison University 2 years ago, auditioning for every talent show and taking any gig they got.
"Alright, I'm done with the base beat. Wanna take a listen?" Hunk said lifting his eyes off the computer screen, and onto Lance's sitting figure, who was scrolling through his phone.
"Blast it, Hunk." Hunk nodded slightly as he played the beat, to which Lance was bobbing his head to while closing his eyes. After four measures of listening, Lance started rap freestyling, and like always, was recording it on his phone. He always takes a feel of the music, and listens to the beats and what vibe it conveys. He went with whatever felt right, and it usually worked out beautifully. He had a way with words, they just seemed to float out of him. Most wouldn't expect it coming from Lance, but given his skill of smooth-talking, it isn't much of a shock.
After freestyling a bit, Lance mentioned to stop the beat.
"Do you think we'll need Nyma? I think it's one of those songs that need a lil cute singy part." Lance asked.
Hunk gave Lance a knowing look.
"Lance, she played you. We don't need some dusty whore because of her voice. I don't care if you guys are on good terms."
Lance nodded. "Alright, we'll have to find another voice to feature. Let's start tomorrow? It's getting late."
Hunk agreed and saved the progress on the track, and they both headed to their respective beds to scroll on their phones til they fell asleep.
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WEEKS EARLIER, AT KALTENECKER RECORDS
"Keith, are you sure about this?" Katie said nervously into the recording booth microphone.
Keith just nodded with his oversized studio headphones, and the beat played.
The studio they were using was Kaltenecker Studios, one of the big two in the industry. Keith was very fortunate to be picked up and taken in with the help of his brother—Takashi, one of the best R&B singers of this generation—before he went into the military. Yes, Keith was unfortunately a nepo kid, although through adoption, and it's been visibly weighing on him lately. Keith had short black hair, modeled after his brother, with his signature undercut, although he grew out more of his hair on the top than he did. He was wearing all-black sweatpants and a hoodie, with white air forces. His pale complexion contrasted his hair, clothing, and the walls behind him. The studio was lavish, lined all around with velvet black walls and plaques, boasting the studio's accomplishments from their chosen artists. A majority of the plaques boasted the famed singer Allura, who broke numerous records with her insane vocal talent. The equipment was all in gold and silver to match the luxurious aesthetic. Keith stood in the studio recording while Katie and another producer sat at the soundboard. Katie was a shorter woman, wearing a pantsuit with a tidy short ginger bob. She looked up to Edna Mode, after all. Her large circular glasses rested on her freckled covered nose, as she paid attention to the vocals and settings on the soundboard.
Keith wasn't known to make the most meaningful music, he made more of the club music or trendy poppin bottles and getting hoes kinda music. It was fun and great and all, but he randomly got convicted to make more than just that. He had the skill and the platform, and now wanted to put it to use.
"I gave up my all, When I felt lost not one of y'all called, When I took off, everybody else starved, I don't really understand what y'all on, What y'all want, I can't live, Can't be free, Can't be here. Gave my sweat, gave my tears, Gave up all the best of my years, Had to give everything, I ain't gain anything, Just pain and more sadness, Just brush strokes, blank stares, no details and no canvas. I ain't livin' for your love, Case dismissed I don't need another judge, I ain't got every thing off my chest, But I got one more thing to confess."
After a successful recording day, Keith walked out of the booth. Katie ran up to him with a concerned look on her face.
"You do realize this can change your audience and rep, right?"
"As long as I write music about things that actually matter, I'll be okay. I made it this far.
Keith shrugged and looked at Katie with a frustrated and conflicted look in his eye.
"Even if my career is over, I'll go down doing what I think is much more meaningful, and I think that's more important."
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Lance woke up to his alarm, and slammed the snooze. He wasn't exactly a morning person, and it drove Hunk insane to have to hear his 32 alarms each morning while Lance slept through each and every single one of them. After the 15th alarm went off and was immediately snoozed by Lance, Hunk slowly got up, shook Lance, and threw on an old hoodie.
"Lance, wake up. I'm not about to let you freeload on my notes again. Not in the mood. Up."
Lance groans and covers his face with his blanket, just for Hunk to rip it off, and give him a tired glare. Lance returned the glare with an angry pout, and stared at the ceiling for a couple minutes, trying to boot up his brain. After Lance finally got up, he made some coffee from the cheap coffee machine in their dorm, and headed down the hallway to their morning classes. ----- After they finished their first class, they had a 3 hour window until their next class. The duo decided to go out for more coffee, so they hopped in the car. While on the road, a song just finished and the radio host started talking.
"We have some very interesting news about Cheif Keith this morning!"
Lance scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Ugh, not in the mood to hear about banging hoes this morning, it's still too early to get turnt up." Lance said, rubbing his eyes, still really exhausted. The morning lecture on economics didn't help.
Hunk gave Lance a shocked expression. "Never thought I'd hear that from you ever."
"Oh c'mon, Chief is mid compared to Pitbull and them. His stuff is not worth hearing this early, but Pitbull's is. It's raunchy."
Hunk looked confused but shrugged, as he couldn't argue with that logic.
"Chief Keith has released a single, and it's got a different spin on his usual vibe. Up next, New Leaf, featuring Rolo!"
Lance and Hunk turned at each other.
"Woah, Rolo?" Hunk said with raised eyebrows.
"That's that R&B singer that had that scandal a couple of years back, yeah? What's he doing in a song with Chief Keith?" Said Lance, as he turned up the volume.
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After a brief listen to the new single, Lance and Hunk were pleasantly surprised. This definitely wasn't his usual type of music.
"That was 'New Leaf, ft. Rolo'! The Chief really seems to be switching it up with his style! Up next--"
Lance turned off the radio, and they drove in silence. Both because of their sheer college-and-living-in-dorms exhaustion and pleasant shock. What could cause such a big change in his music?
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"His name is 'The Tailor' or something on Soundcloud. He's the reason why I decided to drop the act and start making meaningful music." Keith said as he sipped his coffee.
"A SoundCloud rapper--" said Katie in a scolding tone "--is the reason you changed your content?"
Keith just nodded as he sipped the last drops in his cup. He could tell that Katie wasn't impressed, and scrambled to grab his phone for proof. "Here, want to hear one of his tracks?" He said, pushing his phone in her direction with Soundcloud open.
Katie just stood there with arms crossed, with an annoyed look on her face. She lowered her arms and exhales audibly. "I guess, yeah, sure" " she said while pinching the bridge of her nose.
Keith turned on his most popular track, "Getaway".
Keith pressed play, and watched the comments left at each second of the song pop onto the screen. There was a lot of support for this guy, and it was surprisingly not as cringey as Katie expected, especially after expecting the worst cringe "I'm so sad" kind of music to play from his phone. A couple minutes passed, the last chorus played, and Keith looked up at Katie with expectation as he put his phone close to his chest.
"Wow." Katie was pleasantly surprised with this guy's track, and exhaled when she understood what was going on. "You're right, Keith. He does have good music. But are you sure you want to go through with a content change? I mean, you got a lot going for you right now, is it worth it?"
"Definitely. Can we get him here at Kaltenecker Records ASAP? Like can you make that happen?"
Katie gave him a fed up look, got up, began to walk off, and waved her hand behind her dismissively.
"You're the best!" Keith yelled as she walked away.
Keith exhaled and looked back down, looking at the album cover for the Tailor on his phone. He could barely make out the guy's face on the cover, as it was more of a silhouette of a dude with a grassy field behind him. "I'll need all the help I could get from this guy."
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hey yall, it's the author. I'm currently revising old chapters and gonna continue with new ones soon. thanks!
