hollywood billionaire

Chapter 232 VMA Awards Ceremony

“So salty!”

When the first chopsticks of noodles entered the mouth, Xu Yiru's face wrinkled into a bitter gourd.

"The new teaching building...is there a discount on buying salt?"

"Yes, it was built by people from Zigong." Han Yi took a sip of the soup with a few spoonfuls of hot sauce and joked, "It's just right for me."

"Don't eat such heavy food, it's not good for your health." Xiao Ru babbled and stood up, using a free transparent plastic cup to get some ice water for Han Yi, and put it in front of him, "Drink more water and less carbonic acid. drinks."

In the past, no matter how unhealthy Han Yi's lifestyle was, Xu Yiru could only give him a gentle reminder.

But things are different now. You have to take care of your own pigs until they are fat and healthy.

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Han Yi smiled and pushed aside the Coke that came with the ramen set. "Why did you finish class so early today?"

"Because it was the first day of school, the professor didn't want to go to class. He went through the syllabus and let us go."

"Yes, indeed."

Han Yi nodded. This has always been the case in American universities. In addition to professors and students alike, they are still immersed in the atmosphere of summer vacation and have not recovered. After classes start, the school will also set aside two to three weeks for students to make choices. , you can add or drop a course at any time.Therefore, professors usually arrange substantive teaching content in the second week and later. The first class mainly introduces the overall structure of the course itself, as well as the calculation method and distribution of final grades.

At USC, classes begin on August 8, and September 22 is the last day to drop classes without being marked with a "W".Of course, the vast majority of students will not wait until three weeks before choosing to drop out, because by that time the other courses they want to take are basically full. If they drop out at that time, it is very likely that they will not have enough credits for this semester.If you only take 9 credits in a certain semester, you will need to earn 9 credits in the next two semesters to make up for it.

Han Yi's course selection method is to first select 18 credits based on the requirements of the major and his own interests.In the first week, he tried every course once to see... which course was more difficult to score, he would drop it decisively and make up a 2-credit course to ensure that his GPA was always at the level of 3.9. .

As for Xu Yiru, this girl doesn't know how to write the word "give up".Any course she chooses will only have two outcomes in the end.

The first result is to pass with an A grade and get a 4.0 grade point.

The second result is that if the professor gives you an A+, you can easily get another A+.

"But you guys seem to have a full schedule today, right?" Xiao Ru tilted her head and looked at Han Yi, "I sat on your stairs on the first floor for almost an hour before you came out."

"Don't mention it." Han Yi replied with a look of dismay on his face, "Recite syllabus for 10 minutes and introduce yourself for an hour and a half."

Generally speaking, except for a few small classes with less than 25 students, few professors at the undergraduate level will ask students to introduce themselves in the first class.Needless to say, general education courses. For example, HIST 200gm, American History, has a maximum registration capacity of 200 students. In the end, 169 students enrolled in the course, and they had to sit in the large lecture hall of Taper Hall 101 to attend class. For in-class tests, each student is given a sensor button to answer, making it look like "Jeopardy!"

As for those large professional courses with dozens of students, the professors are not interested in knowing each student's situation.Not to mention that you can drop classes at will in the first three weeks. The names you remember today may disappear tomorrow. The undergraduate course itself is more focused on imparting knowledge. Most of the grade points are related to exams and papers that need to be completed independently. Even if there are Presentations and group discussions are generally just additional components of the course.

The situation is different at the postgraduate level. Take the curriculum of the arts management major at the Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California that Han Yi chose as an example. It takes up two years and four semesters, and the required courses take up most of the time, with only two courses. Elective courses are open in the first semester of graduate school and in the second semester of graduate school.And even for elective courses, there are strict scope restrictions, and you can only choose from the four arts leadership courses established by the college.

This is the fundamental reason why Han Yi took the first class today for several hours. General management courses originally had many group projects, and students did not have the luxury of choosing other alternatives, so the professor felt free to ask them to do some Nothing new in ice-breaking activities.

This made Han Yi very depressed.

Only then did he realize that not every aspect of the campus life he wanted to extend seemed attractive.

At least he has no interest in remembering the names of his new classmates. There is no need to bother getting to know people who are destined to never meet in the future.

So, after briefly introducing his name and hiding basically everything except his name, Han Yi crossed his arms and sat in the embarrassing social circle that the professor specially asked them to surround. Inside, he stared at each of the classmates who spoke without focus, and replaced their faces with Xu Yiru's in his mind one by one.

It's so annoying, why do we still have classmates when we go to school?

It would be nice if there were only him and Xiaoru in every class.

"Stop complaining, what's wrong with meeting more new friends?"

Xu Yiru naturally gave Han Yi a piece of her sushi roll.

"Next, study hard. Don't wait until we graduate to summa cum laude or never cum laude. It will look very embarrassing."

Han Yi's master's degree life has not even begun yet, and Xiao Ru is already imagining the scene of receiving his diploma together with him.

"I get angry when I talk about this." Han Yi muttered, "I'm two years ahead of you, and I have to graduate with you. It's totally unreasonable."

"How shameless?" Xu Yiru smiled like a lucky cat.

"It's quite shameless." Han Yi shrugged, "My mother will definitely say to me again when she comes over, 'Look at Xiao Ru, who graduated two years early and is so outstanding. Look at you again, you can't even fold the sheets.'"

"Auntie can't." Xiaoru held her chin and blinked.

Why would auntie compare like this?

Auntie will only think that my daughter-in-law is super awesome.

"and……"

Xiaoru, whose face turned redder and redder as she thought about it, muttered.

"The sooner I graduate, the sooner I can help you."

As if a large syringe full of Somatian was pushed into his veins, Han Yi's pupils shrank slightly and he didn't recover for a long time.

How could there be such a sweet girl whose punctuation marks are covered in honey?

It's too foul!
"But... don't think so." Han Yi coughed twice and drank the ice water that calmed him down. "After studying hard for so many years, you should still do something you really love after graduation. Don't allow oneself……"

"Why." A cold light flashed, and Xiaoru narrowed her eyes slightly, "She can help, but I can't help?"

"I can help, I can help." Han Yi quickly raised his hands in surrender, "I just want to say, what I mean is..."

"Okay, I know, no need to explain."

Xu Yiru, who was never really angry in the first place, would give up when she saw the opportunity. She knew very well that it was okay to act coquettishly, but it would be very annoying if it became a fixed behavior pattern.Whether she helps Han Yi or does other things by herself without helping Han Yi, Xiaoru actually doesn't have any firm plans, she just...

She was very unhappy when she thought that Han Yi had a "work wife" in the office.

"By the way, are you...going to New York on the 28th?"

"Yes." Understanding that Xiao Ru had something else to say, Han Yi swallowed a mouthful of saliva, nodded sincerely and said, "I told you about the VMA awards ceremony."

"Who is participating?"

"Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Beyoncé..."

"You know that's not what I wanted to ask."

"Oh, basically every artist in our company will attend, especially those who have performed well on the recent charts, such as Xiao Huo, Xiao Ha, Xiaomai..."

"Han Yi..."

"I'm going." Han Yi broke out in a cold sweat when Xu Yiru called him by his first name, and quickly brought the topic back to the other party's concern, "Youzhen is going too."

"but……"

Han Yi pressed down his hands and emphasized.

"It will be busy from morning to early morning, and it can be described as overcrowded."

"Overcrowded..." Xu Yiru stared at him thoughtfully, "Oh?"

"Yes, there are at least three or four artists around me at all times, and even more so at home... I'm talking about the apartment in New York. It will be open to Han Music, including some artists from UTA, for makeup, rest, etc. There is also a gathering place.”

"If you don't believe it, I'll take a video and show it to you."

"look……"

Six days later, Han Yi faithfully fulfilled his promise and stood in the northeast corner of the salon area of ​​One57#79, moving the camera from left to right to take a panoramic video of Xiaoru.

This apartment has never been so busy since it was delivered with the building in 2014.

As Han Yi said, his penthouse with a Central Park view is indeed packed with musicians from Han Music and UTA.

The closest ones to him were Horsi and G-Eazy. They each chose a black leather recliner and allowed the makeup artist to work on their faces in the most comfortable way.The two chatted quite well, and from time to time they burst into heart-warming laughter.

It is not difficult to see that there is nothing to worry about in their recent career development.

Young Gerald has been maintaining this status for some time. His second studio album "When It's Dark Out" just received the RIAA platinum record certification on the 6th of last month.The hit single "Me, Myself n I" peaked at No. 17 on the charts, giving him a highly popular breakout song.Four weeks ago, his new single "Make Me...", a collaboration with Britney, was officially released. It debuted at No. [-] in the first week and is still in the top [-] of the singles chart.

Tonight, he will perform a two-song medley with the former pop diva at Madison Square Garden in front of 650 million viewers across the United States.This Auckland boy who started from humble beginnings has already opened the door to the temple of wealth with his sharp tongue.

Horch is even more exaggerated than him. His first album debuted at the runner-up spot on the album chart, and it has been certified double platinum so far.She has quickly become the standard-bearer of the new generation of independent pop, and has won top spots at the world's top music festivals. Capital, specifically Han Yi, spent US$1800 million to create a partnership with her.

The first time I collaborated with a mainstream singer was Justin Bieber.The second time is "Closer" which is currently ranked 6th on the singles chart.The new week’s list won’t be announced until next Tuesday, but whether it’s from radio data or streaming performance, a rocket-like rise is no longer enough to describe its growth.This electronic pop song is of perfect quality in all aspects and has quickly become the topic that everyone is listening to and discussing at the end of this summer.

In the week of September 9rd, it is a high probability event to defeat "Cold Water" and reach the top of the rankings. Even if it regrets to be ranked second, there is no doubt that it will accumulate momentum to complete its destined explosion like its direct competitors.

Due to the combined popularity, Horsch sold a total of 2016 tickets at Madison Square Garden during the New York stop of the "Badlands" tour of the same name, which ended on August 8, 13, setting a career high.

What concept?

The Future Now: The Tour concert held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on the same day had a total capacity of 7112 people and only sold 6823 tickets.

In other words, the two seniors who have been in the industry for more than ten years together cannot beat this newcomer who did not know where to open the door of the record company two and a half years ago.

If it weren't for the two warm-up guests who even Live Nation was glad to have chosen correctly to support them, Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas would probably lose even more miserably.

With the script of a winner in life and only one step away from a new career peak, Horsi now has no other mission except enjoyment.

"Boss...are you taking a video?"

Holsh was doing her nails and couldn't look at her phone. She was chatting with G-Eazy. Her eyes were darting around, and she soon spotted Han Yi standing not far above her head.Deliberately making his New Jersey accent sound more exaggerated, Holsh joked in his instantly recognizable smoky voice.

"Is this some kind of side hustle that we don't know about? TMZ? The New York Post?"

"Yeah, the Post gave me three thousand dollars to take an exclusive photo of you...Jerrod."

"What, me?"

G-Eazy was startled when he was suddenly cueed. His brain was a bit sluggish due to the drugs he had just taken into his stomach. It took him a while to figure out what the two of them were talking about.

"Take whatever you want, boss. Take ten pictures and ask them for thirty thousand, okay? Do it for me, do it for the press." G-Eazy, whose real name is Jerrod Earl Gillum, pressed his hands on Under his head, he made a coquettish Marilyn-Monroe movement, accepting Han Yi's well-intentioned joke without a care.

Although he is not an artist of Han Music, G-Eazy, whose acting agent is at UTA, is technically a member of Han Yi Music Group.Ever since the welcome party held by UTA at 864 Stradella Road, he and the people from Han Music have been getting very close, and some collaborative singles have already taken shape.

Therefore, today, Jerrod was also invited to One57 to do makeup and set off together with the Han Music team.

Who wants to be stuck in a hotel sitting in a cramped living room blow-drying their hair when they can spend all day in a $500 million Billionaires Row apartment?
Even Four Seasons at Tribeca, even a luxury suite.

"Then why not shoot me too!"

Offset was half-lying on the gray extended fabric sofa only a few feet away from G-Eazy, posing with a victory sign, grinning, and proudly showing off to his boss the expensive gold jewelry all over his body, and the whiteness that was even more dazzling than the jewelry. teeth.

At this time, Offset had not yet received permanent diamond braces worth $50, but her outfit was already quite exaggerated.From woolen hats to sneakers, even socks are all printed with the Gucci trademark.

Just as flamboyant as Offset are Quavo, who is holding his little nephew Takeoff's shoulders, Desiigner, who is holding his phone up 45 degrees and picking up his gold necklace to take a Snapchat, and Lil Yachty, who is sitting in front of a pile of rings and thinking hard.

The two makeup artists for Horsi and G-Eazy, the former earns US$1500 per hour and the latter US$1200 per hour.Jerrod paid for his own makeup, while Halsey's styling costs were borne by the partnership, Halsey Inc.

Celebrities with delicate faces need such top makeup artists to still maintain their perfect appearance under the deathly light of the red carpet.

Compared with the pleasing to the eye, the Migos trio, who each have their own ugly ways, do not have any requirements for makeup. They can simply apply a few strokes so as not to expose skin defects in front of the camera.But as rappers, they have another level of demand for their image, which is the luxury of a big logo.

Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Cartier, without three big gold chains hanging around your neck, if only six of the ten fingers are wearing diamond rings, even if you just go out to buy a McDonald's, it won't be classy enough, let alone walking on the red carpet.

In addition, there is a very important unspoken rule in the hip-hop circle that only if a certain item is worth six or seven figures, can it appear repeatedly on the rapper. Those accessories under one hundred thousand dollars, for successful rappers , can only be worn once and thrown away at home, never to be looked at again.

This kind of comparison behavior has become more and more intense as hip-hop music gradually becomes mainstream, and Migos is one of the leaders.Not to mention luxuries, they don’t even want to take the girls around them out with them a second time.

Luxury brands are very familiar with the consumption habits of rappers. In recent years, they have also had a clearer understanding of their increasingly strong ability to bring goods.Therefore, before every award ceremony or fashion event, the brand will proactively contact the rappers who are about to step on the red carpet and lend them free new models or collections for their use.

Ordinary celebrities choose two or three accessories at a time, but even twenty necklaces on hip-hop musicians are too few.More importantly, the higher the celebrity status, the more picky they are about the brands they cooperate with and the accessories they wear. Only true high-end jewelry brands can catch their eye.But rappers are different. As long as it’s gold and silver, it doesn’t matter whether it’s high-end jewelry or fashion jewelry.

These days, they are the only celebrities willing to wear Gucci jewelry on TV.Therefore, over time, rappers have become the best underwriters of luxury brands.

This phenomenon can also be glimpsed in the salon area of ​​One57#79. Other musicians have completed their matching a few days ago, and only a few rappers are still picking and choosing as they please from the dark flannel trays.

The only exception is Cardi B. This bold female rapper is wearing a black dress that is completely exposed in the northern hemisphere, and the fabric is still sliding down to the south at any time. She stands in front of the glass curtain wall on the west side near the restaurant, chatting with Anne-Marie over wine, and her voice is loud. It was so loud that in such a noisy place, Han Yi, who was separated by an entire building from her, could clearly hear her loud laughter that could only be described as wild.

"This is the money shot, boss."

Quavo showed Han Yi the six gold necklaces scattered around his neck.

"Gucci gang!"

In 2016, before Lil Pump released his Mumble Rap, which almost only repeated one sentence for two minutes and 11 seconds, "Gucci Gang" was not an embarrassing term that would make people feel uncomfortable.

"Yeah, Gucci gang."

But Han Yi, who had a generation gap in space and time, was obviously very embarrassed. He laughed dryly, walked behind Offset, supported the sofa with one hand, and looked for someone within sight who could help him change the subject.

"What, Miles, haven't you decided whether to join them or not?"

"No, these necklaces feel..." Lil Yachty, who has red dreadlocks with small beads at the end of his hair and makes a crisp sound when he shakes his head a little, picked up two necklaces with his index finger, with a tangled expression, "It doesn't seem to match the clothes. It’s a perfect match.”

"Little nigger, are you crazy? Aren't you wearing all black? Is there anything else that doesn't match black?" Quavo laughed, "I hope your bars don't come any slower than your fashion choices.”

"Don't mess with me, nigga." Lil Yachty countered not to be outdone, "Bro's got more ad-libs than chains." This week, "Brocolli" continued to climb in the rankings, moving up two places to No. 26.From Atlanta's West Side to New York's Harlem, Lil Yachty's songs are being played in the streets. He just turned 21 five days ago, and his confidence has reached a peak.

"Ohhhhhhh——BURN!" Desiigner, who was not too concerned about the excitement, put his fist to his mouth, "Guys, how do we settle this matter?"

"Bars or bling, either way."

"Bars AND bling, let's go."

Han Yi, who accidentally started a freestyle battle, grinned and warned himself again in his heart not to talk to the rappers, otherwise the ending would never be as beautiful as he imagined.

After pushing aside the crowd that gathered towards Quavo and Lil Yachty, Han Yi walked to the front hall, leaned against the porch, crossed his arms with his hands on his chest, and looked at the festive scene in Apartment One57#79 with a happy and satisfied smile on his lips. .

21 Savage walked up to Quavo and Lil Yachty and started refereeing at the top of his lungs. Takeoff connected to the Bluetooth speaker he brought with him and randomly found a beat, which plunged the entire salon area into an exciting mood of anticipation.

It's an event center filled with star glamor and raw talent, with a 270-degree panoramic glass facade that reveals the splendor of New York City's afternoons.But the real spectacle is still indoors, where artists from Han Music and UTA are going all out to make final preparations.Dua Lipa sat near a makeshift dressing table at the intersection of the lounge area and the open dining area, her stylist carefully applying glitter that captured the stage lighting just right.The day before, she was the headline guest of Stars For Free 2016 in Chemnitz, Germany. She hummed a light tune and carefully put on pearl earrings. She didn't show any signs of fatigue at all.

Khalid stood quietly on the south side of the salon area, taking a sip of herbal tea that soothed his throat from time to time.Tonight, in addition to the VMAs, he has another task, which is to participate in Z100 Radio's late-night program and sing live for New York's night walkers. Marshmello has already put on his iconic helmet, standing at the northernmost part of the room, looking out the window at the panoramic view of Central Park, chatting in a low voice with Jonas Blue next to him, looking back from time to time because Quavo, Lil Yachty, and Then Offset added frequent verses, and the crowd of onlookers cheered.

Although this was a quasi-pre-party within the company, Chris Comstark was very careful to put on a headgear to protect his increasingly popular status.

There were 11 performances in August and 10 performances in September. As soon as Marshmallow joined Han Music, Han Distribution and Renyu Management as a contracted artist, it brought considerable positive cash flow to the company.

In sharp contrast to the party crowd and laid-back musicians, there is the behind-the-scenes team sitting around the long table in the restaurant, who came to New York with the team and are still working attentively.Staring at the Macbook or iPad without taking a break, they are doing their best to ensure that all artists' schedules today and for the next three months are accurate to the millisecond.

Managers Ben Mawson, Anthony Lee and Jason Aaron shuttle between the A&R department led by Karen Kuo and Victoria White-Mason's marketing department to ensure the red carpet sequence, camera needs and media The interviews were all in perfect sync.Kevin Kusattsu was sitting at the end of the dining room table with Diplo and two other members of Major Lazer, recording a warm-up video for the New Orleans Metropolitan Nightclub on October 10 to help the organizers sell the already scarce tickets. Tickets are selling out quickly.

At the intersection of movement and stillness, leisure and tension, jubilation and roaring, there are also waiters from The Living Room shuttled there, promptly serving exquisite cold cuts or ice-cold sparkling wine to guests in need.The kitchen in the apartment was too small to prepare meals for hundreds of people at the same time, so Han Yi directly hired Miguel Meester, the chef of The Living Room, and his team to provide them with catering services.

Instead of leaving the building with kitchen utensils and materials to cook elsewhere, Meister only needs to take the elevator to the full-scale catering kitchen on the 57th floor, exclusively for One57 residents, and start working.

When the afternoon sun sinks into the golden hour, in this rare ultra-luxury apartment, only a rich and even fanatical atmosphere is left, which is a combination of ambition, art and adrenaline.

The 2016 VMA Awards Ceremony is still to come, but for those in One57#79, the real show has already begun.

A wonderful performance funded by Han Yi, planned by Han Yi, and presented only to Han Yi.

This is how he spent hundreds of millions of dollars in just six months to gradually condense the castle in the air into a real music empire.

How can such a life not make people's hearts swell?

Han Yi took a deep breath in silence, carefully experiencing and enjoying the lofty ambition rising in his chest at this moment.

But within a few minutes, a pair of cool little hands passed through his waist and climbed up to his chest, interrupting the passionate march that was just halfway playing in his mind and replacing it with a low, affectionate song. Sweet bossa nova.

"Good afternoon, Yi."

"I really, really... miss you so much."

(End of this chapter)