America's Top Player

Chapter 31 When the Propaganda Machine Starts

As Leon expected, Bonnie accepted his job offer in less than a second.

For the next period of time, Bonnie went to Leon's place almost every day and seemed to be working hard.

Not only did she help with selecting costumes, arranging itineraries, and business liaisons, which were all the assistant's responsibilities, she also did it very attentively, and she even took time out to cook for Li Ang.

It's just a bit weird to see a woman busy in the kitchen every day with an apron tied in front and her crotchless T-pants showing at the back.

Naturally, Li Ang's home was filled with some strange clothes and toys.

Roc Records, in Li Ang's lounge.

The middle-aged black man sitting in front of Leon is an executive under JAY-Z, the company's vice president Lenny Santiago, and the main person in charge of the record market.

After being re-recorded and repackaged by Roc Records, "Take Me to Church" restarted its printing and released a remastered version.

With the support of the company's strong publicity capabilities, the sales of this album changed its previous stable performance and soared like a rocket.

The wealthy Roc printed 3 CDs and 3.5 vinyl records in one go, and the price of the CD was increased from US$ of the previous Black Panther record version to US$.

Even so, music fans' enthusiasm for consumption remains unabated. Many die-hard fans who already own CDs have opened their wallets again to buy vinyl records for collection.

"Take Me to Church" was widely praised by music critics when it was first released, but even a perfect album like Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was not without criticism.

After the job-hopping incident, for some reason, there were more and more criticisms against this album, and even a radio DJ held a special show criticizing the lyrics of the song for being blasphemous to God.

But after Roc took over, these criticisms disappeared almost overnight.

Not surprisingly, this is all due to the power of money.

"Take Me to Church" performed impressively in its fourth week, with sales of over 50 CDs and vinyl records, and its ranking on the Billboard singles chart also jumped to the TOP.

When Phil heard this number from Lenny, he was so excited that his testicles felt hot. He was even more excited than the original owner, Leon.

More than 50 years of work experience told him how difficult it was for a newcomer to break into the top of the fiercely competitive Billboard charts, which meant that Li Ang was already a real star.

"The record's market performance exceeded expectations, and the company's management is very satisfied with it," Lenny said while crossing his feet.

At the same time, he pointed out to Phil that the New York market was close to saturation and the focus of the next commercial performances should be on the Midwest.

Commercial performances are also an important means of promotion. Since Roc does not hold Leon's agent contract, these matters still require Phil's cooperation.

Lenny turned to Li Ang and said, "Mr. Yormark, the company's president, and JAY-Z, the founder, and I all agree that your current focus shouldn't be on endless commercial performances."

"You can make money at any time. If a singer can't have his own album, he doesn't deserve to be called a singer."

Li Ang fully understood what the other party meant. He lit a cigarette and said, "Within a month, I will record a new demo, and this song will be included in my new album."

After receiving a satisfactory answer, Lenny smiled and said, "Very good, just tell me if you need any help."

"According to Ms. Beyoncé, as long as it is your need, we will prioritize it first."

These words made Li Ang feel warm in his heart. Beyoncé's promise was not an empty check.

This alone makes me far better than the 90 percent of hypocrites in this industry who claim to be gentlemen.

On Sunday, Li Ang chose a time when there were fewer people to come to the company and tried to record the demo of "sucker for pain" under the guidance of Phil and Roc's producer Big Dog.

Phil had secured him a spot at the Made in America Music Festival, even though it was just a garbage time performance during the opening stages. It was incredibly important to Li Ang, as a strong performance at a festival of this magnitude would be a huge boon to his stardom.

If the recording goes well, he will perform "Sucker for Pain" live at a music festival in a month.

I torture you~Take my hand through the flames
Feel my torture~ Let my hands feel the fire
I torture you~I'm a slave to your games
Feel my torture~ I have tamed your game and kneeled down

On the opening chorus, neither experienced producer could fault it.

Seeing Li Ang's crazy lyrics and performance style for the first time, Da Gou couldn't help but cover his headphones and exclaimed, "Damn bro~ This is so fucking awesome~"

However, after entering the rap part, his expression quickly turned from sunny to cloudy, and in the end he was holding his stomach and laughing non-stop.

The expected situation still happened. The high-density rap lyrics and the chorus could not be naturally connected at all. At the end of the song, Li Ang almost died.

"Bro, this is the worst rap performance I've ever seen."

Everyone present, including Li Ang himself, agreed with this evaluation.

Phil said, "Maybe you need some rap training. I know an expert in this field. You can learn it quickly."

Big Dog immediately stood up and glared at Phil, saying in a deep voice, "I've coached hundreds of rappers. Do you think I'm not professional enough?"

"I didn't say that. Please sit down first."

"You old, amateur bastard, don't understand that this isn't a question of whether or not you can rap!" Big Dog pointed at Phil's nose and continued, "Overall, I don't think the chorus and rap part of this song were written by the same person."

"This sense of disconnection cannot be made up by rap skills."

Li Ang nodded silently on the side, secretly praising Da Gou for being an expert in rap.

The original version provided by Inspiration Refresh clearly states that this is a collaboration between multiple singers, with one person singing the chorus and at least five completely different voices appearing in the rap part.

Even if the number of collaborators is reduced to the maximum, this song still requires at least two people to complete.

One person is responsible for the chorus and another singer is responsible for the rap part.

Only in this way can we have the possibility to present the work in its entirety.

Before Big Dog could say anything, Li Ang spoke first: "According to my original creative idea, this song should be completed by a rapper and me as a feature."

Snapped--

Big Dog snapped his fingers, then gave Phil a vicious middle finger: "Well, I told you no one knows rap better than me."

"The company has no shortage of young people with dreams. Apart from big names like DJ Khalid, who may have some difficulty, I think everyone else would be willing to perform such a masterpiece."

"only."

The big dog suddenly paused after changing the subject.

"Just what?"

"You may have to accept the changes made by the Feat singer to your original lyrics. Originality of lyrics is the life of a rapper, you know Bro."

(End of this chapter)