America's Top Player

Chapter 87 Horror Movie
Li Ang stood there in a daze, his brain working rapidly to find a reasonable explanation.

At this time, Beyoncé stepped forward, took JAY-Z's arm, and gently touched his cheek. "Honey, I'm discussing the details of the music video with Leon. You know I'm a perfectionist."

As she spoke, Beyoncé quickly winked at Li Ang.

"It's like this. This is the only song on the album 'Demons' that hasn't had its music video post-production work completed yet."

Watching Beyoncé being passionate about herself in the last second, and then seamlessly switching to JAY-Z's arms in the next second.

Li Ang believes that Mariah Carey's nickname "Butterfly" should be given to Beyoncé.

Even though the messy clothes on the floor still made JAY-Z doubtful, Beyoncé's explanation was reasonable and he didn't think the worst.

He came to his luxurious swivel chair and said in a deep voice, "Get out of here, kid! Who allowed you to sit on the king's throne?"

Li Ang quickly stood up and gave up the throne of the ROC Kingdom.

"If there's nothing special, I'll leave now." The situation was a bit complicated, so Li Ang chose to slip away quickly. "I hope you can amaze everyone at the dinner~"

As soon as he reached the door, he was stopped by JAY-Z.

"Wait a minute, kid! We haven't had a proper chat in a while."

Li Ang returned to the office helplessly and sat down face to face with JAY-Z in front of his desk.

He could guess what the other party wanted to say, which was nothing more than the shooting in the video store.

Diddy must have reported the incident to JAY-Z immediately.

I hope Big Brother can stand on my side and give this young man a good beating.

"Didi has come to talk to me many times these days. Don't you think you've gone too far in Los Angeles?"

Li Ang spread his hands. "Too much? Did you know that Chris and a bunch of other guys chased me for two blocks?"

"I know everything that happened between you. It's normal for young people to have some beef. When I was young, I always carried a gun with me when I attended various award ceremonies."

At this point, JAY-Z paused, his eyes gleaming with anger. "But you shouldn't have provoked Diddy in front of him. You've only been in the industry for six months, and you don't take these renowned East Coast rappers seriously?"

At this time, Beyoncé could no longer sit still.

She stood in front of Leon and yelled at JAY-Z: "This is totally unfair. Everyone knows that Chris's kid was raised by Diddy."

JAY-Z was obviously a little confused. He knew that his wife and Leon had a good relationship, but he didn't expect it to be this good.

Seeing this scene, his anger increased.

Faced with JAY-Z's aggressiveness, Li Ang did not give in at all.

Roc Company still adheres to the gang's philosophy, prioritizing respact rather than profit in everything.

The reason why JAY-Z took the opportunity to criticize Li Ang was simply because the other party did not respect Didi, and everyone in the circle knew that Didi was hanging out with JAY-Z.

What kind of incompetent boss would teach his most promising cash cow a lesson over such a thing?
"Listen JAY-Z, I've chosen the most restrained and honorable means to resolve this issue."

"Never forget that I represent ROC and Diddy represents Bad Boy Records, and as for Chris, forget about it."

JAY-Z was so angry that he didn't know what to say.

Li Ang's implication was that he was the one representing the interests of the company, and if JAY-Z still turned his elbow outward at this time and emphasized the so-called close friendship.

It is easy to imagine what the hundreds of "soldiers" in the company would think of him, the "king".

Finally, JAY-Z gritted his teeth and said, "Let's see how your first album performs, kid. Don't let me down!"

Li Ang's biggest reliance now is that he still has value to ROC.

It is not difficult to imagine that if his first album fails, his fate may not be very good.

He also made up his mind that no matter what the results were, he would find an opportunity to get out of this company.

Nick didn't plan it well!

A day later, "Demons" was officially released on the streaming platform.

Li Ang himself has a lot of black traffic, and various news related to him and Apocalypse Music are emerging in an endless stream.

As soon as this song was released, it sparked widespread discussion among fans.

The results speak for themselves: on the first day of its release, the number of streaming downloads exceeded 70,000, only slightly behind Adele during the same period.

At Apocalypse Music, except for Robbie who was busy filming in Los Angeles, all the employees of the company gathered together to celebrate this exciting moment.

Phil said, "There's only a 20,000-sales gap between you and Adele right now. Why don't you spend some money to boost your charts and surpass that fat girl in one fell swoop?"

“This will be very helpful for your subsequent sales.”

Li Ang glanced at Phil and said, "Have you forgotten that Sony Records is behind Adele?"

Columbia Records has acquired exclusive North American distribution rights for Adele's "21" album, which has been acquired by Sony.

Chart manipulation is considered shameful in the American music scene and can easily be countered by rivals with reciprocal measures, leaving no one with an advantage in the end.

Competing with Sony in financial strength?
How much alcohol did Lao Deng drink to say such outrageous things?

Phil noticed the glittering gold watch on Leon's wrist, and walked over to him unsteadily, "Nice watch! You finally got it, kid. Money is just a pile of waste paper if you don't spend it."

Li Ang smiled complacently, "It didn't cost any money."

Phil's first reaction to this wasn't "Did you really not spend any money?" but "Did you not spend any money again?"

After seeing how Li Ang picked up a Porsche for free during a commercial performance in Atlantic City, he was no longer surprised by such things.

In the middle of the party, Leon called Marcus, the DJ from Lion's Den Radio, aside.

Since the establishment of the radio community network, the efficiency of this sector has been poor.

Even the Evil Angel brand has become profitable, but the radio station is still in the red.

This was after Leon cut off half of the radio stations and diverted the original audience to Lion's Nest Radio.

The core reason is that the radio station’s profit model is very simple.

Apart from advertising, sponsorship and promoting songs for others, there are almost no other ways to make a profit.

Since the acquisition was completed, the radio network has existed as the mouthpiece of Apocalypse Music, almost exclusively promoting Apocalypse's works.

This has led to a rapid decline in business volume in other channels.

When Li Ang asked for Marcus's opinion, he replied, "Bro, the radio industry relies on volume to survive. I've been doing this for so many years just because of my passion. Forget about making money from it."

"You can look at what Iheart has done. In this industry, the key to development is scale and diversification."

DJ Marcus has summed it up very well with his many years of industry experience.

The implicit meaning is that if the radio business wants to develop long-term in the media industry, it will be a dead end if it does not integrate with the Internet.

IheartRadio is just a company founded in 2008.

But it currently has more than 400 stations in the United States and hundreds of stations from other media.

In addition, iHeartRadio has tens of thousands of podcasts, a music recommendation system and on-demand function, and allows listeners to save and replay songs being played in real-time radio.

On-demand features require an additional subscription fee.

In recent years, the company's fastest-growing segment has been online radio.

This profit model even allows it to get a share of the streaming media market.

As the two were chatting, Li Ang received a call from Robbie.

Robbie invited him to a movie premiere in Los Angeles two days later.

The director was James Wan, a friend of Robbie's who also grew up in Australia and has been attracting much attention in recent years. Leon originally wanted to refuse, as he had too many things to do recently.

Ariana's first single production, coupled with her first album is about to be released
But he does have a promotional event in Los Angeles tomorrow, which fits seamlessly into his schedule.

Especially when Zhezi heard James Wan's name, he immediately dispelled his hesitation.

As a horror movie fan, "Saw" is an unsurpassable classic in Li Ang's heart, and any subsequent film cannot compare to the first one.

Director James Wan is just a Chinese guy under 30 years old. He is very good at getting high box office with low cost.

Therefore, he is often dubbed by the media as "the youngest horror film master".

It was already noon the next day when the plane arrived in Los Angeles. Li Ang saw the crowds and cheering signs in the airport from a distance.

"Leon!"

"Leon, OMG! I love you!"

As soon as he appeared, he caused thunderous screams, all signs indicating that he was now a big shot.

But the quality of his fans is really not that high. There are always female fans with exaggerated and weird looks who lift up their shirts to show him their big breasts.

As the manager of the all-female label Apocalypse, the lyrics of "Take Me to Church" have been over-interpreted on the Internet.

He has rightfully become an idol in the hearts of women's boxing and Nantong.

There were even many fanatical female fans who pushed Da Lei into his face.

"Damn. Where do all these monsters come from?"

Leon quickened his pace, wanting to escape from here quickly under the close protection of Davis and Bonnie.

The destination of his commercial performance this time is the Los Angeles music radio station, the same radio station that recently did an exclusive interview with Chris.

This time he will join forces with Kendrick Lamar for an exclusive interview program to promote his new album.

Dre spent a lot of money on radio stations during this campaign, and for the next week, all music stations in Los Angeles played "Sucker for Pain" at least five times a day.

Like JAY-Z, he is a shrewd businessman.

Such a good thing is certainly not a gift without reason.

The reason is that Kendrick's first album "Section.80" is about to be released.

This is a good opportunity to hype up the friendship between the two and use Li Ang's current popularity to increase the sales of "Section.80".

In the studio of a Los Angeles music radio station, Kendrick fully demonstrated his black talent. As soon as he opened his mouth, it sounded like he was rapping with a very rhythmic feel. The host could not keep up with his rhythm at all.

"I have to tell you, Leon and I are blood-thicker-than-water people."

"Look at what we did at Moon Club earlier. Chris was intimidated like a little bitch by us."

"Yo~ everyone listening, I have to tell you, Leon is the most gangsta white guy I've ever seen!"

"His nickname, Bai Nige, comes not only from his lower body, but also from the depth of his soul!"

"If you disagree with me, you're always welcome to come to Compton and tell me in person!"

For the first half of the podcast, the host asked some eye-catching questions that had nothing to do with the album.

Leon had no room to interrupt and could only watch Kendrick's fast mouth speak like a machine gun.

He could only sigh in his heart, "As expected of a rapper"

The host then asked many questions about the relationship between Leon and Kendrick.

Including whether the two have plans to cooperate in the future;

How did the two of them get to know each other?
When talking about Robbie, Kendrick blurted out: "Leon worked a magic on his genitals and conquered the blonde from Australia!"

This caused laughter in the studio.

Robbie, who had been waiting in the studio lobby, glared at Kendrick fiercely, his fair face turning red like a ripe apple.

At the end of the podcast, the host finally asked a poignant question.

"Mr. Leon, your beef with Chris has ended, but Kanye West is still attacking you on Bluebird. What do you think about this?"

Even after the one-hour version of the "video store incident" spread in the music scene, Kanye's big mouth never stopped.

Li Ang suddenly remembered what Phil once said, that Kanye's brain was not normal and she was as difficult to deal with as a bitch.

After a moment's silence, he picked up the phone and said, "I don't know what to say. The last time I saw someone as tough as him was with a streetwalker in Manhattan Beach."

"A friend of mine owed that girl fifty dollars, and she chased him for two blocks."

Laughter broke out again in the studio.

The live show ended successfully after Li Ang sang "Demons" live and performed "Sucker for Pain" with Kendrick.

Li Ang drove Robbie's car back to her luxury apartment in Beverly.

As soon as he got in the car, Robbie couldn't wait any longer and took the initiative to attack Leon.

He had already prepared himself mentally for this; this girl always liked to launch an attack at inappropriate times.

The more exciting the scene, the more excited she became.

Robbie leaned over and opened his red lips slightly, and Li Ang stepped on the accelerator hard.

"Shxt! Speed up! Speed up!"

Robbie's pink Lamborghini was speeding through the streets at midnight. If the two of them had been stopped by the police at this time, it would have been a different story.

The next day, the premiere of James Wan’s new film “Insidious” was held at the ACE Theater in Los Angeles.

After watching the whole movie, Li Ang felt that it was a bit bland and lacked suspense and twists.

It's far from the imaginative setting of Saw, but it's still an excellent horror movie.

Everyone in Hollywood knows that horror movies are good projects with small investments and high returns, but there are not many excellent horror movies every year.

Ultimately, it’s because there are too few directors who know how to control the rhythm of horror films.

Most horror films either start well but end badly, or are simply blood-spattering.

And an excellent horror film director like James Wan actually stayed behind the scenes for three years after making a masterpiece like "Saw 1"
Has been working as a producer and scriptwriter.

After exchanging greetings with a group of investors and film critics, he came to Robbie.

"So Robbie, what do you think of my new movie?"

Robbie didn't hesitate to praise his friend, clutching his chest and saying, "Words can't describe how frightened you really are!"

"I might not be able to sleep tonight."

James Wan couldn't suppress the smile on his face. Robbie's evaluation was the highest praise for a horror movie.

At this point, Leon interjected, "It's an excellent movie, but I think the plot is too simple and the twists aren't enough. But that might not be your fault. Investors and studios don't like overly cerebral plots."

"That's right!" James Wan's eyes lit up, and these words completely touched his heart.

No matter how talented a director is, he is still subject to the constraints of investors and cannot make a movie completely according to his own ideas.

Kubrick, known as the "God of Cinema", has been making films as an independent filmmaker almost throughout his career, leaving behind many classics that are famous in film history.

"You are..." James Wan stared at Leon for about ten seconds before he realized, "You are Robbie's boyfriend, the street coconut who sang 'Take Me to Church'?"

(End of this chapter)