America's Top Player

Chapter 89 Movie Inspiration
Dilapidated signs and apartments, black passers-by, black drivers, black guards, black classmates, it seems that only black people appear on the streets of Detroit.

Davis, who works as a bodyguard, was also in Detroit for the first time. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but exclaim: "There is no city more hip-hop than Detroit!"

Li Ang rolled his eyes at him and asked, "Do you know of any leader in history who reduced a developed country to a developing one, but was still considered a great person?"

This question stumped Davis.

He never even went to community college.

As for the value of American public high schools, it is probably not as good as the junior high school education of the University of Tokyo.

He answered without hesitation: "Adolf?"

Li Ang responded with a smile, "Don't be silly, Nige. Before the Moustache came to power, the Germans could barely afford bread. But it only took the Moustache a year for the people to be able to afford broth."

"Then I don't know. Stop asking me these weird questions. I'm only good at rap!"

"Nelson Mandela is one of the few people who has achieved that."

Davis' eyes widened immediately after hearing this.

There are two national heroes among the black community, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

"Fxxk bro, don't insult black heroes in front of me!"

Li Ang spread his hands and didn't continue. If someone else said this, Davis might have drawn his gun directly.

Detroit was once known as the "Paris of America" due to the numerous Gilded Age buildings it built during its heyday.

The large number of unemployed white workers and the civil rights movement in the 60s exacerbated racial conflicts in Detroit.

Riots broke out in Detroit in July 1967, causing immeasurable damage to the city, much of it in black residential and commercial areas.

Thousands of small businesses closed permanently or relocated to safer neighborhoods, after which the affluent middle and upper classes began fleeing the urban core.

It now has the highest proportion of blacks among major cities in the northern United States, at 82.7%.

Even South Africa does not have such an exaggerated proportion of black people.

People are accustomed to "political correctness" and do not talk about the poor security issues in black areas.

But when choosing where to live, people clearly vote with their feet.

Just like the white female literary critic Susan Sontag who said, "White people are the cancer of America."

She would never live in a black neighborhood, and lived in a prosperous and wealthy area of Manhattan that was basically all white until her death.

White leftists like these are leading the entire United States and even the world onto a magical path that no one has ever imagined.

Leon asked Bonnie to choose a hotel in the Greater Detroit area, far away from the city center.

There are many Chinese people here, and the security situation is a world apart from that in the city.

The performance will be held at Huntington Square in downtown.

For safety reasons, he locked the eye-catching gold watch in the hotel safe before the performance.

Davis, who witnessed this scene, became emotional again, "Bro, this is unnecessary."

For the first time, he felt that Leon might have racist tendencies.

Li Ang did not respond directly to this, but instead told a story: "A father took the train to take a management position at a General Motors factory."

"Along the way, his son asked him: Are we in Detroit yet?"

"The father reached out the window, checked the time on his watch, and replied: Not yet, son."

"After a while, the child asked the same question again."

"Father reached out of the window again, but when he pulled his hand back, the watch was gone."

"He said: 'Son, we're already in Detroit!'

The room suddenly burst into laughter, but Davis took a long time to react and his face turned pale.

He cursed under his breath: "You damn racists are full of misunderstandings about black people."

After some laughter, everyone took a business car to Huntington Square, which was already packed with tens of thousands of music fans.

They held high up support signs with Li Ang's name on them, and some of the signs had hand-painted portraits of "Coconut Crisp" on them.

Li Ang suddenly understood why the first stop of the tour arranged by ROC Company for him was the declining Detroit.

Although this place is not among the four major rap holy places in the United States, it has produced the greatest commercial rapper - Eminem.

Most of the people living in downtown Detroit are hopeless lower-class people, and rock music and hip-hop music are completely music for the lower class.

Just like the hippie movement in the 60s, music and dance became tools for people to escape reality.

Davis sat in a commercial vehicle, waving and interacting with fans like a star: "Look at how enthusiastic my compatriots are, and you have been looking at them with tinted glasses!"

After the vehicle stopped at Huntington Square, despite the presence of a large number of police officers maintaining order at the scene, Li Ang was still knocked to and fro by the crowd.

The drop-off point was less than 200 meters away from the main stage, and it took him more than ten minutes to walk there.

"They are so enthusiastic, I love Detroit!" Davis winked at Leon and danced excitedly.

But the next second he found something wrong.

"Fuck! Where's my gold chain? Which damn guy stole my gold chain!"

"I'm going to kill him!"

Since Davis followed the two, the artist has taken on multiple roles, including rap producer and bodyguard, and his pockets have become increasingly fatter over time.

Like all the other guys, he used the money to customize a gold chain at the famous Chinese gold shop Popular Jewelry.

The Chinese proprietress here is called "Su Ma" and "Golden Godmother" by many rappers.

Many rappers consider it an honor to own a gold chain made by Suma herself, so the gold chain Davis lost must be very expensive.

Leon and Phil were at a loss whether to laugh or cry. These two old foxes had already taken off all their valuables when they left the hotel.

"Next time, remember this. When a thief sets his sights on you, he doesn't care whether you have the same skin color as him."

Li Ang patted Davis on the shoulder and jumped onto the stage, and the drummer of the local band immediately beat out a powerful rhythm.

"What's up! Detroit!"

Yeah——

The thunderous cheers completely exceeded Li Ang's expectations. This was the kind of sound that only superstars could enjoy.

In Detroit, rap music dominates and people are not really interested in rock music.

Just a month ago, he was often met with cold reception during his tour of other cities in the Great Lakes region, with many people not even recognizing him.

But things were completely different after the release of the first album.

Many fans held up signs with the faces of Eminem, 50 Cent, Kendrick and Leon.

Li Ang immediately understood what was going on.

50 Cent was hanging out with Eminem, and that's something every hip-hop fan knows.

Li Ang and 50 Cent have a good relationship, and the incident in which they humiliated Chris at the Moon Club in Los Angeles caused a sensation in the hip-hop circle.

The people here naturally think that Leon and their city hero Eminem are their own people!
Taking advantage of this stunt, Li Ang took the microphone and shouted to the audience: "There is no need to introduce the relationship between me and your hero Eminem."

“Yes!!” the audience responded in unison.

Li Ang raised the corners of his mouth and roared into the microphone: "Great, after this performance, remember to go to the music store and buy the Demons album."

"Don't just buy it for yourselves, call your brothers, your friends, your parents!" "I won't let anyone in Detroit not own this record. You're going to love it!"

"New York and Detroit forever!"

This wave of emotional provocation, which leveraged Eminem's fame, caused a passionate response from the audience.

Phil couldn't help but curse backstage: "This shameless bastard clearly hasn't even spoken a word to Eminem!"

When the prelude sounded, the band's drummer beat hard to the rhythm.

In order to cater to the cyberpunk temperament of Detroit, Leon specially chose "Radioactive" as the opening song.

He stood in front of the microphone and closed his eyes. "I woke up in the smoke and dust. I rubbed my eyelashes, and sweat flowed through my rusty body."

"I breathed in the chemical-laden air, gathered myself, packed up, and lined up for the car to go to the prison."

"That's it, it's the apocalypse!"

The deafening lyrics perfectly fit the situation of everyone here.

Factories, toxic chemicals, ruins, crime.
The violent music reminds everyone that this place was once the world's automotive industry capital!
It is the birthplace of the three giants of the American automobile industry - Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, and the industrial center of the central and northern regions of the United States!

Many fans who had never heard the song were able to quickly get into the mood and sing along with the drum beats.

After the chorus, the emotions of the whole audience were brought to a climax!

"I am awakening, and the energy seeping from my bones is enough to reboot me!"

"Welcome to the new era!"

"I'm terribly radioactive!"

Factories, smog, graffiti, and frenzied crowds
Blended together in the violent sound of music and intertwined with the sunset of Detroit.

This is real-life cyberpunk.

The performance was a surprising success and sparked a rock craze in Detroit, a city dominated by black people.

On the plane back to New York, Li Ang was exhausted from singing and dancing all day and was drowsy in the first class cabin.

Just then he received a text message from Lenny: "Good job, kid. There are nineteen more shows like this to come. Keep it up!"

Li Ang tilted his head and couldn't help but spit softly: "Damn capitalists."

The plane was about to land in New York in half an hour, but even though his eyelids were twitching, he couldn't fall asleep peacefully.

Today is the 11th, a day of refreshing inspiration.

"Why aren't you coming?"

When he was wondering, a picture suddenly popped into his mind.

Five black men walked side by side on a dilapidated street, the marks on their hats indicating their identities.

NWA, the greatest gangsta rap group in history!
Guns, rap, drugs, betrayal, death.
Countless images flooded into his mind.

This time there is no music, only continuous images like a film.

He quickly realized that although the short black man in the picture looked like Big E, the soul of NWA, he was not the real Big E.

The Dre in the picture is not the real Dre, but is played by someone else.

Leon had met Dre at the American Music Awards.

When all the images in my mind flashed through my mind like a marquee, a line of eye-catching letters ended it perfectly - "Straight Outta Compton".

After a few seconds of confusion, Li Ang immediately realized that this time's inspiration was different from any previous times.

This time, for the first time ever, it is a movie, a movie with the theme of black gangster rap!

"It really comes to whatever you want."

Two days ago, just after he revealed to James Wan that he was interested in investing in the movie, the inspiration refresh mechanism sent him a big gift.

As the plane landed, Li Ang repeatedly recalled the scene that had already been engraved in his mind.

He suddenly asked Phil beside him: "Can a movie with the theme of gangster rap attract Dao Le?"

Phil was scrolling through the pornographic tweets on Bluebird with a lewd look on his face, and the sudden question startled him slightly.

"You guys don't want to get involved in the film industry, do you?"

"Don't think too much. You are a complete octopus. Your tentacles will reach out wherever there is money to be made."

"I advise you to focus on your first major. Movies can easily make you lose everything!"

Li Ang put his hands behind his head, looking lazy, "I'm just asking."

"No one can predict the future of movies. Eminem and 50 Cent have both made autobiographical hip-hop movies."

"The results of it?"

Phil spread his hands. "They were both very popular when the movie came out, so of course they made a ton of money."

"Especially '8 Mile,' which grossed over $2.4 million worldwide. It's crazy!"

Leon learned from Phil that a large part of the $8 million shooting cost of " Mile" was Eminem's salary.

The soundtrack album he created for the movie also sold extremely well, and "Lose Yourself", which established Eminem's position in the music industry, also came from this movie.

It won the "Best Original Song" at the 75th Academy Awards, truly gaining both fame and fortune!
"Shxt, is it so easy to make money by making movies?"

Making a movie cannot be a decision made on impulse, otherwise you might really lose everything as Phil said.

Even if the inspiration refresh mechanism gave him a phenomenal superhero movie, he simply wouldn't be able to make it. The copyright issue alone would be a dead end.

And a gangster rap movie happened to be something he was confident in investing in.

Putting aside the advantages of short shooting period and small investment, he also knows a lot of gangster rappers.

50 Cent himself is passionate about performing, and Cardi B will definitely shake her butt and beg to join.

Kendrick Lamar couldn't resist playing his idol, Big E.

Same body, same musical style, same origin from Compton.
No one is better suited to play gangsta rap legend Big E.

Although Li Ang himself is not a gangster rapper, he has been deeply involved in various beefs with gangster rappers during this period.
If he wanted to make a movie about gangsta rap, he would go all out.

Taking all the above factors into consideration, Li Ang already had an idea in his mind.

Making a movie is a bold but very feasible idea.

A week after the release of Demons, in the Roc company meeting room.

As soon as Lenny saw Leon, he hugged his head, muttered, and wanted to kiss him directly with his thick black lips.

"Shxt you better stay away from me."

"What's wrong with this guy? Did his sexual orientation change at Diddy's party?"

The entire conference room was filled with Lenny's crazy laughter, and he didn't bother to respond to Leon's sarcasm.

Li Ang turned to look at the PR manager, Peña, and asked, "Is this Nico crazy?"

"Lenny is just so happy, so happy for you."

"Happy for me?"

"Yes, congratulations, Mr. Li Ang. Your first album, 'Demons,' sold over 15 copies in its first week. That's a truly remarkable achievement."

(End of this chapter)