America's Top Player

Chapter 119: The Great Reconciliation of American Gangs

After discussing the recording of the DISS tracks, Li Ang decided not to waste any time and flew to Los Angeles immediately.

Here's his itinerary for the rest of his trip:

Complete all the work from recording to MV for the DISS track within three days;
Capitalizing on the hype surrounding the Beef Wars in March, the pair are promoting their performance at Coachella and the wrap of filming on the movie "Straight Outta Compton" in April.

The most important thing before and after the filming is publicity.

Just like food and fodder during a battle, propaganda activities must be launched first to gain an advantage.

By leveraging the popularity brought by Beef, the publicity effect may be no less than spending millions of dollars.

Although Trauma Records' decision to participate in the recording and release of DISS tracks was approved by Dre, the West Coast Godfather seemed less interested in the matter.

"Recording a song that dissed half the rap world with a white kid and a traitor from the East Coast was just dumb," Dre said.

He compared "street coconut pancakes" to "street Judas" to mock Li Ang's betrayal of the East Coast.

But in Li Ang's eyes, as long as he can make money, it doesn't matter what kind of reputation he has.

He doesn't care at all about the evaluation of Dre, the Godfather of the West Coast.

Ultimately, a small meeting chaired by 50 Cent decided that "Billy" would be jointly released by Trauma Records and Apocalypse Music.

As the songwriter, Li Ang owns 80% of the copyright, and as the producer, he will take 5% of the record sales.

50 Cent received a symbolic % copyright and was allowed to make some original additions to the original lyrics.

Trauma Records will serve as a co-distributor and provide services such as record recording and MV shooting.

They would take 40 percent of the record sales.

As the performer, 50 Cent takes a 20 percent share of sales.

The master rights and all remaining sales revenue will be earned by the copyright holder, Apocalypse Music.

This agreement was neither good nor bad for Li Ang. He only provided the work and did almost nothing else.

Traumatic music takes care of all the most expensive aspects of an album.

Overall, the results are satisfactory.

"Well, next we have to cheer up and work hard!" 50 Cent put away his own agreement, and his whole state was very excited.

"The production of the accompaniment and the filming of the music video can be done simultaneously." Li Ang suggested: "Time is enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is money. We can't wait any longer!"

"I totally agree," 50 Cent said. "To improve the final MV effect, I even invited a surprise guest."

"Who?" Li Ang immediately pricked up his ears.

"Richard Lee! The best music video director in the world!"

"I know this name." Richard Lee was no stranger to Leon.

The claim that he is the best music video director in the world is undoubtedly an exaggeration.

David Fincher, Madonna's former music video director who later switched to film directing and left behind "Seven" and "Fight Club", is widely regarded as a genius in this industry.

But Richard's abilities overall are top-notch.

The MV for "Not Afraid", his collaboration with Eminem, won two awards last year: MTV Best Male Video and Best Hip-Hop Video.

Li Ang was at the award ceremony at that time.

50 Cent's surprises don't end there.

After dropping the news that Richard would be directing the camera, he quickly dropped an even more explosive piece of news: "Eminem is willing to provide recording guidance as a co-producer!"

"What?" Leon was a little confused by the series of surprises. "Will De Rui agree to this?"

Eminem is Dre's number one disciple and has just returned to the peak of his commercial career with the album "Recovery".

He is now the highest-earning rapper in the world.

Although Eminem showed strong interest in joining the fight from the beginning, he was ultimately unable to take any actual action due to the obstruction of his big brother Dre.

Dre doesn't want to see the rift between the East Coast and West Coast, which has been repaired for years, open again.

"Bro, Eminem has been mad at Diddy and his gang for a long time," 50 Cent said as he lit his cigar. "That long hiatus was entirely caused by Diddy and his gang. It was a fucked-up time!"

In 2004, Eminem released his fifth studio album "Encore" after a five-year hiatus.

Media reports said the main cause was drug abuse, which led to intermittent mental breakdown.

But Eminem himself often told 50 Cent privately that it was the rise of Lil Wayne and Kanye West that made him depressed.

For a long time, he placed a lot of hatred on the two of them.

Both of them have a close relationship with Didi.

Trauma Records' efficiency fully demonstrates what a top record company should be like.

After the meeting, everyone returned to their respective responsibilities.

The arrangement team reproduced the accompaniment with insanely strict precision in accordance with Li Ang's requirements, without missing a single drum beat or synthesized sound effect.

The MV shooting was carried out at the same time.

Three large commercial vehicles, carrying a fully staffed filming crew, drove to Compton.

They're going to make an epic gangsta rap music video here.

Also in Compton is James Wan, the director of the movie "Compton."

When I saw Li Ang bringing such a large MV shooting team, I couldn't help but swallow my saliva.

"It's just a music video," James Wan said. "If you gave me this much budget, maybe the filming time for this movie could be shortened by half."

Li Ang could only spread his hands helplessly, "It wasn't my money, I'm not that generous."

"That's right. Rather than letting a miser like you spend so much money to shoot a music video, I would rather believe that the laundry detergent found in Saddam's house is a biological weapon." James Wan curled his lips.

After unanimous discussion, the final shooting location was selected as the creek park with the most people on Compton Street.

Only this place can accommodate the hundreds of gang members who are about to enter.

The first thing you see when you enter here is countless black street urchins and homeless people.

Some of them slept on benches;
Some simply lay on the ground like wild dogs;
Some people keep talking to themselves in the air.

Either he was confused by the grass or he had ingested cheap "bath salts" drugs and was in a half-dead zombie state.

Leon signaled to Jorge with his eyes to clear out all the garbage here.

"Get out of here!" Jorge's big hands picked up the skinny Nico on the bench like a chicken, "Get out of here, you dirty bitches!"

After being "cleaned" by more than a dozen Mexican thugs, the park soon became much cleaner and tidier.

Seeing the Mexicans looking so unfriendly, 50 Cent warned them, "Bro, I'm worried that these Mexicans might clash with the Saints later."

"Don't worry." Li Ang gave a mysterious smile, "They will respect and love each other like a family and get along very harmoniously."

Director Richard spent nearly an hour setting up the camera position and completing a simple set on the scene.

When this work was completed there was a great noise in the street south of the park.

The sea of blue ornaments formed by the Crip Gang is endless at a glance, and it is roughly estimated that there are at least 50 people.

Only the black man walking at the front of the team looked out of place in his well-dressed suit.

That was the core group of die-hard Crips in Compton, led by Robinson.

They marched towards the film crew in a mighty procession.

The crew led by Richard had never seen such a scene before. They couldn't help swallowing and their legs were shaking.

"Bro, you're really amazing." 50 Cent patted Leon's shoulder and quickly went up to hug and shake hands with Robinson.

Although 50 Cent, who was from the East Coast, was not familiar with Robinson, he had long heard of this vicious name from street legends.

Between ruthless people, either one fights to the death or they respect each other.

Before filming officially began, 50 Cent and Leon discussed the final details. "Bro, you know I want to make some changes to the lyrics," 50 Cent said, "so this will require some close-ups of the gang members."

According to 50 Cent's idea, it would be a bit boring to repeat the second verse directly after the first verse of the original song ended.

He wanted to fill it with some original parts.

This idea coincided with Li Ang's. The biggest weakness of the previous song was that it only contained fierce shouting and sexual descriptions.

The content is very empty.

50 Cent's suggestion was to select a few of the most brutal gang members from the MV actors and write their criminal experiences directly into the songs.

When the MV switches to their close-ups, the song also goes on to describe their criminal experiences.

"What a genius idea!" Li Ang agreed without any hesitation.

Next, Robinson and Jorge selected several of the most capable brothers and asked them to confess their criminal experiences one by one.

"I started selling crack in fifth grade to help support my family."

"I never spent money on anything, furniture, appliances, baby products, leaves, cars, apartments. I just grabbed whatever I needed."

"I killed my cousin, shot him nine times, because he raped my sister... Oh, and I even killed his dog."

The criminal histories of these selected gang members are more complicated than each other.

The original work’s clamor was difficult to convince the audience.

And now such realistic, almost naked lyrics will undoubtedly make the whole work more lethal!
"Curtis (50 Cent's original name)!" Richard waved his hand. "Everyone is in place, right? Let's get started!"

"Wait a minute!" Li Ang glanced down at his watch, "There are still actors who haven't arrived yet."

"Anyone else?" 50 Cent looked confused. "Who else, man?"

"You'll know in a moment." Leon raised the corner of his mouth, and the next second he cursed Cardi B in a low voice, "This black girl is always so unpunctual!"

About ten minutes later, two commercial vehicles drove into the filming site.

A group of black people wearing red turbans got out of the car.

Red is the main color of the Blood Gang.

"Fxxk!" The Crip Gang members at the scene suddenly became nervous and unconsciously touched their waists.

As soon as the people on the bus got off, they were frightened by the scene and quickly stepped back. The scene was very tense.

"Easy bro (relax)" Li Ang came to the front of the commercial vehicle, "These cute guys are my friends."

As soon as he finished speaking, Cardi B jumped out of the business car and threw herself into his arms.

"Leon!" Since they hadn't seen each other for two weeks, Cardi B was so excited that she stuck close to Leon and started dancing with electric hips.

"That's enough, Cardi. That's enough~" Leon said after some effort. "These are my Blood Gang friends from New York. They'll help us complete this great music video!"

This action stunned a group of street people including 50 Cent and Robinson.

Crips, Bloods, Latin Kings
This group of gang members, who still occasionally engage in street shootouts across the United States, actually appear in the same MV.

The key point is that this group of people are not actors who rely on cosplay to pretend to be gangsters.

They are gang members who came from the streets.

"WTF" 50 Cent was completely shocked by Li Ang's actions. He stood there in a daze, doubting whether everything in front of him was real.

Trying to unite such a group of people sounds like trying to bring the three major Abrahamic religions together in a century.

Li Ang accomplished the feat of reconciling gangs across the United States.

At least he did it in this MV.

Director Richard gave everyone some time to calm down and accept what was happening.

"Action!"

At the start command, five fixed cameras and three mobile cameras were aimed at 50 cents at the same time.

He was drowned in an indigo sea of dozens of Crips.

waving a headscarf;

Throwing money;

Make a gangster gesture with hand seals;

dancing a funny and weird C-walk;

It seemed like everyone in the shot was doing something to try to show off their gangster aura, and the scene was very chaotic.

But the more chaotic it is, the more satisfying the effect will be.

What Drill music wants to show is the confused thinking and lawless thug life of the lower-class black gangsters.

Around the end of the first verse, the scene freezes on 50 Cent leading a dozen pit bulls and making a shooting gesture to the camera.

In order to get this picture, almost all the dogs in Nigo's family present were borrowed.

"Card!"

After the transition, close-ups are given to three selected gang members.

They may make the gesture of wiping their necks;

Or showing the gun at his waist;
Or move your hips towards the camera,
In short, everyone has to try their best to show their fierce side through a short 3-second shot.

After the second verse, the scene first turned to Robinson.

He stood in front of a group of younger brothers wearing blue turbans, with only his side profile showing.

Less than 3 seconds of footage.

Even this three-second shot has given Li Ang enough face.

Robinson, a convicted felon, was very sensitive about appearing on camera.

But just a few seconds of footage was enough for die-hard fans in the online community who were well-versed in gang culture to easily uncover Robinson's identity.

The camera switched again, and the protagonist became Li Ang.

He followed the script and wore a nice suit like Robinson.

The difference is that his style is more high-profile.

He sat on a luxurious prop sofa with his feet up and sunglasses on his face.

He held three leashes in his hands, leading three pit bulls.

If you look carefully enough, you will find that every pit bull has an identification tag on its chest.

They are: "Didi" and "Pip Paul".
The last dog's name tag only had a question mark engraved on it, leaving room for the audience's imagination.

On Leon's left, Jorge led a group of Mexican thugs standing like sculptures.

They all wore white sleeveless T-shirts, revealing their dense gang tattoos, and twisted bullet holes were faintly visible.

His Mexican mustache was meticulously groomed, and he looked expressionless, as if his face was paralyzed.

To Leon's right is a member of the Bloods gang from the Bronx.

They held their chins high and stared fiercely at the camera.