America's Top Player

Chapter 125 Playing Dirty

Li Ang left and just got into a taxi.

I received a text message from Beyoncé right after.

【I hope we can work together in the studio once. 】

"cooperate?"

Because the scene just now almost caused a shooting, Li Ang thought for a long time before confirming that the cooperation Beyoncé mentioned was a serious cooperation.

The queen finally couldn't hold back and proposed the idea of inviting the singer.

A bitter smile appeared on Li Ang's lips.

This is a sweet trouble.

First Taylor, then Beyoncé.

It is something that would excite any male singer if the two hottest female singers in the music scene invited him to write a song.

But Li Ang was not happy at all.

Before his contract with ROC Kingdom expired, all his actions were restricted.

In the office, Phil had been waiting for more than an hour.

Bored, he turned on the record player.

He drank alone while listening to Pink Floyd's 43-minute famous song "The Dark Side of The Moon".

By the time Li Ang arrived, he was already drunk.

He tilted his head, blushed, and fell on the sofa.

Li Ang plopped down on the swivel chair and rolled his eyes at Phil. "I should have warned you not to drink so much. Cardiovascular, liver, and kidney diseases will kill you sooner or later."

"I don't care. There's nothing left in my life except bitches, cigarettes and alcohol." Phil shook his head and laughed, "And of course, you."

Li Ang felt sick after hearing this and quickly corrected, "Don't count me in."

Maybe it was because he drank too much, Phil's mental state was not right.

There was always a layer of liquid covering his cloudy eyeballs.

"I have nothing left. Family, wife, children. Fuck! They all abandoned me!" Phil's expression gradually twisted when he talked about his son. "I need the stimulation of alcohol. This fucking world has turned into a huge mental hospital!"

Li Ang spread his hands and gave Phil a cigarette.

Then he lit a cigarette for himself and said, "Stop being so sentimental. I don't like hearing victims speak like this. Talk about the Adidas thing."

"You are such a hopeless bastard. Don't you have a family? Don't you have a mother?" Phil turned his head away.

"Watch your attitude when you speak." Li Ang said, "I think you've lost your mind, you bastard. Otherwise, let's talk about this tomorrow."

Phil snorted coldly and responded very reluctantly: "A month ago, I took Cardi to perform in Oregon and watched an NBA game in Portland."

"At the Trail Blazers' home court, sitting next to me was Adidas' North American Marketing Director, Thomas, who was scouting Trail Blazers star Brandon Roy."

"After learning that I was your agent, we talked a lot. He just called me out of the blue and asked if I was interested in being the spokesperson for Adidas sneakers."

Just as Li Ang had thought before, after the release of "Billy" caused a huge stir, the impact was not limited to the entertainment industry.

All walks of life want to get a piece of the pie from this wave of traffic.

Although 50 Cent is the lead singer of "Billy", everyone knows that the core figure of the whole Beef is the producer Li Ang.

The competition between the two sports brands, Adidas and Nike, has lasted for half a century, and for most of the time the two companies were evenly matched.

It wasn't until 1984 that Nike signed an NBA rookie named Michael Jordan.

No one at the time, including Nike’s management, could have imagined that this incident would rewrite the company’s future and shake the entire sporting goods industry.

In 1985, the first generation of Air Jordan was released, announcing that Nike and Adidas had completely switched from offense to defense.

Especially in the North American market, Nike is considered to be part of street culture, rap, basketball, and street dance.
Related to all trendy culture.

Adidas has become the symbol of old-fashioned and dull.

In 2010, Nike's revenue reached $190 billion, surpassing Adidas by nearly $60 billion.

Phil continued, "Adidas has been seeking recognition among young people, acquiring Reebok for $38 billion and signing Derrick Rose, the No. 2008 pick in the NBA draft."

"Now, they urgently need to sign a new spokesperson to increase their influence on the streets."

Li Ang has been plagued by various scandals and negative news since his debut. With his poor performance and abuse of black traffic, he has completely become a negative street figure.

Targeting such an extremely negative public figure clearly shows that Adidas has been beaten unconscious by Nike.

Serious illnesses require strong medicine, but Adi chose to take poison directly.

No one knows when a troubled figure like Li Ang will cause a big stir and then backfire on the brand Adidas.

"How much is the contract worth?" This was the only question Leon cared about after listening to Phil's long narration.

"This matter is still in the negotiation stage, and I don't know their specific offer yet." Phil paused and then said: "Thomas once accidentally revealed that the value of this contract may not be less than 300 million US dollars a year."

300 million US dollars a year, this figure made Leon swallow his saliva.

He has already tasted success in the Durex endorsement campaign.

Just say a few stupid lines to the camera and make some quick money.

At most, I can take time out every year to show up at a few brand-sponsored events and post a few tweets on social media.

This money is so easy to make.

"Very good, you did a great job." Leon patted Phil on the shoulder. "Now you can go home and rest. When you sober up, contact Thomas immediately and tell him that I've loved Adidas since I was a child and I'm very interested in endorsing products for this great brand."

300 million US dollars is not an outrageously high number for Li Ang now, but the key point is that a company like Adidas will not sign a contract for only one year.

Derrick Rose signed a 1.85-year contract with Adidas totaling $13 million.

The players have to wear Adidas products when playing on the court, but Li Ang doesn't have to do anything except shoot an advertisement and some photos.

The only downside is that I will basically say goodbye to the Nike brand in the future.

But Phil quickly poured cold water on him, "This matter is not as simple as you think. Adidas's intended target is not just you. Kanye West is their number one target."

"Kan Ye?" Li Ang thought that the other party was also one of his rivals and had spent a lot of money to discredit him on social media for a long time.

But the name doesn't have a strong presence.

Compared with P. Diddy, Pitbull and others, Kanye West is just a weak Puxi.

When Li Ang was besieged by a group of hip-hop singers on the East Coast, Kanye, as Diddy's younger brother, did not dare to speak out.

Because he was afraid of Li Ang's reputation, he only dared to do shady things behind the scenes, and he didn't look like a street rapper at all.

In fact, he did not come from the streets.

Kanye was born into a middle-class family in Atlanta. His mother was a teacher and his father was a newspaper reporter.

Even though his parents divorced when he was 3 years old, he was much better off than his peers who often had no father or didn't even know who their father was.

Such a family background can be considered a natural start among all hip-hop singers.

Due to his relatively affluent family environment, he did not have many street experiences while growing up, and there is rarely any description of violence in his lyrics.

Li Ang suddenly thought of something and asked hurriedly, "Doesn't Kanye have a contract with Nike?"

"You know that too?" Phil was stunned for a moment, and the other party said what he wanted to say. "I saw the sneakers he designed for Nike on Kendrick," Li Ang complained. "How dare such a bulky and stupid pair of Air Yeezy 1s be priced so high?"

Phil pointed to his head and said, "This is the added value that celebrities bring to products. Although you are good at making money, you are far behind Jay-Z and Kanye West."

In the subsequent conversation, Li Ang learned that the cooperation between Kanye and Nike has almost come to an end.

Because the sales of the sneakers did not meet expectations, the arrogant Nike would rather donate the proceeds to charity than pay the necessary royalties for the other party's design.

The reason given was simply that Kanye was not an athlete.

"The relationship between the two sides is now very tense. Kanye is on the verge of leaving Nike, and Adidas is also very happy to let Kanye serve as a designer while being the spokesperson." Phil said.

"Shxt" Li Ang's newly ignited enthusiasm was instantly extinguished.

Even if we put aside his blind spot in sneaker design, he has absolutely no advantage in the competition with Kanye.

This rapper from a middle-class background has released five albums so far, and his total sales are far ahead of Li Ang.

He also holds 14 Grammy Awards, including three "Best Rap Album of the Year", which puts him far ahead of his contemporaries.

If it weren’t for Li Ang’s recent surge in traffic thanks to the “East and West Coast Gang War” incident.

If you have to choose between the two, Adidas can choose with its eyes closed.

Seeing the disappointment written all over Leon's face, Phil smiled triumphantly.

He knew his moment to show off was coming. "Even if Kanye really terminates his contract with Nike, you still have a chance."

"Tell me about it." Li Ang lay down on the swivel chair and lit another cigarette.

Phil stood up unsteadily, staggering with each step.

He walked to the window, put his hands behind his back and looked into the distance, with a melancholy look on his face. "Thanks to you for having the best agent in the world, I am a master of understanding human nature. I know exactly how to make a deal."

Leon frowned and stared at Phil, not knowing whether to interrupt him.

Phil continued, "Thomas looked rather dull and old-fashioned, a typical Kraut, but I understood his nature, what was missing from his soul."

Li Ang nodded repeatedly, but in his heart he kept cursing him for being too slow.

"He was transferred here just last year from the headquarters in Bavaria, Germany, and his wife is still far away in Germany."

"I understand." Li Ang curled his lips helplessly, knowing what the other party wanted to say next.

"During our time in Portland, I took him to experience Latina, black, and Brazilian girls. He's completely fallen in love with this country." Phil showed a lewd smile on his face. "Guess what he said?"

"What did he say?" Li Ang asked perfunctorily.

Phil grinned broadly. "He said he finally understood why everyone wanted to come to America. This country's soft power is really hard not to admire!"

Li Ang spread his hands, stood up and prepared to go home.

He was too lazy to listen to the other party's drunken nonsense. "I don't care what dirty tricks you use. Just do your best to win the Adidas contract for me."

After saying that, he hurriedly left the office and got into the business car driven by Jorge.

Since the Beef Wars began, he has rarely driven that flashy Porsche 997.

He commissioned Bonnie to buy this Dodge Caravan from the used car market for $2.

Almost new condition, durable.

The most important thing is that it can accommodate 7 bodyguards at the same time, which doubles his sense of security.

It was already nine o'clock in the evening when I left the office.

Li Ang looked at the night view outside the car window, his mind full of the song invitation with Taylor.

Rejecting Taylor would be like rejecting a large sum of money, which he could not accept in any way.

And if "We don't talk anymore" is directly taken out, it will be more deeply bound to the Roc Kingdom and also mean Robbie's rage.

"Damn it." The success of Diss brought him traffic as well as happy troubles.

At this time he received a call from Bonnie.

"Hey, I'm really tired lately, if you need anything, just do it yourself"

He was interrupted before he could say more than a few words. Bonnie said anxiously, "Mr. Jones seems to have changed his mind."

"What? Explain clearly!" Li Ang immediately straightened his body and sat up straight.

"I just received an email from Miss Jidada. It seems her father has changed his mind."

"Fuck, I'll be home soon!" Li Ang hung up the phone, muttering, "What tricks is this cunning old fox trying to play again?"

In the Henry Street apartment, Leon stared at the contents of Bonnie's laptop and fell into a long silence.

The lengthy text is filled with hypocritical words such as "I'm very sorry" and "Looking forward to working together next time".

The only truly valuable piece is this one paragraph: Time Warner has rekindled its enthusiasm for acquiring Vibe.

Unexpectedly, Jones Sr. deliberately revealed Time Warner's specific offer in the email - $550 million.

Seeing this, Li Ang's face instantly darkened.

He's hanging on to Vibe in large part because there's no serious competition.

This means that you can easily get the magazine at the most economical price.

But when faced with Time Warner, the top giant in the media industry, he suddenly lost all his confidence.

Jones deliberately revealed the other party's offer, and Time Warner's offer was only $50 higher.
Combining all of the above
Li Ang immediately realized that he had been tricked!

"Fxxk!"

It's as disgusting as encountering the lowest bid at an auction.

He should have thought of it earlier. Old Jones, who has worked in the music industry for more than 60 years, would certainly not allow himself to be manipulated like a toy.

"What do we do now?" Bonnie asked.

"What else can I do? I can only give up."

"But you put so much effort into acquiring Vibe," Bonnie said. "Maybe if we can outbid Time Warner, we can get the deal done."

Li Ang rolled his eyes at her and said, "You'd better focus on selling second-hand underwear online."

"A small price increase is meaningless. This is clearly a trap."

Hearing this, Bonnie completely stopped.

She oversaw most of the Vibe acquisition and is equally frustrated that the negotiations have reached a dead end.

"Let the old bastard go to his grave with this money-losing magazine. I'll laugh at him at his graveside."

Li Ang was too lazy to think about it anymore and walked into the bathroom while taking off his clothes.

Surrounded by the steam, he suddenly thought of something, as if he had just gotten a clue, and muttered to himself:
"Time Warner. Warner Records"

"Leonard?"

Although in 2004, Warner Music was sold by Time Warner to Bronfman Investment Group for US$26 billion.

But Leonard worked for Time Warner for more than 10 years and still has strong connections within its executive circle.

"Fxxk! You two damn bastards played dirty with me."

(End of this chapter)