America's Top Player

Chapter 138 What you taught me
For the next week, Li Ang was busy preparing for the new company.

Old Jones seemed to no longer want to have anything to do with Leon and was very cooperative from beginning to end.

He never wanted to see that face again before entering the coffin.

"I have a feeling old Jones will kill you before he gets into the coffin." Phil joked in the office.

"How could that be?" Leon said nonchalantly, "I put his name on the list of art directors for Straight Outta Compton."

As he spoke, he looked up at the time on his big gold watch.

He will fly to Los Angeles in the afternoon. "Straight Outta Compton" has officially wrapped up filming.

It is currently in the final editing and post-production adjustment stage.

Although Li Ang repeatedly stated that he knew nothing about film editing, he decided to participate in person after James Wan insisted.

If the film is edited without the involvement of investors, it will inevitably cause trouble if the box office does not perform well.

Having been in Hollywood for so many years, James Wan understands this very well.

The promotional plan for the film had already begun to be arranged a month ago.

Now it is in the stage of taking effect.

Subway billboards, outdoor giant screens, social media, radio stations, and cable TV.
He used almost every propaganda method he could think of.

The accompanying expenses are also a considerable amount.

Apocalypse Pictures is currently just an empty shell, and there are no film professionals within Apocalypse Music.

Finally, with the recommendation of James Wan, Leon chose a professional film promotion team.

He doesn't have to do anything, he just needs to review the list and report handed over by the other party.

Then sign and remit the money.
On the plane to Los Angeles, Li Ang suddenly felt uneasy.

I was obviously very tired but I couldn't fall asleep even for a second during the flight.

This has never happened before.

He asked the flight attendant for a cup of coffee and, bored, started browsing social media.

The attention was intentionally or unintentionally focused on Robbie's account.

Although the two have not spoken for a long time, fortunately, each other's social media accounts have resumed updating.

This made Leon breathe a sigh of relief.

What he feared most was that the other party would act like a little girl and do things like depression, semi-retirement from the entertainment industry, adjusting her state, and so on.

This will affect your own profits.

Judging from the photos Robbie updated on social networks, she is currently living a good life.

Near the Geirangerfjord in Norway, they performed "Faded" with the aurora as the backdrop;
Having dinner with Miranda, Kate and other friends in the circle, his eyes were blurry with drunkenness;
What concerns Li Ang most is that "Skyfall" has officially started filming.

Although nothing was said between the two, this kind of cold violence is often more terrifying than quarreling.

This means that neither person can change the other's sense of powerlessness.

He knew very well in his heart that this relationship had one foot in the grave and it was only a matter of time before it was officially announced.

At the moment, he can't bring up this matter on his own initiative, as Robbie might collapse directly because of it.

"Boss, those guys from the South Side of Chicago are causing trouble again." Sean's thin voice came from behind.

This time, Li Ang also brought Sean along on the trip to Los Angeles.

The first issue of Vibe magazine after its revival is about to be released.

How to fill this issue of the magazine with eye-catching content is Sean’s biggest concern at the moment.

Compton happens to be the birthplace of gangsta rap culture, so maybe he can find some eye-catching news there.

"South Side of Chicago?" Leon asked.

"A huge fan of Lil Duke's song 'Billy,' a leading figure in Chicago Drill music," Sean said. "This guy idolizes you to death. He said on social media that he would do anything for you."

"Fxxk, I'm not interested in these rookie brats." Li Ang said with a pout.

Sean planned to divide the new "Vibe" into two parts.

The first half mainly focuses on new song revelations, disputes and romantic scandals in the rap music circle.

The second half is a drama story about the underground rap circle.

These underground rappers are not usually considered professional singers because they are not signed to formal record companies.

Using the most rudimentary equipment, cheap accompaniment bought on the Internet for dozens of dollars and fierce and violent lyrics can be pieced together to create a work.

Sometimes they would use the proceeds from the zero dollar purchases to publish records at their own expense.

Sometimes they even sell their parents' cars outright.

In most cases there were no physical records, and the crude works were released directly to the Internet.

With the development of social networks and streaming media, the traffic of underground rap music has been growing.

It remains a hot topic in major hip-hop music communities.

The underground stories are far more exciting and dramatic than the mainstream ones.

After all, although the mainstream music industry is chaotic, it is unlikely to lead to bloodshed due to an online quarrel.

"They just did something big," Sean said.

"What great things can those idiots with cleaner pockets than faces do?" Li Ang didn't even blink, and acted extremely cold.

As a popular singer, the owner of a record company and media company.

He and these low-level thugs who even have to pay for their fast food meals are from completely different worlds.

"Another gang on Chicago's South Side, the GS6, got into an online altercation over their support for Diddy and Lil Duke," Sean said. "You should know about this. They were trending on social media a while ago."

"I've never paid attention to this matter. Tell me the key points." Li Ang asked, "What happened next?"

"Lil Duke is a huge fan of you and 50 Cent. To protect your reputation, he arranged a fight with the GS6 members online. They decided to solve the problem in a street way at O-block," Sean said.

Only then did Li Ang have some impression of Li Erduk's name.

The image of a young man with dreadlocks once gave him a headache.

This avatar sends him dozens of private messages on Bluebird every day.

The content is always repeated:
Listen to my work, Mr. Li Ang;
Please sign me, Street Coconut Crisp;
I can do anything for you
Since Li Ang received hundreds of such private messages every day, he never opened them carefully to listen to them.

"Go on." Leon said.

Sean handed the phone to Leon and said, "This morning, a gunfight broke out near an abandoned construction site in O-block. Two young black men were shot to pieces on the spot."

"They are members of GS6. It is said that the shooter was Lil Duke and his little brother King Von, a young bad boy."

"Police are investigating them but have not yet obtained any substantial evidence."

"WTF" Li Ang widened his eyes.

These young men were even crazier than he had imagined. They shot two people just because of an online argument.

This is very Nico, this is very Chicago.

As the core figure of the entire Beef, Li Ang's most intense conflict with Didi was just a few blank shots in the video store.

"This will be a great material! I plan to modify this incident and put it in our first issue of "Vibe" magazine!" Sean said excitedly.

"How can it be popular?" Li Ang sneered.

How popular can a group of thugs who only have a few thousand followers on social media and are not even professional singers be?
"Young people nowadays love to watch this," Sean explained.

"Okay, just do whatever you want." Li Ang spread his hands, thinking that he was only 21 years old, but he was increasingly unable to understand what young people in America were thinking.

After the plane landed at Los Angeles International Airport, the group headed straight to the Lionsgate Entertainment headquarters building.

Miles, with an extremely perfunctory attitude, arranged for his assistant to receive them, then turned around and disappeared without a trace. "Fuck, I've never seen those bastards at the film company treat investors like this," Phil complained.

Li Ang didn't say anything.

Major film companies are showing off their talents and making every effort to capture the big cake of superhero movies.

Although Lionsgate's size is not as large as those giants, it is also jealous of the huge profits.

They have put all their human, material and financial resources into producing "The Hunger Games".

A conservative estimate is three films in the series.

What's more, during the filming of "Straight Outta Compton", Lionsgate only took 5% of the box office share, making it clear that it would not invest any costs.

Based on the principle of saving as much as possible, labor costs are also costs.

In the editing room, James Wan excitedly introduced various knowledge about editing to Li Ang.

Post-production is the process of putting together all the elements of a finished film.

This step is crucial.

The quality of editing directly affects the quality of a film; the unedited version and the edited version are usually two completely different films.

Modern filmmaking is divided into two distinct workflows: using traditional film negatives throughout, or using a mix of traditional film negatives and digital film.

"Straight Outta Compton" was shot entirely with 35mm film, and the picture quality has a unique retro feel.

It perfectly fits the darkness and disorder of Compton in the late 80s.

"Bro, you can't edit it like this." When Kendrick heard Leon telling the editor to cut Dre's scenes, he quickly stepped forward to stop it.

"Why? This inner monologue of Dre is totally unnecessary." Leon asked.

"Dre was already upset when you changed the script during filming," Kendrick said helplessly. "Now he's going to be unhappy if so many scenes are cut out!"

"Listen, I cut out the scenes that didn't fit his character." Li Ang waved his hand to signal the other party to shut up. He was too lazy to explain anything further.

In the original version given by the inspiration refresh, Dre was almost whitewashed into a white lotus.

This is the only flaw in the entire movie.

What Leon wants to do now is to show the real NWA, the real Dre, and the real
What happens when a group of low-class people, who were originally struggling with violence and poverty, suddenly gain wealth and fame?

It's betrayal, lies, fighting.
"Hey man, are you sure you don't want to cut the scenes with Diddy?" asked James Wan.

"Why do you want to cut it?" Li Ang said with a smug smirk, "This is the most exciting part."

The original script was altered to include the character of P. Diddy, who didn't originally exist.

In the film, Li Ang explains how Dididi's unusual sexual fetish came about.

Didi's father died in a drug deal when he was three years old.

This led to him being frequently bullied at school in Harlem.

In order to make himself look less vulnerable, he tried to puff out his chest like an inflated balloon.

Hence the nickname "Blow".

This story is well known in the circle.

However, through Li Ang's magical modification, the story became that Didi was "overly cared for" by his peers because of his chest that looked abnormally swollen due to blowing.

"Brotherly love".

This experience completely changed Didi's orientation.

"I mean, will this really not infringe on copyright?" James Wan looked worried.

Leon had already thought of these things.

So he never mentioned the name P. Diddy or his real name, Sean, throughout the film.

But with such detailed portrayal in the movie, only a fool would not know who it was.

"Well, you're the boss~" James Wan spread his hands, "Maybe I should issue a disclaimer."

"Don't worry, you won't have any trouble." Li Ang patted the other person's shoulder.

He could now fully imagine what Diddy's expression would be when the movie was released.

Ever since he provoked this plague god, Didi has been dragged into the blacklist almost every now and then.

But due to the existence of JAY-Z, he could never take further action.

But Li Ang's thoughts were quickly slapped in the face.

Sean hurried over to him, his phone in hand. "Is there something wrong at the radio station?"

"What?" Leon raised his eyebrows. "Did Marcus pass out from drugs?"

"No, it's T-ray." Sean shook his head.

"What happened to that bastard?"

"He was shot, shot four times on Chester Street."

"What?" Leon's expression finally turned serious. "Are you kidding me? Who dares to shoot him on Chester Street?"

T-ray has been a bit of a jerk since he was young, but no matter what, as long as he stays on Chester Street, he has the protection of "Magnum" George.

No one dared to attack him easily.

"The gunman had his face covered and had been staying in a grocery store before the attack. Security cameras captured everything." Sean paused. "The gunman mentioned 'the boss'."

"it is as expected"

Just as Li Ang had guessed before, this matter must be related to Didi.

T-ray was outspoken during a live radio broadcast.

He publicly claimed that he had an affair with Diddy's mother and gave Diddy two younger brothers.
Even if it is just a small and inconspicuous radio station, no one can stand it if it keeps doing such slanderous things every day.

No one likes to be bitten by flies all the time.

What's more, Chister Bad Boy Radio is Leon's property.

Didi couldn't take direct revenge on Li Ang for the time being, but it wasn't difficult for him to shoot a radio DJ.

This was the first bloody conflict between the two sides since the outbreak of the "Second East-West Gang War", a rare big news.

Li Ang immediately realized that huge traffic was coming again!
He suppressed his excitement and asked with pretended concern, "How is he doing now?"

"He seems to be fine. He even called a group of street prostitutes to the ward," Sean responded.

"What a pity." Leon sighed.

If nothing unexpected happens, it was the fat that saved him.

It is impossible for an ordinary person to have the energy to withstand four bullets, even small-caliber bullets.

"What a pity?" Sean felt that there might be something wrong with his ears.

"I mean, if this bastard died, the consequences would be even more sensational." Leon said lightly.

Sean was stunned for a full half minute before he reacted.

Is this what people say?
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Leon patted the other man's shoulder. "I mean, if T-ray really went to see God, 'Vibe' would have exclusive material."

"We have firsthand information. This issue of the magazine will easily sell out."

"Traffic is the lifeblood of media professionals. You taught me that."

Sean didn't know what to say for a moment, so he could only stand there and nod repeatedly.

Li Ang raised the corner of his mouth, "I was just joking..."

(End of this chapter)