Such conditions immediately dispelled all of George's concerns.
Although a midnight club in a slum wasn't much to Leon, taking over such a place would cost at least a hundred thousand dollars.
This temptation was enough to make George take the risk.
And for Leon, it was also the best choice; just a different method of payment.
Hiring a hitman?
What hitman?
It was just gifting a midnight club to a friend for the prosperity and spiritual civilization construction of the community.
Here, there was only sacred friendship, unadulterated by the stink of money.
After watching George and his crew leave, Leon narrowed his eyes and stared at the ceiling.
Judging from the current situation, the traffic dividend of the "Second East Coast vs. West Coast Gang War" was not only not exhausted, but was continuing to rise.
As long as these street nggas carried their idol's banner and created bloodshed conflicts everywhere, every drop of blood they shed could be converted into traffic.
The only regret lay in—
Leon hadn't released his own work for too long, which caused him quite a loss in earnings.
Lenny's calls had been coming one after another these days, and the core question was only one—when exactly will you release a new song?
To this, Leon always prevaricated with the excuse of having no inspiration.
He was never absent from the tour and promotional plans arranged by the company, following the steps like a robot.
In short, just slacking off.
And JAY-Z saw all this. To renew the contract, he had offered a sky-high signing bonus of 10 million dollars, seeking a long-term contract with Leon.
Not only that, this new contract raised the record sales share to 35%, but made certain demands regarding the copyright of the works.
This number looked tempting, but Leon scoffed at it, "JAY-Z is dreaming..."
Copyright is life to a singer; whether it was Taylor or Michael Jackson, they all had headaches over copyright issues.
With so many precedents, no matter how tempting a figure the other party offered, Leon could not yield on this issue.
It was an industry consensus that master recording rights belonged to the record company. If the copyright of the works was also handed over, then the singer would completely become a slave to the record company.
Moreover, Warner Music had already offered a signing bonus of 20 million dollars...
Leonard, who had been slapped in the face frequently, was still left hanging by Leon.
Fortunately, the contract with the Roc Nation Kingdom would expire in more than three months.
By then, he could surf the monstrous traffic without any scruples.
Two days later, Leon met with David Fincher's team for the first time.
Both parties had agreed that David Fincher would helm the Bang Bang MV shoot for a fee of 1.1 million dollars.
When Leon nodded to agree to this figure, he couldn't help but curse the other party's greed repeatedly.
A three-minute-plus MV, a fee of 1.1 million dollars.
Looking at the entire music industry, this was an incredible sky-high price.
Although there were record sales earnings continuously transfusing blood to his wallet, the successive big-ticket investments also made his purse shrivel rapidly.
In the second investment for the Straight Outta Compton movie, he took out 3.5 million dollars.
The expansion of the promotional plan led to a budget increase of another 3 million dollars, of which he needed to contribute 2.1 million dollars.
To support the completion of this movie's filming, he invested an astonishing 9.1 million dollars in total...
Besides investing in the movie, acquiring Vibe magazine also took 2.5 million dollars.
Now, Leon's liquid capital was no more than 10 million dollars.
The millionaire throne hadn't even warmed up before he fell off.
At 9 AM, David Fincher and his assistant arrived at Apocalypse Music.
Old Mike, as David's good friend, accompanied them throughout.
The theme of this meeting was the MV shooting plan.
As the producer and investor, any of Leon's ideas were crucial to the director.
He described the MV scenes he saw during the inspiration refresh to David.
Beyoncé, as the performer of the first segment, appeared first in the MV.
She was an avant-garde girl with edgy styling and revealing clothes, followed by a group of trend-following fans.
She walked on the street, swaying her hips dramatically, unreservedly showing her perfect "S-curve" to passersby.
Every movement, every look revealed burning desire.
Desire flooded the streets like a tide.
Taylor Swift's character was a somewhat rebellious school girl.
The scale of this segment was slightly smaller than the first one.
But sexiness was still the unshakeable theme, showing a girl's transformation from "innocent and cute" to "sexy and bold."
In the third segment, Cardi B arrived on the rooftop of a building by helicopter.
Her character was like a female spy in movies, a queen holding a whip in dangerous games.
Twerking, hot dancing...
Full firepower.
Finally, the three combined on the rooftop, dedicating a hot song and dance.
"I call this idea [Three Bxxches on the Rooftop]..." Leon said with a smile.
"You are a genius!" Old Mike's eyes lit up, wishing he was the one filming this MV. "You fulfilled a dream for fans all over the world!"
Everyone seemed very satisfied with this idea, except for the key director, David Fincher.
He took a sip of coffee and said expressionlessly, "This is too ordinary. Any rookie director has the ability to handle this script."
Leon immediately perked up, leaning forward. "I want to hear your thoughts."
"I lean towards adding more reflection, reflection on the increasingly open social atmosphere nowadays." David said, "As someone born in the 60s, I couldn't imagine the social atmosphere would be open to this extent... on the streets of Miami at midnight, there are even people copulating openly like animals."
As soon as the words fell, Leon's face instantly darkened.
Did this bastard hallucinate from filming art-house movies?
A pure party-style dance track, and you want to add deep reflection?
This behavior was tantamount to playing the Funeral March at a wedding.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Leon frowned.
"Your thoughts can't dictate the final film effect. Since you chose me, you have to listen to me." David remained expressionless.
The atmosphere instantly cooled down.
Mike was shocked speechless, and David's assistant was fidgeting out of fear.
Sitting in front of them was a street fierce man who frequently trended due to negative news;
The core figure sitting firmly in the center spot in the notorious Billy MV;
An extremely influential idol among American street teenagers.
He alone almost provoked beef with half the music industry.
Leon also fell into deep self-doubt, unable to help but slap his forehead.
So I spent 1.1 million dollars to hire a daddy?
After a moment of silence, he said in a deep voice: "Fxxk, listen David, shooting an MV isn't shooting a movie. I know you are a genius director with ideas."
"I am also your fan, but this time you have to respect my ideas. I spent a big price to produce this MV."
An MV, just the director's fee reached 1.1 million dollars, so other resources must match the director's worth.
Combined, the cost of this MV could exceed 1.5 million dollars with eyes closed, an absolute sky-high price.
However, this heartfelt speech didn't seem to move David. He said indifferently: "That's not much money."
"What did you say?!"
"I said, this actually isn't a very big splash." David shook his head. "In 1989, I shot Express Yourself for Madonna; you should have heard of it."
Leon shook his head silently.
David explained: "Express Yourself won three awards at the MTV Video Music Awards that year: Best Art Direction, Best Direction, and Best Cinematography."
Hearing this, Leon's brows finally relaxed.
This was why he insisted on choosing the other party as the director.
Although David hadn't won awards at the Oscars since transitioning to movies...
His movie reputation had always been online.
The cost of Fight Club in 1999 was 63 million dollars, and the final box office was only 100 million dollars.
Flopped horribly.
The distributor, 20th Century Fox, never dreamed that this absurd drama film would eventually break even just by selling DVDs through word of mouth among movie fans...
And even make a small profit in the end.
David, with his extremely personal style, had achieved everything a director could get in MV awards.
"I expect this MV can also achieve such brilliant results." Leon said with his legs crossed.
The result was the other party's next sentence almost made him spit out the coffee in his mouth.
"The MV for Express Yourself cost 5 million dollars."
"Crazy?"
"I'm not crazy; the real cost was even slightly higher than the announced data." David said, "Exquisite artworks are carved out with money. I won't let your money go down the drain."
At this point in the conversation, Leon knew there was no point in arguing further.
This eccentric guy was simply too paranoid.
Either respect his ideas or tell him to get lost.
After a struggle between Leon's left and right brain, he finally chose the former.
Since the ice-breaking collaboration between the two major Divas of the music industry had been achieved, might as well gamble big.
"I only have one personal request." Leon said.
"No problem, you are the investor, I will consider your thoughts." David responded.
"Not allowed to cut explicit scenes. I know what the audience wants to see!" Leon said this in a commanding tone.
Scenes of Beyoncé dancing hotly in the MV were countless.
Taylor would also occasionally show off some sexy dance moves at concerts.
But two Divas appearing in the same frame shaking their bodies, this was something that had never happened before, and was also the biggest selling point of this MV.
It was what fans all over the world were eagerly awaiting.
"Of course." David adjusted his collar. "I mean why cut them? I will increase the scale based on your ideas."
"What?" Leon's eyes widened round. "Didn't you just say you wanted to add some Bullshxt deep reflection?"
"Only when the scale is large enough can it be shocking, right?" David shook his head while laughing. "Those war films with an anti-war core often depict the bloody horror on the battlefield most realistically..."
After listening to these words, Leon instantly enlightened.
This greedy bastard really had something!
David continued: "I will use the largest scale to display the undisguised bxxch attitude of those young women nourished by mammonism and hedonism..."
"Undisguised bxxch attitude..." Leon muttered several times, even having a picture in his head. "Interesting, I can't wait."
He couldn't wait to see the finished effect.
"I already have a premonition this will be a great collaboration."
Both sides finalized that the MV would officially start shooting in New York tomorrow.
Complete all shooting plans within two weeks.
Beyoncé would clear her schedule for this, and Taylor would fly to New York in two days.
As soon as David Fincher left, Phil walked into the office.
"How was your chat with David?" Phil lit a cigarette as soon as he sat down. "I just greeted him when I came upstairs."
"We chatted very well." Leon said. "You know David?"
"Don't know him." Phil shook his head. "Since entering this industry in the 80s, he has always been an eccentric bastard, rarely socializing with others."
"But I am his fan. His Fight Club is my favorite movie. Sometimes I want to be like the protagonist of that movie and blow up this city..."
"Alright." Leon turned his head away from Phil, concentrating on scrolling through social media.
Vibe's official channel gained followers rapidly under Bonnie's operation, currently having over twenty thousand followers.
This channel rarely posted any content related to the magazine.
The core was the promotion of hip-hop culture.
Including music, street dance, street fashion, community culture...
This was also Leon's initial vision, liberating Vibe from the carrier of a magazine...
Becoming the core community of hip-hop culture in the US and even the world.
"Why are you kid ignoring me?" Phil grunted twice, his expression very unhappy.
"I'm busy. If you don't have anything important, you can leave." Leon looked up at him.
"Fxxk, am I that annoying to you?!" Phil raised his voice. "I brought you everything, look how you treat me!"
"You damn bastard drank too much again..." Leon said in a deep voice. "Calm down immediately, or get out of my office!"
From the moment Phil entered the door, he could tell the other party was pretty drunk.
Even for those street drunks, those who could start binge drinking in the morning were the most hopeless kind.
Phil's skin was stiff, making him look ten years older than his actual age.
These were all external manifestations of liver disease.
He might very likely be taken away by God within a few years, maybe even a few months.
Intimidated by Leon's tone, Phil sobered up a bit. "I don't understand why your attitude towards me is always so bad, but I have a gift for you."
"What gift?"
"Have you heard of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)?"
"Of course." Leon replied without thinking; he liked this fighting event very much.
Two contestants locked in an octagon cage, finally only one person could leave standing.
Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, Sambo...
Contestants could use any fighting style in the world, as long as they could pin the opponent on the ground and beat them until they lost consciousness.
Senator John McCain once declared this competition "human cockfighting" and vigorously pushed to ban the sport.
With the perfection of rules and technology, it is now a large fighting event with top PPV sales in North America.
"UFC officially invites you to watch the fight live at the Rogers Centre in Toronto in two days." Phil grinned. "To be precise, UFC President Dana White personally invites you to present the belt to the champion of the night."
Hearing the first half, Leon originally wanted to refuse.
Although he was a fan of this event, it really wasn't worth flying to Toronto just to save on a front-row ticket.
But the meaning of presenting the gold belt to the fighter was different.
Leon easily guessed Dana White's thoughts, using his traffic from the Beef war to build momentum for this rough, brutal event full of male hormones.
Doing so was a win-win.
Right now, he happened to need the momentum of a hardcore fighting competition to further consolidate his reputation as "Street Jesus."