At the end of May, there were only two days left until the premiere of Straight Outta Compton on Children's Day.
Leon lay on the sofa in his office throwing darts. There was also a large map of the United States on the wall.
He asked Bonnie to mark every city where he performed, in case he went crazy under the pressure of the tight schedule.
"I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road~ I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more~" He hummed while looking for the vocal feeling.
The young black singer in the original version didn't have brilliant singing skills, but he had a unique husky black voice.
This can be considered a racial talent.
Since its birth, soul music has been dominated by black people.
The King of Soul Ray Charles's smoky voice was unique in the world. After his death, no matter who performed his works, it didn't have that flavor.
Similarly, Guns N' Roses' Don't Cry, only Axl Rose's screaming singing style can be called a work of art.
"Fxxk, you're a singer, instead of reading sheet music, you're studying geography?" Phil pushed the door open and walked in, as usual without any greeting.
"The schedule is too full, making marks to deepen the impression." Leon sat up and spread his hands, "Going to T-ray's podcast program tonight, flying to Los Angeles tomorrow, movie premiere the day after tomorrow..."
"After that, I have seven damn tour dates in Florida..."
"It's nothing, you're still young." Phil said, "Think about Taylor's 111 concerts, the bit of suffering you endure is nothing."
Speaking of Taylor, she happened to hold the "Speak Now World Tour" in Miami in early June.
After learning that their schedules overlapped, the other party immediately invited Leon to be a concert guest.
He agreed on the spot.
In order to mooch off Taylor's traffic more righteously in the future, it was only natural to contribute.
Phil opened the liquor cabinet on his own, fumbled out a half-drunk bottle of Bowmore whisky.
After downing half a glass of spirits, his eyes became three points clearer.
"Drink more. When you drink yourself to death, I'll take back the manager business immediately." Leon mocked.
"WTF are you serious?" Phil almost sprayed out the wine he just swallowed.
"I don't lie to you bastard." Leon said with a smile: "We are no longer a small workshop... In the New York state tax season in April, I paid a damn more than 6 million in miscellaneous taxes..."
"A mature record company should have its own artist management department."
The tax payment made Leon quite depressed.
Originally he had 16 million cash on hand, ready to use this money to buy real estate.
As a result, the tax bureau chopped down with a butcher knife, once again knocking him off the throne of multimillionaire.
Fortunately, this money was supplemented by Adidas, and now he still held nearly 20 million US dollars.
"Shxt, you are such a fool, this money just fed those fools in the state government for nothing." Phil changed the subject from the manager topic and mocked, "I told you long ago, money kept in your pocket will only be slowly eaten up by them, investing in the securities market is the truth!"
Leon nodded in default.
After the tax season, he had deeply realized the importance of tax avoidance.
A strange phenomenon in American society is that the richer the person, the lower the proportion of tax paid to personal assets.
Berkshire Hathaway's helmsman Buffett, his tax rate is 17.4%.
His secretary Bosanek's is 35.8%.
Luca told him a truth—"People used to say a rising tide lifts all boats, now the fact is, a rising tide lifts all yachts."
The United States implements a strict progressive tax rate.
The higher the income, the higher the tax rate to be borne.
Personal income tax rates borne by people with different incomes range from 10% to 37%.
For income generated by asset appreciation, the US government levies capital gains tax.
The tax rate of this tax type is also proportional to income, but the capped tax rate is only 20%.
Capital gains tax is only levied on assets that have been realized as actual income.
That is to say, for held assets, no matter how much they appreciate, as long as they are not sold, they do not have to bear any taxes.
The advice given by Luca was very crude: "Invest in securities and real estate!"
Buy, Borrow, Die. This is the typical "lifestyle" of the wealthy in America.
To avoid paying huge taxes, American super-rich rarely sell their stocks and real estate.
Mortgaging them for bank loans is much more cost-effective.
In this case, only a fool would sell assets under their name at will.
Leon had no confidence in the securities market, so buying a house instantly changed from a need to show off to a rigid investment need.
Real estate enthusiast Beyoncé once reminded him that now is the best time to buy a house.
Real estate is recovering from the impact of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis.
He had already paid a deposit to the real estate agent, intending to pay in full for the Tribeca flat he liked before June.
In addition, he needed to conduct a systematic review of the companies under his name.
This matter has been handed over to Bonnie.
Thoroughly split and sort out the business, divided into three sectors: Apocalypse Music, Lion's Den Media, and a clothing company responsible for the Wicked Angel brand and Leezy shoes.
Apocalypse Music is responsible for all record-related businesses and copyright management.
Lion's Den Media currently includes Lion's Den Radio, Chester Bad Boy Radio, and Vibe magazine.
Even if the scope of media business expands in the future, it will be merged into Lion's Den Media.
As for the clothing company, until getting the Adidas collaboration contract, Leon thought it was a wrong investment.
The Wicked Angel brand, after more than half a year of development, only maintained a break-even state.
The occasional small profit was negligible for his current wealth.
At present, unless hosting a large underwear show or inviting more famous and sexy spokespersons, no possibility of development could be seen.
This newly established Leezy clothing company will manage the two brands, Leezy shoes and Wicked Angel.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, it was magically modified from Jones Design Studio.
Phil interrupted Leon's complicated thoughts and asked with a smile: "Any plans to release new songs recently?"
"No." Leon rolled his eyes at him.
"Really? I heard from Max that you are preparing to restart the recording of We Don't Talk Anymore..." Phil smiled broadly, "And heard that you wrote a great new song different from previous styles."
Damn big mouth...
After a brief annoyance, Leon quickly returned to normal.
Just as Phil often said, whether renewing the contract with ROC or not, that day will always come.
Cannot stop eating for fear of choking.
"Probably in a few days, at least wait until I come back from Los Angeles." Leon said.
"Very good... very good! I just like seeing you full of drive!" Phil flattered crisply, "It won't be long before you can trample JAY-Z under your feet... then as long as you want, you can link up with Beyoncé right in front of him..."
"I think you bastard are crazy..."
While the two were chatting happily, Leon's finger casually scrolling the mouse wheel suddenly froze.
Lil Durk sent him a private message again.
This ngga would regularly report his situation to Leon every day.
During this period, he encountered a total of five shootings.
Lost two good homies, but also successfully killed a gunman sent by Diddy.
"This kid really has something..." Leon muttered to himself looking at the content of the private message.
Many fierce mafia images have been shaped on the big screen, but there are very few movies depicting black street gangs.
Although these people play Low, the level of bloodshed is not low at all. The intensity of gang wars even exceeds the mafia.
Unless core interests are involved, the mafia rarely sends people directly to see God.
But young black people in the streets are extremely likely to pull out guns and shoot each other just because of a provocative look.
In Compton, in downtown Detroit, in Chicago's South Side...
These are not accidental events, just that few people notice these dark corners.
They seem to have been abandoned by this country.
The last message sent by Lil Durk was: "Big boss, when will you sign me?"
To this Leon replied: "You survive this month first."
Phil looked at Leon's grimacing expression and leaned over curiously.
"If you ask me, you might as well sign those two silly boys, I'm already tempted by them." Phil said.
"Didn't you already do that?"
Leon's retort left the other party speechless.
Old Phil had secretly contacted Lil Durk long ago, intending to serve as the other party's manager.
But because Leon had warned before: wanting to sign with Apocalypse Music, the manager contract must be brought along.
This led to the old man failing despite using all sugar-coated shells.
Phil blushed and quickly changed the subject, "I've heard the music of those two black boys. Although rough, it has a certain audience. Polished with professional equipment, it won't be too bad... Besides, you don't lack this money now."
"Are you really prepared to stick to the boast you made to the media, letting this label only sign female artists?"
Gender is not the main point, that was just nonsense to fool the media back then.
The key point is that the three singers of Apocalypse Music are already very famous, and each has a distinct persona.
Letting two unknown little blacks join will only pollute the purity of the label.
If really wanting to sign them, establishing a new label is the optimal solution.
Let this new label become a subsidiary sub-brand of Apocalypse Music for management.
Leon drove the wave of Drill music with Billy.
Now this type of music is rising rapidly in the market, and major labels are preparing to carve up the cake.
The cake was made by Leon himself, he has no reason not to eat it.
But now is not the best time to sign Lil Durk.
At least wait for the turmoil of the shooting to pass first.
The next day, Leon boarded the flight to Los Angeles.
Accompanied by Kendrick, 50 Cent finally appeared at the airport on time to pick him up.
Having not met for more than a month, as soon as they got in the car, the two chatted enthusiastically.
"Bro~ You don't know how much I missed you!" 50 Cent's iconic bear hug made Leon quickly call for a stop.
"Enough..."
"I'm serious Bro! When I sleep with girls, my head is full of your bastard face!"
These words made even the driver unable to hold back, turning his head to secretly look at Leon.
"Fxxk, I really want to kick you out of the car." Leon was quite helpless, 50 Cent's character was just like this.
Just as honest as his rugged appearance, no tricks.
This is also a key reason why his rap career could get help from big shots like Dr. Dre and Eminem, coming back from the dead several times.
Now Leon's name must be added to this list of benefactors.
The success of Billy is phenomenal.
In Los Angeles, the criticism 50 Cent suffered was no less than Leon in New York.
Constant announcements, surrounded by beauties.
Kendrick was surprisingly silent.
Until getting out of the car and arriving at the luxury suite of the Four Seasons Hotel.
He pulled Leon away from 50 Cent and whispered: "Bro, are you and Robbie really finished?"
"Really." Leon responded indifferently.
Kendrick, who was slow to react, only knew this news on the night of the Billboard Awards.
Before this, he always thought this was just gossip spread by unscrupulous media.
"Damn bro, Robbie did everything for you, she even went on adult websites to learn..."
Before Kendrick could finish, he was interrupted by Leon's sharp eyes.
He waved his hands repeatedly and said: "Okay Bro~ I mean, I have never seen Robbie treat any man like this..."
Leon immediately retorted: "Damn, what's wrong with your head? In the hood, there is nothing more common than this."
In the bottom black neighborhoods, breaking up is as common as the nightly routine handiwork.
Whoever keeps talking about this will definitely invite ridicule from companions.
Kendrick scratched his head embarrassedly: "Alright, I thought you white people were more affectionate, like in Titanic."
"Stop it and get lost." Leon was angry and amused, "I'm already very tired after flying for so long..."
That night, Leon flirted with both Kardashian sisters and Ariana at the same time.
His fingers were almost smoking from rubbing on the screen.
After putting down the phone, he wondered whether to invite Robbie face to face to return to New York with him to record songs.
According to Kendrick, Robbie would also appear at the premiere.
At 4 PM the next day, the extended Lincoln appeared at the entrance of the Four Seasons Hotel on time.
"Come on Leon! I missed you to death!"
"Shxt, on such a big day, you guy dress so casually?!"
Davis and Kendrick sat in the back cabin, shouting at Leon from a distance.
Leon almost didn't recognize the other party.
Not seen for a long time, even this ngga put on a decent custom suit. Compared with the desolate image in Brownsville, it was simply a difference between heaven and earth.
"You look great~" Leon patted Davis on the shoulder, "Want to go back to New York with me after the premiere?"
"Damn Bro, who wants to go back to that ghost place!" Davis shook his head repeatedly, his dreadlocked head looking like a broken mop.
Leon and Kendrick looked at each other and smiled.
The achievements Davis made in Compton could be said to be a class leap.
Not only did he get a leading role in a movie, but he also started dating the cousin of the famous street legend Robinson.
Long after learning about this, Leon understood why Robinson was so annoyed back then.
He only had one cousin, also the only female in this generation of the whole family.
During the long period of filming Straight Outta Compton, Davis lived comfortably in Robinson's big house.
While encroaching on the cousin, he was also not polite to Robinson's collection of cigars and famous wines.
He could even often enjoy cocktails specially mixed by the street big shot himself.
The location of the premiere ceremony was at the ACE Hotel Theatre in Los Angeles.
This meant the convoy had to cross the Los Angeles landmark, Hollywood Boulevard.
The world-famous Walk of Fame is located here.
Before reaching the destination, the three people in the car were already drunk.
Today was supposed to be a happy day, carnival was the only theme.
Leon simply didn't hide his capacity, and as a result, he drank the two people in front of him under the table in less than an hour.
Especially Davis, his mood today was extraordinarily excited.
Obviously just drunk, but muttering to himself like a drug overdose, behaving strangely.
As if falling into hallucinations.
The vehicle happened to drive to Hollywood Boulevard.
At any time of the year, this place is always crowded with tourists from all over the world.
Davis suddenly ordered the driver to open the sunroof.
Before everyone realized what he was going to do, he had already stood up.
Upper body exposed out of the sunroof, clutching half a bottle of whiskey in his hand.
Without warning, he swung the wine bottle, drinking spirits with his head held high.
Shouting to the crowd on both sides of the street:
"I am the fxxking dopest ngga in Los Angeles, you all watch me carefully!"
"I came from the garbage dump in Brownsville, New York, now floating on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a limousine!"
"The movie I acted in is about to be released!"
"I roll with Street Jesus Leon!"
Passersby turned their heads one after another.
Their respective amazed expressions were like film, frozen in black and white under the humid sea breeze of June.