"Vivid..." Leon mulled over Old Mike's words and instantly felt a wave of respect.
"Exactly! Vivid! The purpose of these clothes is to create dreams for men and women seeking greater thrills!"
"I've been to one of P. Diddy's freak-offs... God, that place was more decadent than Sodom!"
"The women there were treated like animals, used at will."
Old Mike paused for a moment, then continued, "From appearance to mentality, they were animals."
After this explanation, Leon finally understood what Old Mike meant.
At the freak-offs, P. Diddy would invite sex workers and young girls who had been coaxed over, having them dress up in various cosplays according to his whims.
It could be a cool Catwoman outfit;
A sexy cow outfit;
P. Diddy especially loved having girls who looked like Beyoncé dress up as her, then go crazy at his party, deeply engaging with his big brother Jay-Z's woman (in spirit/fantasy).
"Do you know how ridiculously expensive those clothes are?"
Leon shook his head blankly.
"P. Diddy spends an astronomical amount pursuing thrills every year... Those scraps of fabric sell for hundreds of dollars in his hands..."
It was hard not to be tempted by that number.
For a well-known brand like Victoria's Secret, a set of lingerie costs no more than a hundred dollars.
According to Old Mike, competing on the same track as Victoria's Secret meant it would be hard to beat that long-established giant.
To survive, they had to blaze a new trail and create unique characteristics!
This coincided perfectly with Leon's initial idea.
Although the American people played wild games, they weren't sophisticated. Across the Pacific, the Japanese had long elevated cosplay to an industrial level.
Leon immediately shared Old Mike's ideas with Jones, scrapping all the original patterns and redesigning them from scratch.
They needed to find inspiration from various professions in life, as well as characters from the screen and comics.
Before long, Leon led the Apocalypse Music crew to appear on Venice Beach to shoot promotional samples for the Evil Angel brand.
Since it was Cardi B's personal brand, naturally, she had to be the model herself.
Surrounded by the photography team, Cardi attracted onlookers as soon as she appeared on the beach. Even the muscular men in the open-air gym stopped pumping iron.
"WTF... that chick is hot!"
"Look at how thirsty her expression is... the clothes on her cover almost nothing..."
"Wait... that looks like Cardi B!"
Someone in the crowd shouted this out, and the gathering of onlookers grew larger and larger.
The scene nearly went out of control, and the shooting plan was almost interrupted.
"Shxt! Can you bastards back off?!"
Even though Old Mike raised his voice to the max, it couldn't stop the restless crowd.
On the contrary, Cardi seemed very happy facing this group of fanatical fans, even giving out benefits on the spot by twerking.
"Wow!~"
"Fxxk! God knows how many times I've jerked off to her music videos!"
Seeing the fans' expressions, Cardi laughed even happier. She was about to remove all the seals on her body right there and "ult" directly at the fans.
"STOP..."
Leon quickly called a halt to her crazy behavior.
Although such behavior was common in the entertainment industry and wouldn't affect Cardi's public image...
Pop queen Madonna also frequently did crazy things at her concerts, such as forcibly kissing dancers or flashing her headlights at fans...
Leon was just worried that if he let Cardi continue to make a scene, it might cause a serious riot.
Cardi B shouted to the restless fans, "Don't be impatient, babies~ I'll sign autographs for every one of you after the shoot is done."
"I love you guys~"
Only then did the scene slowly quiet down.
At this time, Bonnie also changed into her outfit and joined the shoot.
Looking at these two hot figures, one black and one white, Old Mike praised while taking photos, "Good girls... you're doing great!"
"Arch it a bit more! A bit more!"
"Oh! God~ Praise the great Louis Daguerre, that bastard who invented the camera was a genius!"
As a lingerie blogger, Bonnie relied on sharing outfits on her YouTube channel to make a living.
Calling it "sharing outfits" sounded nice; essentially, it was softcore teasing.
Since her profession matched, Leon simply let her join in. This would only be beneficial for the promotion and sales of the Evil Angel brand.
Regarding product pricing, Leon naturally couldn't aim as high as Victoria's Secret.
Cardi B's target demographic was the bottom of society. Their spending power wasn't high, and lingerie costing dozens or hundreds of dollars was unaffordable for them.
Therefore, the entire first batch of Evil Angel products was priced at half of Victoria's Secret or even less.
Leon had considered entering the high-end market, but the name Cardi B really didn't have a single cent to do with "high-end."
"Maybe... I might poach Miranda Kerr to do a shoot in the future."
He had seriously considered this matter. This young supermodel from Australia was being hotly pursued by capital. Countless Wall Street elites and top-tier rich kids were lining up to curry favor with her.
And since this girl was best friends with Robbie, this might not be completely impossible.
---
A day later, Cardi B held a small media meet-and-greet in Los Angeles, announcing the official launch of her personal brand, Evil Angel.
She attended wearing red cutout lingerie, shocking everyone present.
At the same time, Leon appeared at the Aftermath Entertainment recording studio with Robbie on his arm.
This company belonged to the West Coast godfather figure, Dr. Dre.
In the field of gangsta rap, if ranking by seniority, Dr. Dre's status would only be higher than Jay-Z's.
He alone inherited the entire legacy of N.W.A, the pioneers of gangsta rap!
Now, the record company had become Dr. Dre's side business; he was already an investor involved in multiple fields.
Rumors were rife in the circle that Apple intended to acquire the Beats headphone brand founded by Dr. Dre.
Once this deal was closed, Dr. Dre would become the richest musician in the world in one fell swoop, bar none.
"As expected of Dr. Dre... the equipment here is no worse than Roc Nation's."
Kendrick had a proud expression on his face. "Of course, bro~ Not that I have anything against New York, but for the entertainment industry, you have to look at Los Angeles!"
With the help of Aftermath's music producers, the first recording session was about to begin.
"Honey~ I'm so nervous, what do I do~" Robbie's chest heaved violently as she looked helplessly at Leon.
"Don't be nervous. It doesn't matter how badly you sing; we'll fix it in post."
This answer earned him a flurry of playful punches.
The benefit of electronic music is that post-production can solve most problems.
This is also why many rappers are obsessed with auto-tune.
As long as you plug it in, singing badly can become a personal feature.
Watching Robbie walk into the booth, Kendrick covered his mouth and couldn't help laughing out loud. "The last time I heard Robbie sing, she sang My Heart Will Go On..."
"If Robbie were on the Titanic, they wouldn't have to wait to hit the iceberg; the ship would sink as soon as she opened her mouth."
When the backing track played and Robbie spat out the first line of lyrics, Kendrick instantly fell silent.
You were the shadow to my life
Did you feel us
Where are you now
Another dream
The monster's running wild inside of me
I'm faded
I'm faded...