Dilapidated signs and apartments, Black passersby, Black drivers, Black guards, Black classmates... it seemed only Black people appeared on the streets of Detroit.
As a bodyguard, Davis was also visiting Detroit for the first time. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but exclaim: "No city is more hip-hop than Detroit!"
Leon rolled his eyes at him and asked, "Do you know any leader in history who degenerated a developed country into a developing country, yet was still called a great person in the end?"
This question stumped Davis.
He hadn't even attended community college.
As for the gold content of American public high schools, it probably couldn't compare to a junior high school diploma in the East.
He answered without thinking: "Adolf?"
Leon smiled and responded, "Don't be silly, ngga. Before Mustache came to power, Germans could barely afford bread to fill their stomachs, and Mustache made people afford meat soup in just one year."
"Then I don't know. Don't give me these weird questions; I'm only good at rap!"
"Nelson Mandela... is one of the few people who achieved this."
Hearing this, Davis's eyes widened immediately.
Among the Black community, there are two national heroes: Martin Luther King Jr. and Mandela.
"Fxxk bro, don't insult Black heroes in front of me!"
Leon spread his hands and didn't continue. If it were anyone else saying this, Davis might have pulled his gun directly.
Detroit built a large number of Gilded Age buildings during its prosperous period and was once called the "Paris of America."
A large number of white workers losing their jobs, coupled with the civil rights movement in the 60s, exacerbated racial conflicts in Detroit.
In July 1967, riots broke out in Detroit, causing immeasurable damage to the city, mostly in Black residential and commercial areas.
Thousands of small businesses closed permanently or relocated to safer communities. Thereafter, the wealthy middle class and the rich began to flee the city core.
Now it has the highest proportion of Black people among major cities in the northern United States, reaching 82.7%.
Even South Africa doesn't reach such an exaggerated proportion of Black people.
People are accustomed to "political correctness" and avoid talking about poor security in Black neighborhoods.
But when choosing where to live, they obviously vote with their feet.
Just like the white female literary critic Susan Sontag who scolded "the white race is the cancer of human history."
She absolutely never lived in a Black neighborhood, living in the bustling, basically all-white wealthy area of Manhattan until her death.
And white leftists like her are leading the entire US and even the world onto a magical path no one has ever imagined.
Leon asked Bonnie to choose a hotel in the Greater Detroit area far from the city center.
There were many Chinese people here, and the security situation was worlds apart compared to the downtown area.
The performance venue was located at Huntington Place in the city center.
For safety, he locked that eye-catching gold watch in the hotel safe before the performance started.
Witnessing this scene, Davis got emotional again. "Bro, there's no need to do this."
For the first time, he felt Leon might have racist tendencies.
Leon didn't respond directly but told a story: "A father took a train to take up a management post at a GM factory..."
"Along the way, his son asked him: Are we in Detroit yet?"
"The father reached his hand out the window, looked at the time on his watch, and answered: Not yet, son."
"After a while, the child asked the same question again."
"The father reached his hand out the window again, and when he pulled it back, the watch was gone..."
"He said: Son, we are in Detroit!"
Laughter erupted in the room immediately. Only Davis reacted after a while, his face livid.
He muttered curses in a low voice: "You damn racists are full of misunderstandings about Black people..."
After some laughing and joking, the group took a business van to Huntington Place. The scene was already crowded with tens of thousands of music fans.
They held high support signs with Leon's name written on them; some signs even had hand-drawn portraits of "Jesus."
Leon suddenly understood why the first stop of the tour plan arranged by Roc Nation was the declining Detroit.
Although this place didn't rank among the four major hip-hop sacred lands in America, it produced the greatest commercial rapper—Eminem.
Most people living in downtown Detroit were hopeless bottom-layer citizens, and rock music and hip-hop music completely belonged to the bottom-layer people.
Just like the hippie movement in the 60s, music and drugs were tools for people to escape reality.
Sitting in the business van, Davis waved and interacted with fans like a star: "Look how enthusiastic my compatriots are... and you guy actually look at them with tinted glasses all the time!"
After the vehicle stopped steadily at Huntington Place, despite a large number of police officers maintaining order on the scene, Leon was still bumped left and right by the crowd.
The drop-off point was less than 200 meters from the main stage, but he walked for more than ten minutes.
"They are simply too enthusiastic; I love Detroit to death!" Davis winked at Leon, dancing excitedly.
But the next second he found something wrong.
"Fxxk! Where's my gold chain! Which damn ngga stole my gold chain!"
"I'm going to kill him!"
Ever since Davis followed Leon, holding multiple positions as artist, rap producer, and bodyguard, his pockets had also swelled over time.
Like all nggas, he took this money to customize a gold chain at the famous Chinese gold shop Popular Jewelry.
The Chinese proprietress here was called "Mama Su" or "Golden Godmother" by many rappers.
Many rappers considered owning a gold chain handmade by Mama Su as an honor, so the gold chain Davis lost must have been expensive.
Leon and Phil didn't know whether to laugh or cry. These two old foxes had already taken off all valuables on their bodies when leaving the hotel.
"Learn a lesson next time, ngga... When a thief targets you, he won't care if you have the same skin color."
Leon patted Davis on the shoulder and jumped onto the stage. The local band's drummer immediately beat out a strong rhythm.
"What's up! Detroit!"
Yeah——
The tsunami-like cheers completely exceeded Leon's expectations. This was a wave of sound only superstars could enjoy.
In Detroit, rap music dominated, and people weren't actually very interested in rock music.
Just a month ago, he was often given the cold shoulder during tours in other cities in the Great Lakes region; many people didn't know him at all.
But after the release of the debut album, it was completely different.
Many fans held high support signs with portraits of Eminem, 50 Cent, Kendrick, and Leon.
Leon immediately understood what was going on.
50 Cent rolled with Eminem; this was something all hip-hop fans knew.
And Leon had a good relationship with 50 Cent. Their incident of humiliating Chris at the Moon Club in Los Angeles caused a sensation in the hip-hop circle.
The people here rightfully thought Leon and their city hero Eminem were on the same side!
Borrowing this gimmick, Leon picked up the microphone and shouted to the audience: "I don't need to introduce my relationship with your hero Eminem too much, right..."
"Yes!!" The audience responded in unison.
Leon smiled and roared into the microphone: "Very good. After this show ends, remember to go to the record store and buy the Demons album."
"Not only do you have to buy it yourselves, call your brothers, your friends, your parents!"
"I won't allow anyone in Detroit not to own this record; you will love it to death!"
"New York, Detroit forever!"
This wave of emotional teasing using Eminem's fame aroused a fanatical response from the audience.
Phil couldn't help cursing backstage: "This shameless bastard... he clearly hasn't even spoken a word to Eminem!"
As the intro sounded, the band's drummer beat hard with the rhythm.
To cater to Detroit's cyberpunk temperament, Leon specially chose Radioactive as the opening song.
He stood in front of the microphone and closed his eyes. "I'm waking up to ash and dust, I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust."
"I'm breathing in the chemicals. I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus..."
"This is it, the apocalypse!"
The deafening lyrics perfectly fit everyone's situation here.
Factories, toxic chemicals, ruins, crime...
The violent music reminded everyone that this used to be the capital of the world's automotive industry!
It was the birthplace of the three giants of the American automobile industry—Ford, GM, Chrysler—the industrial center of the Midwest region of America!
Many fans who had never heard this song could quickly get into the mood, singing along with the drum beats.
After cutting into the chorus part, the emotions of the whole venue were brought to a high point!
"I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones, enough to make my systems blow!"
"Welcome to the new age!"
"I'm radioactive!"
Factories, smog, graffiti, manic crowds...
Fused together in the violent music, intertwined with the Detroit sunset.
This was a realistic version of Cyberpunk.
The performance achieved surprising success, setting off a rock craze in this city absolutely dominated by Black people.
On the plane back to New York, Leon was extremely exhausted due to excessive physical consumption from singing and dancing during the day, dozing off in the first-class cabin.
Just then he received a text message from Lenny: "Good job, kid. There are nineteen more shows like this coming up. Keep it up!"
Leon tilted his head and couldn't help spitting softly: "Damn capitalist."
The plane would land in New York in half an hour. Although his upper and lower eyelids kept fighting, he couldn't sleep peacefully.
Today was the eleventh, the day for Inspiration Refresh.
"Why hasn't it come yet?"
While he was puzzled, a scene suddenly intruded into his mind.
Five Black men walked side by side on a dilapidated street. The marks on their hats indicated their identity.
N.W.A, the greatest gangsta rap group in history!
Guns, rap, drugs, betrayal, death...
Countless images intertwined and flooded into his mind.
This time there was no music, only continuous images like film reels.
He quickly realized that although the short Black man in the image looked very much like Eazy-E, the soul figure of N.W.A, he wasn't the real Eazy-E.
Dr. Dre in the image wasn't the real Dr. Dre either, but played by someone.
Leon had seen Dr. Dre at the American Music Awards.
When all the images in his mind flashed by like a revolving lantern, a line of eye-catching letters ended it perfectly—Straight Outta Compton.
After being puzzled for a few seconds, Leon immediately understood that this Inspiration Refresh was different from any previous one.
This time it was unprecedentedly a movie, a movie with the theme of Black gangsta rap!
"Really get whatever I think of..."
Two days ago, just after he revealed to James Wan his intention to invest in movies, the Inspiration Refresh mechanism sent a big gift.
Using the time while the plane was landing, Leon repeatedly savored the images already engraved in his mind.
He suddenly asked Phil beside him: "Can a movie with the theme of gangsta rap make dollars?"
Phil was scrolling through those flesh-selling tweets on Twitter with a wretched look; the sudden question startled him slightly.
"You guy don't want to get involved in the film industry, do you?"
"Stop thinking so much. You are truly an out-and-out octopus; wherever there is money to be made, your tentacles reach there..."
"I advise you to put your heart on the debut album. Movies can easily make you lose your shirt!"
Leon put his hands behind his head, looking lazy. "I'm just asking."
"Movies are something no one can say for sure... Eminem and 50 Cent have both made autobiographical hip-hop movies."
"And the result?"
Phil spread his hands. "When the movies were released, they were at their peak popularity, so of course they made a huge profit."
"Especially 8 Mile, global box office exceeded 240 million dollars, simply crazy!"
From Phil, Leon learned that a large part of the more than 30 million dollar production cost of 8 Mile was Eminem's salary.
And the soundtrack album he created for the movie also sold extremely well. Lose Yourself, which established Eminem's status in the music world, also came from this movie.
It won the "Best Original Song" at the 75th Academy Awards, truly fame and fortune!
"Shxt... is making movies so profitable?"
Making a movie can't be a decision made on a whim; otherwise, he might really lose his shirt as Phil said.
Even if the Inspiration Refresh mechanism gave a phenomenal superhero movie, he had no ability to shoot it at all. Just touching the copyright issue would be a dead end.
But a gangsta rap movie was exactly something he was confident to invest in.
Setting aside advantages like short shooting cycle and small investment, he also knew a large group of gangsta rappers.
50 Cent himself was keen on acting, and Cardi B would definitely shake her butt begging to join.
Kendrick Lamar would have no resistance at all to playing his idol Eazy-E.
Same body shape, same music style, also from Compton...
No one was more suitable to play the gangsta rap legend Eazy-E than him.
Although Leon himself wasn't a gangsta rapper, he had been deeply involved in various beefs with gangsta rappers recently...
If he wanted to shoot a movie about gangsta rap, the gimmick would be maxed out directly.
Combining all the above factors, Leon already had an idea in his mind.
Filming a movie was a bold but very feasible idea.
A week after Demons was released, in the conference room of Roc Nation.
As soon as Lenny saw Leon, he held his head, pouting his thick black lips, wanting to kiss him directly.
"Shxt... you'd better stay away from me."
"What's wrong with this guy? Did his sexual orientation change at Diddy's party?"
The entire conference room was filled with Lenny's crazy laughter, ignoring Leon's sarcasm.
Leon turned to look at the PR manager Pena. "Is this ngga crazy?"
"Lenny is just too happy, happy for you."
"Happy for me?"
"Yes, congratulations Mr. Leon... Your first album Demons sold over 150,000 copies in the first week. Truly amazing."