Back in New York, Leon arrived just in time for a major march organized by feminist groups.
In fact, such events happened every day in major American cities, especially here in New York, the all-encompassing heart of the empire.
Environmental protection, animal rights, vegetarianism...
These groups found new ways to stir up the city every day.
Leon stood by the window, a glass of whiskey in hand, watching the marching crowd in the street with great interest.
Shouts, screams, peculiar costumes, and exaggerated banners flooded the entire street.
Phil poured himself a glass of whiskey and sat down on the sofa.
He had been touring with Cardi B recently, which had earned him a handsome income.
The flashing gold Audemars Piguet watch on his wrist said it all.
"Man, you say you're not worried about Warner Music, but I remember you don't have a habit of drinking during the day." Phil teased while sipping his drink.
"Before my contract expires, Warner can't make any big moves." Leon shrugged. "Leonard won't tear up his relationship with Jay-Z directly; he's a businessman."
Phil laughed, as if mocking Leon's naivety. "Warner indeed can't do anything to you in the short term... but what about the singers under your label?"
"Robbie is your girlfriend, maybe she won't leave this company, although I don't believe in love at all."
"But what about Cardi? What about Ariana?"
Leon rolled his eyes at the old geezer. As Cardi B's manager, Phil must have already received Warner's offer for Cardi B these past few days.
As for Ariana, she had been feeling very low lately and hadn't updated her social media for a week.
Maybe it was time to find an opportunity to teach this inexperienced little girl a lesson.
"Listen, Phil, you've been hustling in this industry for over twenty years. If you're not an idiot, you shouldn't believe Leonard's words."
"Warner signs hundreds of newcomers every year, many of whom have achieved results on the Billboard charts, but resources are always limited..."
"If you chop down your own cash cow for that damn kickback, then I can only say you're hopelessly stupid."
Phil was rendered speechless by Leon's PUA-style retort and could only gulp down a big mouthful of whiskey to change the subject.
He walked over to Leon, pointed at the marching crowd downstairs, and joked, "Do you believe half of these lunatics are your fans?"
"So what? I like earning money from these fools." Leon spread his hands. "These guys never thought about one question: when your beloved son, husband, brother, and father are all failing, how can you win?"
On both sides of the massive marching crowd were disheveled homeless people, pointing at the marchers and cursing to vent their anger.
"Go to hell, bxxches!"
They used to be manual laborers, truck drivers, or veterans, ending up like this due to unemployment and divorce.
And there was a high probability that their wives and daughters were in that marching crowd.
"Haha, you were born to mix in the entertainment circle." Phil changed his tone and whispered, "Just never say these words in public... Scandals can't do anything to you, but those words just now would destroy you."
"You bastard are like a piece of emotionless steel. As long as there's money to be made, you could sell your soul to the devil."
"I wouldn't hesitate!" Leon responded with a smile.
"Let's talk serious business. I'm glad to see your company on the right track. heard you recruited a group of experienced and motivated young people..." Phil paused for a moment and continued, "But can I ask what's up with those Mexicans downstairs?"
"When I came in just now, the way they looked at me was like they wanted to kill me. Is this a record company or a gang den?"
Leon explained, "That group of Mexicans was hired by me through Aisha to ensure my safety. I don't want to end up like Tupac."
"Aisha?" Phil sneered sarcastically. "She looks like Walter White from Breaking Bad... A teacher on the surface, but secretly the drug lord Heisenberg."
Hiring this group of ruthless Latin King members was indeed necessary.
Recently, besides dealing with Warner Music's commercial challenges, Leon also had to guard against Diddy shooting him in the back from the dark.
A few days ago, DJ Marcus warned him that Diddy had been very close recently to Duane Davis, a notorious gang leader in the Bronx.
Duane was a witness and the person who called the police in the 1996 Tupac shooting incident, and for a long time, he was also suspected by the police as the murderer in this case.
But under Diddy's operation, he hadn't spent a single day in prison.
The two had cooperated tacitly since the 90s, creating several shocking shooting incidents in the hip-hop circle.
Relying on absolute violence helped Diddy establish a tough image as a gangsta rap godfather.
As Diddy's wealth grew, their contact hadn't been that close.
Now that they were suddenly entangled again, Leon had to guard against being shot in the back.
Duane Davis was a real professional killer.
Knock knock—
A knock sounded on the door.
"Come in."
A burly white man with a full beard and black-rimmed glasses walked in.
If the white shirt on him were replaced with overalls, he would be a typical Southern redneck farmer.
Phil looked this stranger up and down, and the first sentence the guy spoke made his jaw drop.
"Mr. Leon... this is the proposal for the new single I made according to Miss Cardi B's ideas. Please have a look." This burly man's voice was as thin as a mosquito, as delicate as a young girl.
It formed a strong contrast with his rugged appearance.
Phil whispered in Leon's ear, "WTF, where did this freak come from? He looks like a monster out of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."
"This is my newly recruited Planning and Promotion Director, Sean. He has rich work experience in the media industry before." Leon said with a smile, "He had a not-so-good childhood experience, so his voice is a bit abnormal."
"What? Didn't you say you hate this kind of freak the most?"
"But his expected salary was the lowest, compared to his work experience." Leon took the document from Sean.
"Alright..." Phil waved his hand helplessly.
Although this company wasn't big, every employee had unique skills.
Currently, five months had passed since the release of Cardi B's debut EP, and the heat of Bodak Yellow was exhausted.
Now she could only maintain her presence in the entertainment circle through endless commercial performances and talk shows.
This made Cardi feel very dissatisfied.
However, her previous requests to release records were all shelved by Leon.
Apocalypse Label was different now; its singers had all proven themselves on the Billboard charts.
Therefore, every record of the company now must be well-produced.
"What does WAP mean? How come I've never heard of this word?" Leon pointed to the name WAP in the document, puzzled.
Sean froze on the spot, not knowing how to explain, while Phil covered his stomach and laughed non-stop.
"Fxxk, what the hell are you laughing at?"
"Obviously, WAP is an abbreviation for a phrase." Phil responded.
"What abbreviation? Wireless Application Protocol? That's too ridiculous."
"No no no..." Phil shook his finger. "First you have to figure out what Cardi thinks about every day. That woman's brain is full of nothing but jewelry and dicks. She wants to be the most famous bxxch in American history..."
Leon couldn't be bothered to argue with Phil, turning his head to ask Sean, "What does WAP mean?"
"Wap... Wap is the abbreviation for Wet Ass Pxxy... Miss Cardi B is really full of creativity." Sean hesitated for a long time before saying it.
"What the hell..." Harboring a strong thirst for knowledge, Leon quickly flipped to the lyrics section at the back of the proposal.
Cardi B's worldview refreshed the lower limit again.
There's some whxxes in this house There's some whxxes in this house I said certified freak, seven days a week
After reading the lyrics, Leon was silent for half a minute, then suddenly revealed a brilliant smile. "She is truly a genius!"
"Yes, no one but her could write such a song!" Phil showed a proud expression; obviously, he already knew the content of the lyrics.
Crazy, obscene, shameless to the point of having no bottom line.
Undoubtedly, once this song was released, it would cause an uproar and would definitely be slapped with a "Parental Advisory" label by the RIAA.
But such a song fit the current American trend perfectly; it had an incredibly huge market.
The "woke people" swinging bras and wearing nose rings on the street were exactly the fans of this kind of music.
They longed to proclaim their individuality to the world with deviant clothes, behaviors, and words, and music was no exception.
In this proposal, there was a plan for the MV shooting, the scale of which was also jaw-dropping.
Sean used his profound writing skills to accurately restore the obscene scenes in Cardi B's imagination. As Leon read, images even emerged in his mind.
"Is there any difference between this and a movie from Brazzers Studio?" Leon didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Why care so much? Records aren't movies. The RIAA has no clear rating requirements for music products. Just getting a 'Parental Advisory' label won't affect record sales!" Phil said.
Large-scale MVs were not scarce in the market.
Empress Madonna was a pioneer in this field.
Whether in MVs or concerts, she was never stingy about showing her body to fans.
Current hot female singers like Lady Gaga and rapper Nicki Minaj also followed the same route in their MVs.
But in terms of scale, compared to Cardi B, they could only be considered Disney cartoons.
If the Bodak Yellow MV put people in a midnight club, it wasn't hard to imagine that the final effect of this WAP might be as crazy as Diddy's parties.
"Very good, I hope this song can be released as soon as possible!" Leon threw the proposal on the table, revealing a satisfied smile.
Cardi B was the signing he was most satisfied with so far; this Black girl had never relied on the charity of his Inspiration Refresh.
"No problem Boss, so who do you plan to arrange to produce this record?" Sean asked.
"How about Max Martin? This guy's level is top-tier. With him in charge, the arrangement of this song can reach a new level!"
"With Max's status, I'm afraid he won't accept this invitation. He only works for A-list singers... You are a very rare exception." Phil shook his head.
Leon considered it and found it true.
The singers Max cooperated with included big names like Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Backstreet Boys, etc.
He could line up several different Grammy-level lineups.
In comparison, Cardi B's status was weaker by more than one tier.
"I will talk to Max personally. If he doesn't agree, I'll contact other producers." Leon said.
Apocalypse Music currently didn't have a full-time music producer, which was a very tricky problem.
Although Phil had unique insights into pop music, professional arrangement work couldn't be done by him alone.
As for the MV shooting, Leon decided to hand it directly to Old Mike.
His control over large-scale MV shooting was probably only comparable to famous directors from Brazzers Studio.
After arranging all this, Leon left the company.
Back at the apartment, just as he wanted to take a hot bath, the phone rang. The caller was Ariana, who had disappeared for a while.
For the past week, no matter how Leon called her, no one answered.
But fortunately, this girl still carried out the tour plan on time, not affecting the record sales of Señorita.
More precisely, it didn't delay Leon making money.
One week after the release of the physical record of Señorita, sales exceeded 100,000 copies.
It successfully broke into the TOP 5 on the Billboard chart, perfectly taking the baton from Robbie's Faded.
Even in areas with large Hispanic populations like Texas and Florida, sales rivaled Adele's divine album 21.
Since the release of this album, people realized that Rolling in the Deep was just an appetizer for this album.
21 completed a sweep on album sales charts in multiple countries around the world.
In the most authoritative Billboard rankings, works from this album occupied three seats in the TOP 5, sweeping the top two positions.
Since the end of the era of Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey, no singer had been able to achieve such terrifying dominance.
"Hey." After the call connected, Leon deliberately put on a cold attitude.
"Leon, are you free now? I want to see you."
Hearing that Ariana's tone finally no longer carried a crying voice, he let out a long sigh of relief.
"Another day, I have some things to do now." Leon continued to play hard to get, wanting to completely cure this girl's problem of losing emotional control easily.
But Ariana's attitude was uncharacteristically tough. "No, I want to see you now!"
"Now!"
Leon felt Ariana's voice trembling a little. Thinking of that torturous crying, he quickly agreed.
"Alright, where are you now?"
"Columbia Street, in my apartment."
"Wait for me, I'll be there soon."
Columbia Street wasn't far from Henry Street where Leon rented. After a ten-minute drive, he arrived at Ariana's apartment.
The one who opened the door was Ariana's gay brother. As soon as Leon entered, he was attacked by the other party's eye-rolls.
This apartment was at least twice as big as the one Leon rented. As a rich girl, Ariana could afford this place even without being a singer.
At this moment, she was sitting beside the Steinway piano in the center of the living room.
"Are you ready?" Ariana raised her chin, asking with a proud face.
"Ready for what?"
"To appreciate my performance!"
Before he could respond, her slender fingers were already flying up and down between the black and white keys, showing a very high level of playing.
"All we gotta do is get back to the top... I love the way you make me feel, I love it, I love it!"
As soon as Ariana opened her mouth, Leon felt it sounded familiar.
What she was performing at this moment was exactly the song The Way, which was denied by everyone at the Apocalypse Music meeting.
"This girl is really too stubborn..."