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After communicating with Scooter Braun by phone about the matter, the other party did not show much interest.
Obviously, compared to a hip-hop reality show, Netflix was more interested in a movie that included many major IPs.
However, the other party did not refuse outright, and the two sides agreed to meet in Silicon Valley to discuss the details of the show.
"Coincidentally, I have a charity performance in Los Angeles during this time." Leon stared at the ceiling, his mind full of Charlie's eerie smile.
After the Diddy incident broke out, the police disclosed details like squeezing toothpaste.
Except for vaguely insinuating certain artists, they simply refused to discuss the specific list and details of the case.
As a heavyweight figure on Capitol Hill, it was impossible for Charlie not to detect Leon's involvement in the entire event.
However, he did not delve into it.
He even called through his secretary, requesting Leon to participate in a charity performance on Skid Row in Los Angeles.
To send warmth to the increasing number of illegal immigrants there.
All signs indicated that the water here was very deep.
Leon had no option to refuse and readily agreed.
For a moment, he felt that everything that happened from beginning to end was under Charlie's control.
Including his revenge plan, the other party might have guessed the gist of it.
"Fxxk..." The more Leon thought about it, the more terrifying it felt.
A day later, Leon took Phil and a group of ten people to Los Angeles.
On the plane, Phil read the newspaper while muttering, "I haven't been to Skid Row in almost ten years; that's a good place..."
"Good place?" Leon looked up and glanced at him.
Skid Row is called Skid Row because, as the name suggests, it is poor.
This neighborhood located in Downtown Los Angeles is the area with the densest concentration of homeless people in the United States, full of vagrants and illegal immigrants.
"Of course it's a good place." Phil grinned and said, "Where else in America can you buy a girl's service for $20? In Skid Row, that was the price ten years ago. Those voluptuous Latin girls would provide you with the best service for $20."
"And then turn around and give the money to drug dealers, right?" Leon choked, "It's a miracle you're still alive all these years; none of those junkies are clean."
"Maybe I've become immune to those viruses?" Phil looked proud. "Speaking of which, those btches have become more and more expensive over the years... The good old days of $20 are gone forever. Now they stand in front of the camera, shake their asses casually, and get money easily."
"This is the fxxking drawback of capitalism. Those rich bastards have driven up the prices, and even such resources have been monopolized by them!"
Leon didn't listen to a word of the old geezer's trash talk; his attention was focused on the newspaper in the other's hand.
It was a copy of the Los Angeles Times. On the prominent page was a scene of a group of veterans marching, right on Skid Row.
Leon began to understand why Charlie needed this Los Angeles tour.
Most of these veterans had been on the battlefield and suffered from PTSD.
The reason for wandering the streets was surprisingly consistent—bankruptcy due to divorce.
Now, the cramped Skid Row was crowded with thousands of homeless veterans, often clashing with illegal immigrants over a place to pitch a tent.
In the march, the veterans naturally vented their anger on the Democratic Party.
Accusing their loose immigration policies of causing all this, making even street wandering competitive.
California is a deep blue state, and a saying has been circulating in online communities—"If California turns red, the Democratic Party can disband on the spot."
The more it is like this, the more the white left needs a rally to stabilize the situation on Skid Row, allowing illegal immigrants to overwhelm the veterans in momentum.
Phil noticed where Leon was looking, shook the newspaper, and sneered, "This country has forgotten its heroes. While those rich bastards drive luxury cars and hold blonde Barbie dolls, they forget that it was those poor kids from the Rust Belt who drained their blood to exchange for all this!"
"It has become completely devoid of honor! Absurd and depraved!"
Facing the old geezer's cynical speech, Leon tilted his head and teased, "If the media doesn't report it, isn't it equivalent to not happening?"
"Aren't they always doing this?" Phil said, "You know that gay guy David Geffen, right? He has been seeking to acquire the Los Angeles Times!"
Leon had long heard about the acquisition of the Los Angeles Times.
Geffen called the wind and rain in the record industry in the 70s and 80s, getting whatever he wanted.
Later, he founded DreamWorks with Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
With superb business skills, Geffen was already one of the richest people in the entire entertainment industry, arguably the richest.
He had long coveted the Los Angeles Times, the leader of the West Coast journalism industry. To get this media outlet, he unprecedentedly offered a sky-high price of 2 billion dollars.
Geffen's motivation was clear. He himself was a "woke" person and a super donor behind the Democratic Party.
There were rumors that Geffen's shadow was behind all the woke movements breaking out across the United States.
Therefore, he was eager to control more voice channels.
In the interval of their chat, the plane landed at Los Angeles International Airport.
The charity performance on Skid Row was at noon tomorrow. Invited by Kendrick and 50 Cent, Leon's first stop was Aftermath Entertainment.
Mainly to formulate the promotion plan for Billy in the second half of the year.
This was their first meeting since the Diddy incident broke out.
50 Cent had called more than once to ask what exactly happened at that White Party before Diddy was arrested.
But he was put off by Leon with "I know nothing."
The meeting place was located in the office of the President of Aftermath Entertainment.
As soon as Leon entered the door, he felt the atmosphere was a bit wrong. 50 Cent and Kendrick were usually extremely enthusiastic when seeing him.
Now they just stood up and greeted him stiffly.
"Fxxk, why do you look so serious?" Leon sat down on the sofa and asked the female secretary for a cup of coffee. "You look like you've been cuckolded."
Kendrick pointed to a door next to him and whispered, "The boss is in the room..."
"Dre?"
"Yes, the boss said he wanted to talk to you."
Leon frowned; his relationship with Dre was not harmonious.
Although the two companies cooperated and made a fortune through cooperation.
But Dre had always been dissatisfied with Leon's move to provoke the "Second Gangsta War."
Accusing the other party of desperately hyping for personal gain, destroying the rap market pattern formed since the millennium.
While waiting for Dre, Leon wandered around the office.
Looking at the artworks auctioned from all over the world in the office, he secretly admired, "This ngga is really rich..."
The record industry compared Dre to Britain during World War II; he didn't need to fight for his life on the battlefield, but he made every choice right.
Finally, getting one of the three seats at Yalta.
Dre went from quitting N.W.A. to establishing Death Row Records with Suge Knight.
Then, when the conflict between Suge and Diddy became increasingly sharp, he quit Death Row Records and established Aftermath Entertainment.
He not only retreated unscathed from the East-West Coast gangsta war in the 90s but also took over the legacy of West Coast gangsta rap, creating his own kingdom.
Just as Leon was staring at a painting by Cézanne with secret envy, Dre walked out of the darkroom.
Wearing a decent suit, he didn't look like he had any street aura from head to toe.
"Sorry, I didn't expect you to come so early. I always have a habit of taking a nap."
"I understand; I have this habit too." Leon spread his hands in response.
"You also like Cézanne's paintings?" Dre stood side by side with Leon, staring at the painting on the wall and talking about his understanding of Post-Impressionist paintings.
As a black man, he tried his best to show the posture of an old-school white capitalist on Wall Street.
The affectation was laughable.
Until reminded by Leon: "I don't know anything about Post-Impressionism."
"Oh... I thought you liked this painting very much."
"That's right, because it looks very valuable."
50 Cent and Kendrick laughed out loud. "No one knows why this thing can be worth 10 million dollars."
The awkward atmosphere was eased, and the two sat down on the sofa.
Dre poured Leon a glass of whiskey. "Congratulations on signing with Columbia Records. I've known Stringer for a long time; he's a good man."
"Haven't officially signed yet. I'm still JAY-Z's man now." Leon didn't intend to hide it.
Since Diddy was arrested, this matter lost its value of concealment.
Now the rumor of Leon signing with Columbia Records was known to everyone in the circle.
"It seems JAY-Z's loss this time is not small." Dre showed a playful smile.
"I'm just a newcomer who released one album; it's not much of a loss for JAY-Z." Leon took the wine glass and took a sip. "He still has Rihanna; that girl is the real money-printing machine."
Looking at Leon pretending to be cool without changing his face, Kendrick cast a contemptuous look.
It was true that he only released one album, and it was also true that he turned the rap circle upside down.
Moreover, everyone in the circle knew that Leon was very good at making money, making money in every field he touched.
Strength is the prerequisite for respect; no one would treat Leon as a newcomer who debuted for a year.
"JAY-Z's loss is more than that; he also lost Diddy." Dre rolled his eyes. "Losing Diddy is like breaking an arm for him."
Leon took over the conversation, sighed, and said, "I regret this matter. Although there was some unpleasantness between him and me, this is not the result I wanted to see. Everyone making money together is what I wanted to see."
Hearing this, Dre did not respond but just sneered constantly.
Ten seconds later, he suddenly threw out a sentence: "Maybe you should stop while you're ahead, Bro. Everyone knows what you did."
"What?"
A short sentence was like dropping a bomb in Leon's head.
Only he himself in the world knew about plotting against Diddy.
Even the parties involved, Henry and Diddy, didn't figure out what happened.
Charlie might have suspicions, but only limited to suspicions; he couldn't find any evidence that Leon planned all this.
Leon's expression did not change at all, and he said in a deep voice, "I don't know what you are talking about."
Dre waved his hand. "We are homies; we should be honest with each other. Everyone knows that crazy woman Cassie was instigated by you to break the news. You will offend many people because of this."
Leon breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did he fully understand the other party's intention.
Cassie broke the news of the guest list of Diddy's party one after another, much more efficiently than the police.
The dissolute and obscene details brought great psychological shock to the public. They couldn't believe that their idols were so ugly in private.
This made Leon offend many people in the circle, but it also brought huge economic benefits to Lion's Den Media.
The views of the Straight Outta the Underground program skyrocketed, and it was now the number one hip-hop music program in the US.
Spotify had already extended an olive branch, willing to buy out the broadcasting rights of the program for 8 million dollars a year, and YouTube was also actively participating in this competition.
Leon lowered his head and played with the wine glass with his fingers.
The reason Dre was so nervous about this matter was obviously that he had also participated in it.
Currently, he was flirting with Apple about the acquisition of Beats headphones, so he was committed to building the image of a successful businessman.
If he encountered a sex scandal at this time, the economic loss might be calculated in "billions."
"Listen, Bro, all media under my banner will not discuss any rumors about you. I can guarantee this." Leon didn't intend to offend Dre; doing so would do him no good.
"Very good..." Dre's brows finally unfurrowed, and he raised his glass to drink it all. "Cheers to our great friendship."
Before he could be happy for a few seconds, Leon poured cold water on him. "But I can't guarantee that nothing will happen through other channels. We are just a very small media company, you know."
The shrewd Dre understood instantly; besides Leon, only the police had the ability to break the news.
And he was one of the donors of the Democratic Party in California, very confident in his political resources.
He immediately patted his chest and said, "As long as nothing goes wrong on your side, Bro."
After the sensitive topic ended, the atmosphere became cheerful in the blink of an eye.
50 Cent praised Leon's achievements in various ways. Whenever he thought of Diddy's name, the nine bullet holes on his body ached faintly.
No one was more excited about Diddy's arrest than him.
"I have good news to share with you..." Seeing the time was ripe, Leon took the opportunity to bring up the hip-hop talent show.
For a talent show to succeed, in addition to contestants who can tell stories, a luxurious lineup of judges is also essential.
The Voice invited first-line superstars like Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine as judges, and the pay alone was as high as tens of millions of dollars.
There were only so many first-line stars in the rap circle. Those who were on good terms with Diddy, such as Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Usher, etc., had all been offended by Leon.
To get big-name judge resources, looking to the West Coast was the best choice.
"Bro~ Tell us the good news quickly. Did you write a new song again?" Before Dre could answer, 50 Cent couldn't sit still.
"I want to produce a hip-hop talent show." Leon said straight to the point.
"WTF..." Dre took a deep drag on his cigarette. In his opinion, this was really a terrible idea.
He looked worried. The two sides had just reached an important agreement.
If Leon proposed to pull him in to invest in this terrible show now, it would be hard to refuse.
But Leon's next words relieved him.
"This show is still in the conceptual stage, but I am confident in turning it into reality..."
"This cannot be done without your help, guys! Imagine if you serve as judges, leading those kids from the slums onto the right track. This is more meaningful than making any amount of money!"
Leon's gaze was like fire, staring straight at 50 Cent. "This is the mission and meaning of existence as a rapper. Never forget where we came from."
"We came from the streets!" 50 Cent and Kendrick answered loudly in unison.
"Right! We came from the streets!" Leon's mouth turned up into a smile. "I never thought about how much money this show could make, but I want to do something for the kids on the street."
Dre listened with a blank face. Shrewd as he was, he couldn't tell if these were true or false words.
From the perspective of a businessman, he was very unwilling to do it purely for such a stupid motive as charity.
In the past, when Leon acquired Vibe and filmed Straight Outta Compton, the slogans he shouted were all for the black community.
And these projects were not favored from the beginning.
But Leon reaped huge benefits from these projects, gaining both fame and fortune.
"Bro! You must save such an opportunity for me!" 50 Cent had light in his eyes. "I am willing to join at the lowest pay, a friendship price you can't imagine."
As he spoke, he looked at his big brother Dre with expectation.
At this point, Dre couldn't say anything more.
He just got the other party's promise of "not exposing secrets," and it was immediately time to pay the debt.
He deeply witnessed Leon's means of "collecting debts overnight."
"Okay, homies, this sounds like a great cause." Dre spread his hands.
"Does this mean you're on board?" Leon asked.
"Of course, even if you want me to personally serve as a guest, I won't refuse." Dre said with a smile, "We are family."
Family?
Hearing this word, Leon felt a chill. Last month, his family on the East Coast was thinking about how to kill him.
Thus, the two sides reached a verbal agreement.
If this hip-hop show could be officially launched, 50 Cent would join at a floor price of 200,000 dollars per episode.
Given the long filming cycle, such a quote was already quite a bargain.
And Dre promised that he would participate in the recording of at least one episode as a flying guest.
With the joining of this West Coast legend, the success probability of this show was further guaranteed.
At nine the next morning, Leon knocked on Phil's hotel room door on time.
"Hurry up, you bastard, we must get there early!" Leon urged while staring at his watch.
Twenty seconds later, Phil's door opened.
A group of scantily clad girls, about seven of them, swarmed out of the room.
Seeing this scene, Leon couldn't hide his shocked expression. How did an old man nearing sixty maintain such abundant energy?
"Fxxk, don't look at me with such strange eyes..." Phil said while pulling up his pants, "Los Angeles is really economical and affordable..."
An hour later, Leon's team of three business vans drove into Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles.
As soon as they entered, they encountered the veteran march.
They held signs with various slogans high, excitedly attacking the gathering of illegal immigrants.
The leading veteran looked to be 70 years old.
Wearing a military uniform from the Vietnam War era in the 60s, he stood on a park bench waving the Stars and Stripes and shouting:
"Men built the railroads! Men built the factories! Men built the buildings!"
"Men built the fxxking atomic bomb!"
"Look what we got? Our wives can live in the houses we bought with pretty boys!"
"And we can only sleep on the streets, mixing with these dirty illegal immigrants, with no dignity like wild dogs!"
"I really want to take a flamethrower and burn this garbage dump down!"
In the business van, Phil laughed while watching. "These people are out of control. I want to see how those fools in the city department will handle it."
"Handle it?" Leon sneered. The city department would only make empty promises.
For decades, the plight of veterans has been a debate topic in the hero-worshipping United States.
Successive governments vowed to solve the problem, promising millions of dollars in aid, including housing.
However, although about 2,500 veterans found housing in the Los Angeles area last year...
According to new statistics released in May, the homeless population in the Los Angeles area surged by 23% last year, totaling nearly 58,000 people.
About 8,000 of them were veterans. This is the city with the most homeless veterans in the US, an increase of nearly 60% over the previous year.
It is not surprising to cause this result. Compared to the huge number of woke people and illegal immigrants, veterans are obviously no longer a valued base.
After Leon got on the main stage, the emotions of the marching veterans were not controlled.
While cursing at the formation composed of illegal immigrants and woke people, they clamored at the stage:
"Get that fool holding the microphone off the stage!"
"Fxxk! We don't want to listen to any damn pop music; we need a place to stay and a damn hot bath!"
Leon ignored these verbal attacks, only wanting to finish singing according to the established process and run away quickly.
Although he showed agile movement on stage, he was still hit by beverage bottles thrown by the crowd from time to time.
And he had to guard against bras thrown up by woke people from time to time.
The two major formations were in chaos, attacking and cursing each other, forming an absurd spectacle.
"Holy sht..." This performance was more tiring for Leon than any previous one. Dodging on stage almost exhausted his physical strength.
He said to the team behind him: "Let's leave this damn ghostly place quickly..."
Just as the group was about to get into the business van and leave this place of trouble, a gloomy voice called Leon from behind.
"Thank you for your hard work today, Mr. Leon. Sorry we didn't maintain order at the scene." The speaker was Charlie's female secretary, who was also the person in charge of this gathering.
"It's okay; this is my obligation as a singer and a taxpayer..." Leon perfunctorily said.
"Great, I knew you would say that. Mr. Charlie always says you are a true patriot." The female secretary said with a smile: "We decided to invite you to more such gatherings in the future so that you can bring hope and strength to more people..."
Leon held back the urge to curse, got directly into the business van, and slipped away.