America's Top Player

Chapter 118 What do the lower-class thugs listen to?

"Why are you standing there like an idiot, Xiao A? Don't we want to go together?" Li Ang walked towards the wooden steam room and turned his head to say.

"Yeah!" Ariana nodded with a blushing face.

As the water vapor on the rocks evaporates rapidly under high temperature, the temperature in the steam room rises sharply.

Soon Ariana was sweating profusely and her fair skin turned crimson.

Because she has been using various expensive cosmetics and perfumes since she was a child, her skin has long been pickled.

A faint body fragrance lingered in the air.

The steam completely soaked the gauze pajamas, sticking to the petite body.

Her chest rose and fell rhythmically due to lack of oxygen.

"Fuck, I always feel like I've seen this scene in a movie." Although he wanted to maintain the steady demeanor of a boss, Leon couldn't help but glance at Ariana.

In fact, Ariana thought so too. She had just watched a pure love movie with the same theme on a website starting with the letter P a few days ago.

"Boss" Ariana's voice is as thin as a mosquito.

"What's wrong?" Leon asked.

"Can we get closer?" Before Leon could respond, Ariana moved her butt on her own initiative.

Droplets of water condensed from the steam fell sporadically from the top of the steam room, occasionally landing on Ariana's swaying crystal arches.

The more Li Ang watched, the more parched his mouth became. After just five minutes, he found an excuse to slip away.

But the other party grabbed his arm.

"Leon." Ariana's eyes were shrill. "Don't forget the album you promised me~"

Their bodies were completely in contact with each other, and when their eyes met, they both lost consciousness at the same time.

Instinct dominates the body and dopamine destroys rationality.

Just when Leon was distracted, Ariana's mouth was already close to him.

Li Ang took the initiative without thinking, "Don't worry. I will definitely make a fantastic album for you."

As he said that, he rolled over and pinned Ariana down.

The two of them entangled with each other, fighting all the way from the bathroom to the girl's bedroom covered in pink.

"Wait." Ariana said.

"What's wrong again?" Li Ang looked confused.

Wouldn't she still be acting like a pure idol at this time?
“I like to set the pace myself.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Ariana used a wrestling move similar to that in WWE to turn over and suppress the opponent.

Her heroic figure at this moment was like that of a female rider from the Amazon tribe.

"A fucking woman's nature can never be judged by her appearance." This was Leon's only thought after he left Ariana's apartment.

Four days later, ideas for a diss piece were being discussed at Apocalypse Music headquarters.

"We were beaten badly by public opinion," Bonnie said. "Even our fans were disappointed because we hadn't released any diss music for a long time."

"Don't worry. There will be a way." Li Ang scratched his head.

Although he said he was not in a hurry, he was actually the most anxious person in the entire company.

Diddy's album "Last Train To Paris", which had originally flopped, saw its sales continue to rise thanks to the popularity of the Beef War.

The DISS song that was originally an easter egg in the album is now ranking close to the Billboard TOP 5.

On the other hand, Li Ang's camp has not taken any actual action except for spewing trash talk on the Internet.

"Faker" and "Puxi" and other mocking terms were flying all over Reddit, YouTube, and even every corner of the Internet.

"Marcus, I'd like to hear what you think about DISS?" Leon asked, crossing his feet.

DJ Marcus from Lion's Den Radio and Davis, who was once a Battle MC, are the most experienced guys in rap in the entire company.

The latter was having a great time filming a movie in Los Angeles at the time, so Leon had to turn to Marcus for help.

Yesterday he sent the other party the demo of Kendrick's recording, hoping to get a professional evaluation from the perspective of a radio DJ.

No one knows the quality of a DISS work better than the radio DJs who have been at the forefront of the rap circle for many years.

"I listened to Kendrick's diss." Marcus shook his head. "Like you said before, it's too weak."

"Fuck him for putting Drake's drug abuse, partying, and sleeping with fans in a song. That's just stupid."

Marcus' answer was the same as Leon's.

How can substance abuse, crime, and promiscuity be black marks for a rapper?

It was clearly a series of shining street medals.

"You should listen to this." Marcus pulled a cassette tape from his bag. "It has everything a diss track could possibly be."

The surface of the cassette is severely worn and it can be seen that it is quite old.

"What is this?" Leon asked.

"Tupac's 1996 diss of Diddy and Big's 'Hit 'Em Up.'" Marcus replied, "Trust me, this is the apocalypse of all diss songs."

Leon is no stranger to "Hit 'Em Up". This famous DISS was written after Tupac was shot for the first time and narrowly escaped death after being shot five times.

In the more than ten years since then, it has been considered the most successful diss work.

Marcus inserted the cassette into the player, and the violent drum beats began.

Ain't got no motherfuckin' friends
I have no friends

That's why I fucked yo' bitch
That's why I fucked your woman
You fat motherfucka
You damn idiot

(Take money)

Take all the money!

West side
Long live the West Coast!
The whole song is full of sarcasm and aggression, and the manic and gloomy drum beats now seem to be very advanced in style.

The line in the lyrics, "My .44 pistol won't give any of your children a chance to grow up," is arguably the most lethal lyric in the history of Beef in the rap circle.

click -

Marcus turned off the player. "This is the style we're going for! We want the audience to feel fierce and gangster-like! Only if they enjoy it will they approve of the work!"

Li Ang fully agrees with this.

The author of a diss song doesn’t necessarily have to actually kill all of his opponents as written in the lyrics, but he must allow fans to vent their emotions.

After Marcus left, Leon sat in the office, smoking and listening to Tupac's songs on repeat.

It wasn't until ten o'clock in the evening that inspiration finally came.

A shrill roar instantly exploded in his mind, and this time the inspiration was more violent than any previous time.

After the roar ends, the title of the song in the MV unfolds - "Billy".

Whole squad full of fucking killers, I'm a killer too
The entire gang is made up of killers, and I am no exception!
Send shots, shots, shots, shots, shots nigga
I'll send you to eat bullets, bullets, bullets, bullets
Everybody get pop, pop, popped nigga
We will fuck everyone one by one!
In the MV screen.

A short young man with strange clothes and long rainbow hair jumped up and down among a group of gunmen wearing red Blood Gang uniforms.

He tries to tell everyone in all kinds of extreme ways, "I am so cruel!" The lyrics are as exaggerated and irrelevant as his image.

After the entire song "WTF" finished playing in his mind, Li Ang sat in his swivel chair in a daze with a complicated expression.

He had only come across this type of music on YouTube.

In O-block, the most dangerous and chaotic neighborhood in Chicago's South Side, a group of young men brandished pistols.

They get together and shout meaningless garbage like "I'm the coolest", "My whole family is in jail", "I've killed someone", "I don't have a father" and so on in a shoddy music video.

I don’t know when it started, but this kind of music used by low-level thugs to show off and fight became popular among young people.

Li Ang has always scoffed at this kind of music.

The inspired "Billy" is the best of this kind of trash music.

The three-minute runtime is completely filled with empty content such as violence and sex, and nothing else.

Apart from being fierce enough, there are no other advantages.

But there seemed to be no better choice at the moment, so Li Ang finally called 50 Cent and said, "We have a new song!"

50 Cent was so excited after hearing the news that he couldn't sleep and partyed all night.

At the same time, I immediately bought a ticket to New York the next day.

As soon as they met, Li Ang noticed that there were faint traces of dark circles under his chocolate-black face.

As soon as 50 Cent took the lyrics book, he was shocked by the content inside.

"Bro, is this a song you wrote?"

"Yes." Leon said.

"Damn, this is so naughty." 50 Cent looked at Leon with suspicion. He originally thought that the lyrics of his works were already empty enough.

But the song "Billy" made him certain that anyone with an elementary school education could not write such lyrics.

Since there was no time to make an accompaniment, Li Ang spent $100 to buy an accompaniment that was barely close to the original from an online library.

This type of music has no melody at all and relies solely on lyrics and atmosphere.

Without the support of accompaniment, even basic sound testing cannot be carried out.

After briefly familiarizing himself with the lyrics, 50 Cent walked into the recording studio and began auditioning.

"Stop, be more aggressive!"

"It's not enough, be more fierce!"

"Fuck, didn't you say you knew how to shoot a gun since you were in diapers, man? Don't you know how to look more brutal?"

After several auditions, Li Ang was exhausted, and 50 Cent was hoarse because he couldn't find the sound of the angry voice.

He had experienced real street life and could never find resonance with the fierce and fantastical lyrics of "Billy".

"Bro, I think this song is going to be a big hit." 50 Cent patted Leon's shoulder. "Give me some more time, and I'll be able to recreate the feeling of walking down the street with a dagger in my teens."

"I have no experience in rap music. Maybe you should put your hopes on Eminem." Li Ang looked hopeless, but he was not worried about the other party's condition.

He really had no confidence in this kind of music from the lower class.

"This kind of drill is very advanced even if it is placed in the O-block in the South Side of Chicago!" In stark contrast to Leon's discouragement, 50 Cent is full of confidence.

"Drill? Isn't it the music that a bunch of broke young guys play in their own circle for fun?" Li Ang said.

Although he often sees this kind of music MVs on YouTube, he has a deep impression of those guys whose pockets are cleaner than their faces and who are covered with tattoos.

But this is the first time I've heard the name of this type of music, Drill.

"Yes, their lyrics are stupid, but the market response speaks for itself. Drill music is on the rise." 50 Cent nodded. "Nothing is more suitable for a diss track than the Drill style."

"Maybe you're right." Leon spread his hands and jokingly said, "Looks like I need to learn from those penniless punks in the Bronx."

"Don't think that, Bro," 50 Cent explained. "A lot of people think those little punks in Chicago invented this style of music, but Tupac actually set the tone for it back in 1996."

Drill style has a dark atmosphere, heavy beats and straightforward lyrics.

It is filled with content describing gang life, violence, nihilism and hedonism at the bottom of society.

50 Cent believes that this is not an innovation, but just a retro re-creation of the 90s gangster style.

After saying this, Li Ang felt more confident about this new work.

"Do you have some free time these days?" 50 Cent asked. "I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on this song. We could use Dre's studio. They have the most professional producers there!"

"The music video," Li Ang said bluntly, "is more important than the song itself!"

Inspiration was given to refresh the given picture, if the dozens of fierce gang members in the background of the MV were removed.

The entire piece consists of only an American non-mainstream guy with a rainbow hairstyle jumping around. The song is not only harmless, but even a bit ridiculous.

The reason why Diddy's DISS works caused a large-scale discussion in the community was largely due to the gang leader Duane Davis who frequently appeared in the MVs.

The last time this street legend appeared in front of the camera was around the time of Tupac's shooting.

The entire rap community on the Internet is discussing whether Li Ang will be the next idiot to sleep on the streets forever.

"I agree with you!" 50 Cent said excitedly, "In Los Angeles, if you spend $100, you'll get a lot of those bread lines!"

"No." Leon shook his head. "We need some professional help, real criminals."

When he said this, the name of "Saint" Robinson immediately popped up in his mind.

With the participation of the leader of the Compton Crips, the credibility of the brutal lyrics in this music video will undoubtedly be greatly enhanced.

"Robinson is a legend." 50 Cent nodded. He knew that Leon and Robinson had a close relationship.

"Besides, I know some Mexicans," Leon said. "I think it would be even better if they could join in!"

As soon as he finished speaking, 50 Cent kept praising it as a genius idea!
Whether on the streets or in prison, the world of gangs is clearly divided.

They are divided by skin color.

In the 1980s and 1990s, due to the large number of black people in prison, they dominated state felony prisons across the United States.

In order to gain breathing space in the prison, whites had to unite with Mexicans.

After the new millennium, this situation reversed due to the massive influx of illegal immigrants at the southern border.

Mexican gangs are crushing black gangs both on the streets and in prisons.

Having two such incompatible street gangs appear in the MV of the same work will undoubtedly attract a lot of attention and create topics.

Back then, fans had to believe that the unrealistic violence depicted in the song "Billy" was real.

The song's producer, Li Ang, is a "street coconut" who can unite Mexican gangs and die-hard Crips.

"I love you crazy asshole Bro," 50 Cent said, "We gotta get moving!"

Li Ang nodded, since he had been involved in this street game of rappers instigated by Diddy.

Then why not do a big one?

The only thing that worried him was...
Will this song attract police investigation because the MV and lyrics are too realistic and violent?

(End of this chapter)