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With Beyoncé in the room, Leon didn't really have a choice but to agree.
He had attacked numerous rap moguls in the Billy MV, but he hadn't expressed any opinion on JAY-Z.
Die-hard fans on the internet were breaking down the MV frame by frame, guessing that the dog with the "Question Mark" name tag was a subliminal jab at JAY-Z.
But that was just one of many theories.
Only the creator knew the answer.
Accompanied by Jorge, Leon arrived at the door of Lenny's office, but was unexpectedly blocked by a secretary.
"Mr. Leon, please wait a moment!" The Black female secretary, shaking her massive dump truck of a behind, said softly, "Mr. Lenny is in a meeting. Let me announce you."
A look of displeasure appeared on Leon's face.
It was Lenny who asked to meet, yet he was making Leon wait while he met with other guests.
This was extremely disrespectful behavior.
Leon completely ignored the secretary and walked straight toward Lenny's office.
In fact, with his current influence, he didn't need to show humility to anyone in this company except Beyoncé and her husband.
"Mr. Leon! You can't just go in like that!" The secretary was so anxious she was on the verge of tears.
If not for her boss's strict orders, she wouldn't dare block this notorious street savage.
"Move, bxxch!" Jorge's fridge-like body separated the secretary from the door.
He didn't forget to grin and slap that massive caboose with his rough, basketball-sized hand.
Smack—
The girl was scared like a rat cornered in a trap, not daring to move a muscle.
Only her taillights trembled continuously, expressing a final protest.
"Nice texture~" Jorge followed Leon and walked straight in.
The office door was pushed open. There was no so-called meeting happening here.
There was only a young Black man with dreadlocks communicating closely with Lenny.
Leon's appearance brought their conversation to an abrupt halt.
Lenny wasn't annoyed; instead, he opened his arms to welcome Leon. "Look who's here, the world's most dangerous element~"
After a perfunctory hug, he pointed to the young Black man behind him and said, "This is J. Cole, our young prodigy~"
"Of course, any genius pales in comparison to you. I never expected you could create Drill music too."
Leon didn't speak, looking the young Black man up and down.
When he first entered this company, he often heard people mention J. Cole's name alongside his own.
Because both were signed personally by JAY-Z, comparisons were natural.
From the start, Cole was a rookie the industry had high hopes for.
Together with Kendrick and Drake, he was called the hope of the rap world for the next decade.
In comparison, Leon was much dimmer back then, more like an orphan JAY-Z picked up from the roadside.
However, in less than a year, their statuses had been flipped.
Leon had established his status as an A-list singer with the Demons album and a series of hit singles, while Cole hadn't even dropped his debut album yet.
Cole immediately realized something was off. After a shiver, he quickly stood up. "Damn bro~ Nggas on every corner are talking about your name! I'm J. Cole, you should've heard of me, my work has..."
"Hello." Cole's introduction was cut off halfway by Leon.
Not giving up, he continued, "Kendrick mentions you to me all the time! Bro, I gotta say, your track Billy is the hardest DISS I've ever heard. You don't know how much I love it..."
"Alright, that's enough." Lenny glanced back, signaling him to cut the nutritious-less trash talk.
But Leon suddenly took an interest in Cole. "You know Kendrick?"
"Man! The stories K.Dot and I have could go on for three days and nights~" Cole looked excited. "We've done every crazy thing homies can imagine together!"
"Fxxk, you two aren't sleeping together, are you?" Leon laughed out loud.
"WT-Hell..." Cole said. "We just bang women together! By the way, I produced his track HiiiPoWeR~"
Looking at the proud expression on his face, Leon finally confirmed that this kid wasn't just name-dropping.
HiiiPoWeR was a single from Kendrick's debut album Section.80.
Although that album's sales didn't meet expectations, HiiiPoWeR was passable—high quality, actually.
The two chatted it up.
Although Cole was five years older than Leon, he voluntarily placed himself in the "little brother" position, flattering him to the extreme.
In the entertainment industry, power spoke loudest. Even the near-eighty-year-old Jones had to stand up and toast the sky-high Beyoncé.
After learning more from Lenny, Leon finally understood why J. Cole became the first artist signed after JAY-Z formed Roc Nation.
This kid started writing songs at 14. With just a Roland TR-808 drum machine his mother gave him, he wrote hundreds of rap songs in three years and uploaded them to various hip-hop forums.
He worked as a newspaper ad salesman, a bill collector, a file clerk, and a kangaroo mascot at a skating rink.
While juggling multiple part-time jobs, he still produced beats for many rappers.
Leon instantly felt a sense of respect. This was a rare "wholesome ngga."
"Cole is about to release his first album recently." Lenny patted Cole's shoulder. "Not only that, even Janet Jackson is asking him for songs."
Janet Jackson, in the 80s and 90s, was mentioned in the same breath as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Madonna as one of the four major divas.
With 5 Grammys and 32 Billboard Awards, her global record sales exceeded 100 million.
Even leaving aside her identity as MJ's sister, her own achievements were legendary enough.
For a rookie rapper to be scouted by Janet, J. Cole's ability was evident.
Leon smiled and said, "I'm very bullish on you. You are indeed a genius. Your achievements might surpass JAY-Z in the future."
This appreciation came from the heart. In his eyes, Cole was more covetable than a blonde bombshell.
One person handling writing, recording, and arranging—and talented in every aspect.
As long as you didn't let him starve, he would continuously churn out work.
A guaranteed human hit factory.
"No, no, no..." Cole waved his hands repeatedly. "In front of you, no one dares to call themselves a genius. I'm serious!"
"Fxxk, I've never seen anyone like you—R&B, Trap, Rock, Gangsta Drill—you play it all..."
"You even found time to write a movie script... and you're great at investing..."
"Shxt! No wonder Kendrick says you're a monster!"
This barrage of extreme flattery made Leon blush slightly.
In fact, he really wanted to tell him: Do you think doing all this awesome shxt is possible without a cheat code?
"Alright Cole, the company will give you top-tier promotional resources for the album." Lenny looked at his watch. "Mr. Leon and I have business to discuss."
"Okay~" Cole spread his hands. "Shxt, you two looking all mysterious, like the Mafia in The Godfather~"
With that, he turned and left.
Lenny glanced behind Leon. "And this Mexican guy too."
Jorge acted like he didn't hear, standing motionless like a Roman pillar.
Not until he received a nod from Leon did he wave his hand and leave. "I'm going to study that interesting black girl outside~"
---
After the unrelated personnel left, only Leon and Lenny remained in the office.
Leon straightened his jacket and strolled over to Lenny's cabinet as if he were in his own living room.
There wasn't a single book here. It was filled with various types of whiskey and red wine.
Connected to it was a temperature and humidity-controlled humidor, lined with carefully maintained cigars.
Leon casually picked up a bottle of Yamazaki 18-Year Whiskey and quipped, "You like Japanese booze this much? Since when do the Japanese know whiskey?"
Lenny tilted his head. "JAY-Z keeps all this here. I'm more interested in cigars than alcohol."
Hearing this, Leon smiled knowingly. What was JAY-Z's was Beyoncé's.
He had tasted Beyoncé's "technique"; tasting the wine was nothing.
"What surprise do you have for me?" He took a sip from his glass and asked, "Where is Miss Beyoncé?"
"Maybe she'll be here in a bit," Lenny said. "You created the biggest topic in the entertainment industry this year. I have to congratulate you; your value is about to skyrocket."
Lenny's reaction was exactly what Leon had predicted.
Although Diddy's crew was pressing hard, filled with gunpowder-scented provocations everywhere...
As if one wrong step would lead him down Tupac's 1997 path.
But the more it was like this, the more he had to meet it head-on. The stormier the weather, the bigger the fish you catch.
Now he was riding a monstrous wave of traffic, forcing JAY-Z to do everything he could to protect this cash cow.
Lenny couldn't suppress the smile on his face as he said, "I can already guess why Beyoncé is looking for you."
"Why?" Leon blurted out.
From the start, he was puzzled. Given his relationship with Beyoncé, the diva could have just called him directly if she needed something.
"I guess she wants to commission a song from you!" Lenny said. "Miss Beyoncé rarely asks other singers for songs actively."
Leon downed a mouthful of whiskey and nodded in relief.
Asking a newcomer she watched grow up for a song—this kind of thing indeed wasn't suitable for a diva to request over the phone.
Especially since they had "matched" together before.
"It's not just Miss Beyoncé asking for songs. The company's email inbox has been exploding these past few days..." Lenny clicked his mouse with a smile. "It seems the whole circle wants to collaborate with you, especially female singers."
Leon wasn't surprised at all.
Not all of his works were instant hits—like the Demons album, where only three songs were massive hits breaking into the Billboard Top 10.
But the works he wrote for other singers were hugely successful.
Especially Faded and Señorita, which made Robbie and Ariana, two rookies, famous overnight.
Now Billy was a massive success, directly sparking a revolution bringing Drill music from the drug dens of the slums to the mainstream market.
A Leon Smith production was a golden ticket to fame.
Lenny scrolled the mouse wheel and read out a dazzling list.
Grammy Best Female Pop Vocalist Christina Aguilera;
Katy Perry, who topped Billboard in 2010;
And the phenomenal Lady Gaga...
They all expressed a desire to collaborate.
"You're not interested in any of these people?" Lenny's eyes widened in surprise.
"Not interested." Leon shook his head.
"Then... what about Taylor Swift?"
Hearing Taylor's name, Leon perked up.
Just recently, Taylor had extended an olive branch for collaboration in his social media DMs.
Because it was just banter on social media, Leon didn't take it seriously at first.
Now it seemed Taylor was serious. The email to Lenny came from Scott Borchetta, the boss of Big Machine Records.
Seeing Leon showing signs of interest, Lenny continued to entice him. "This girl is an award reaper, a sales queen... The singers who want to work with her could line up across the Golden Gate Bridge."
Although this rhetoric was exaggerated, applied to Taylor, it wasn't too far off.
Every one of Taylor's records had reached platinum sales, firmly sitting in the top three of the Billboard Year-End Top 200 Albums chart every year.
In the current market environment where physical records were severely impacted, this was a terrifying achievement.
Many music publications considered Taylor's album sales an anomaly in the streaming-dominated music industry following the decline of the album era.
This phenomenon was called the "Taylor Swift Phenomenon."
Leon was indeed very tempted.
Setting aside that his personal relationship with Taylor was decent, getting a chance to collaborate with her was equivalent to a "Guaranteed Platinum Record Certification." He could pop the champagne in advance.
Maybe double platinum, triple platinum, or even more.
This would undoubtedly accelerate his progress in moving into a big house overlooking Manhattan.
Leon spread his hands and said, "I mean, why not? It's a win-win."
"Great!" Lenny slapped the table excitedly.
The commotion caused Jorge to burst through the door, finger on the trigger of his Glock, storming in aggressively.
"WTF..." Lenny's dark face lost all color from fright.
"Get out, Jorge. Mr. Lenny and I are having a good chat."
After Jorge left, Leon lit a cigarette and reassured him, "I'm very sorry. My bodyguard was born in Sinaloa, Mexico. The environment he grew up in makes his nerves always very tense."
Sinaloa?
Lenny's heart skipped a beat. It took him ten seconds to calm down. "Although the media calls you Al Capone, you have to remember you are a singer."
"I have to do this for safety. Too many idiots want to take a shot at me," Leon responded.
Lenny didn't dwell on the incident, bringing the topic back to the collaboration.
One was the most topical newcomer in the entertainment industry; the other was the best-selling female singer of the moment.
Even if the two of them just squatted in a pit and took a dump, it would generate massive wealth.
There were always fans who would eat it up.
If this really happened, it would undoubtedly be a successful collaboration, at least commercially.
Lenny continued, "Can you create a brand new piece by tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Leon doubted his ears. "Do you think composing is a street freestyle battle? Where you can just throw 'pxxsy' and 'dxxk' together to patch up a song?"
Lenny smiled and asked, "What about the day after tomorrow?"
"Fxxk, I think you're mentally unstable." Leon rolled his eyes.
"Any later and we miss the window." Lenny knocked on the table. "Management and Scott from Big Machine Records agree that to maximize the Beef traffic you created, launching a new work within two days would have the best effect!"
As soon as the words fell, Leon almost cursed out loud.
His inspiration had just refreshed a few days ago. It was impossible for him to create a new song in two days on his own.
Even Taylor, who could extract inspiration from men, might not be able to do it.
Only then did Lenny finally show his fox tail (reveal his true intentions). "Considering that one person's inspiration is limited, the company will hire a top creative team for you."
"Ester Dean, the ace songwriter for Def Jam. She wrote S&M, What's My Name?, Only Girl for Rihanna..."
"Anyway, it won't disappoint you, and your name will still appear in the most conspicuous position on the credits."
"Matched with that is a top-tier composition team!"
"You just need to be ready to pick up the money."
If a rookie just entering the industry heard this, they would immediately hug Lenny's leg and call him Daddy.
But Leon had more holes in his heart (was more calculating/shrewd) than Spongebob Squarepants.
He quickly realized where the problem lay—
Copyright.
If the contract renewal with Roc Nation wasn't reached, even if this new work achieved huge commercial success, it wouldn't have a damn thing to do with Leon.
He might not even be able to perform the song in public.
Even more dangerous, the complex copyright issues would entangle Leon more tightly with Roc Nation.
It was extremely likely he would end up in the same situation as Taylor Swift.
The Scumbag Harvester is here~