The Pitch

After closing the door, Song Ya tidied up the sofa and some leftover things, then went out to find Eric.

"Where's Old Joe?" he asked.

Coming over the night before had only been one part of the plan. He needed an excuse to visit Joe Music, then "bump into" Old Joe after he finished promoting the album.

"He won't be back this week. He went to Los Angeles."

He hadn't expected such bad news.

Song Ya could only ask Eric to drive him and Allie home. Along the way, he probed for details. Eric wasn't very guarded around him, and told him everything that had happened during the promotion.

In Atlanta, Old Joe had apparently taken someone's advice and planned to hire a Hollywood PR firm to handle the album promotion. Pablo, who favored working with Warner Records, had fiercely opposed the idea, and the two had gotten into another huge argument. Afterward, Pablo suddenly left with Little Lowry, AK, Tony, Silencer, and the others without even telling Old Joe where they were going. Old Joe couldn't be bothered to stop them and had boarded a flight to Los Angeles by himself.

"A Hollywood PR firm?"

Song Ya's heart sank. He didn't know exactly what PR firms did, but if they could handle album promotion too, Old Joe was clearly trying to rule out any possibility of working with a major record company. What would happen to his agreement with Daniel, then? Would the ten-thousand-dollar introduction fee and the hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar commission all go up in smoke?

After dropping Allie off at home, they soon heard the sound of women arguing inside.

Well, families in the projects were all pretty much the same. Even the words Allie's mother used to scold her were exactly the same as the ones Aunt Susie used on Connie.

Song Ya quickly told Eric to start the car and get out of there. Once he got home, he immediately called Daniel.

"PR firms are like mercenaries. They're usually hired for short-term jobs, and they like to take unconventional approaches. They're great at creating a big story for their clients and getting the media's attention."

Daniel was a veteran, and quickly reached a conclusion. "Good Hollywood PR firms are expensive. Based on current album sales, Old Joe hasn't earned enough to pay their bills! I think he's losing his mind. We need to get to Los Angeles right away and move fast, before he reaches an agreement with a PR firm!"

Song Ya had no choice but to call Old Joe's cell phone. The "chance encounter" plan had fallen through, so he'd have to lay his cards on the table. At least he had to make sure he earned Daniel's ten-thousand-dollar introduction fee.

"Hey, APLUS. What's up?" Old Joe sounded exhausted.

Song Ya didn't beat around the bush. "Daniel Glass, the vice president of SBK Records, got in touch with me and said he'd like to meet you. What do you think?"

"FXXX! You son of a bitch!"

Old Joe, as expected, immediately started cursing. "You're all betraying me!" Then he was about to hang up.

"Hey! Hey! Wait! Don't hang up! Boss, for the sake of the song I wrote for you! Please?" Song Ya hurriedly appealed to their relationship.

There was a long silence on the other end. "Maybe we'd be happier now if that song had never happened..." Old Joe spoke slowly. "Once those seven thousand cassettes are sold, I'll take the loss and walk away. Then Pablo will still be my friend, and Lowry will still be that good kid... Money. It's all about money. Money is the problem with everything..."

Wasn't the way you forced Al out pretty ruthless too? Song Ya grumbled to himself.

Still, he had to keep trying to persuade him. "Then you have even more reason to talk with Daniel. He knows a lot about record distribution. He convinced me, and I believe he can convince you too. Money's a problem, and the song's a problem, so we need professionals to solve them. Just one meeting. Give him one meeting, okay?"

Old Joe took a deep breath, and his attitude finally softened. "Just one meeting?"

"Just one!"

"All right. I'm only doing this for you." Old Joe gave him the name of a hotel.

"Thank you, boss!"

Song Ya made arrangements with Daniel, and the two of them caught the next flight to the City of Angels on the West Coast.

It was his first time on a plane since crossing over, and his first time in Los Angeles, but Song Ya wasn't in the mood to admire the scenery. He led Daniel to Old Joe's hotel in a taxi and knocked on his door.

The moment Daniel and Old Joe met, Song Ya could practically hear the cheerful ding of a supermarket cash register in his mind. Ten grand in the bag. Sweet!

There were two other guests there, a short Black man and a heavyset white man, who were saying their goodbyes to Old Joe.

After they introduced themselves, Daniel asked, "Was that Eazy-E from N.W.A.?"

"Yeah. Sit down. Big E came to talk business with me too," Old Joe replied. He opened a bottle of liquor, took glasses from the cabinet, and poured drinks for them.

"Thanks. Big E's reputation..." Daniel trailed off.

"I know what you want to say. Big E's dangerous and greedy, but when it comes to music, there's no question about him. N.W.A. got off the ground with the money he made." Old Joe leaned back on the sofa and raised his glass toward Daniel in a toast. "And he has plenty of experience dealing with major record companies."

Hearing the barb in Old Joe's words, Daniel smiled. "APLUS told me Pablo's theories about major record companies. Unfortunately, he's an amateur in this business. The simple truth is that major record companies can't control everything. For example..." He gestured toward Old Joe. "You can listen to music produced by any company or individual, anytime and anywhere. Major record companies can't control what you listen to. How could they have a monopoly? Distribution? Aren't you distributing records right now? No one can stop you. Of course, I won't deny that major record companies have advantages. They control some channels, some awards, and some media, but that's all. Many major record companies have over a hundred labels under them, and their own people can barely get along. How could they have a monopoly? SBK used to be independent of EMI, and we did just fine. The real giant with the power to control an industry isn't in the record business. It's right here in Los Angeles, in Hollywood..."

Daniel was a master of persuasion. "Go on," Old Joe said, clearly interested.

"Unlike the record business, there's a limit to the number of movie theaters and screens in the country. If you want to see a new movie, you have to go to a theater. You can't see it anywhere else. That's the kind of environment where monopolies can really take root. So the real powers that can dominate an industry are the seven major film studios here: Universal, Warner Bros., MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Disney, and Columbia—oh, no, now it should be called Sony Columbia. Old Joe, work with us. We're not Warner. We're better suited to distributing rap music. Have you heard 'Ice Ice Baby'?"

Old Joe gave a disdainful laugh. "A white guy."

"Exactly! Vanilla Ice is a white guy! A white guy who raps hardcore! And we made his single a huge hit!"

That line hit hard, and Old Joe fell into thought.

Song Ya could certainly relate. Last time, Daniel had talked him around so thoroughly that he'd lost all sense of direction.

"Guess what?" Daniel never gave his targets a chance to catch their breath. "We plan to push APLUS's single, and we'll raise you to Little Lowry's level. Everyone in the business knows your chorus is much better than his rap verse! He's the lead singer on the song, and so are you! If you're willing, SBK can even sign you to an artist deal. From now on, every concert, every paid appearance, every awards show—you name it. Little Lowry will never be able to ditch you and go solo! Never..."