Chapter 183： memorial service

Chapter 183 Memorial Service

At the beginning of July, MJ’s memorial service was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

More than 20,000 people came to attend the memorial ceremony that day, including MJ’s family, friends, partners, and hundreds of cultural and sports stars.

Including "Singing Queen" Mariah Carey, black singer Lionel Richie, blind singer Stevie Wonder, movie star Brooke Shields, NBA star Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Madonna , Beyoncé, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and more.

The weather in Los Angeles was too hot that day, with local temperatures exceeding 34 degrees Celsius. In order to avoid fires, the funeral committee conducted a small-scale artificial rainfall before the memorial service.

Link wore sunglasses and a dark suit, walking in the wet square, surrounded by red, white and yellow flowers, like a sea of ​​flowers.

After Link arrived at the scene, he laid a bouquet of flowers in front of MJ's portrait and chatted for a few words with Kenny Ortega, the director of MJ's concert. When he was about to leave, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent and others walked towards him. come over.

A group of black people, wearing black suits, looked completely dark at first glance.

Not far away, Jay-Z, Kanye, Jamie Foxx and others were standing in a pile, looking over here.

“Link, how about we reconcile?”

Lil Wayne stepped forward and said.

“Oh, how to reconcile?”

Link stopped and looked at a few people quietly.

This week "Forever" once again topped the rap chart, leaving "Lighters" in second place.

Although the East Coast rap group saved their face with this song, they also received a lot of criticism, including from the media, peers in the rap industry, and fans who like rap music.

The New Yorker magazine criticized the East Coast rap group headed by ‘Jay-Z and Kanye’ in its music review section last week, believing that their performance was too domineering.

In May, Link released his first rap single "I\'mTheOne". It reached the top three in the first week and was about to reach the top of the list. Kanye and T.I. released songs one after another, blocking the upward momentum of Link's new song.

 Later, Link found another way and gained huge traffic and attention through sports games, allowing "I\'mTheOne" to reach the first place in the rap chart, and it has a great chance of retaining the first place in the rap chart.

At this moment, New York rap king Jay-Z released a new song, which was recommended by hundreds of people in the entertainment industry, snatching the title of Link’s champion in one fell swoop.

For this reason, Link Music had to announce a half-month delay in releasing a new song by its singer Bruno Mars.

But half a month later, when Link Music released a new single "Lighters", it encountered a group of East Coast rappers and failed to reach the top of the rap chart.

Compared to the two newcomers Link and Mars, Jay-Z, Kanye and others are all top leaders in the rap industry and have many fans in the rap industry. They teamed up to suppress several newcomers, and also used methods such as chasing, blocking, and group fights. , constitutes unfair competition.

"Rolling Stone" magazine commented that East Coast rap is too stingy by joining forces to suppress newcomers. They use unconventional operations to compete for the charts. They are also suspected of treating the Billboard rap chart as their private territory, which is very unworthy of promotion.

New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other newspapers also reported on the East Coast rap team’s competition with Link Music for the charts.

They introduced the origin of the conflict between the two parties in detail in the article, saying that it was the continuation and worsening of the "Grammy Awards conflict".

The "Chicago Tribune" also specifically mentioned MJ in the report, saying that MJ had participated in mediating conflicts between the two parties, and also invited Link, Kanye and others to participate in the comeback concert. The two parties briefly eased off, but after Link released the rap song " I\'mTheOne" and hoped to win the first place on the rap chart, the conflict between the two parties broke out again.

The Tribune believes that Link’s cross-genre entry into the field of rap was the trigger for the conflict between the two parties.

However, the New York Post disputed this statement.

In a recent news report, the Post quoted information from people familiar with the matter, saying that Link and Kanye reached a settlement with MJ's mediation during the rehearsal of MJ's concert. At the same time, Link also informed Kanye and others People have expressed the idea of ​​trying rap music, and Kanye and others expressed encouragement.

However, after Link invited Eminem to record the single "Lighters" together, they were blocked by Lil Wayne and others. Eminem and Link successively withdrew from the recording of the single "Lighters" and handed over the song to Completed by newcomer singer Bruno Mars and Atlantic Records singer Little Bobby. The "New York Post" believes that East Coast Rap has never thought of reconciling with Link, and they are trying to block a very talented new rapper Link Baker in the rap field.

 The Los Angeles Times and other newspapers reported that the two parties proposed to reconcile, especially when MJ passed away, it was very inappropriate for the conflict to continue.

West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg also openly mocked Jay-Z and others in an interview, saying that Jay-Z thinks he is the boss of the New York music scene, is narrow-minded and cannot tolerate others, and also suggested that Billboard cancel the rap list , or change it to the East Coast Rap Self-Entertainment List.

Fans in the rap industry expressed disappointment with East Coast Rap's deliberate suppression of link music. In particular, fans who liked the songs "I\'mTheOne" and "Lighters" posted comments online, saying they would not buy anything again. The work of shore rapper.

Facing doubts from all walks of life, it is impossible for East Coast rap to not feel the pressure.

This is probably one of the reasons why Lil Wayne and others took the initiative to propose reconciliation.

But Link didn’t want to talk to Lil and 50 Cents.

Although these two people are also at the top of the rap industry, with total sales of rap albums ranking in the top 20, they are more than one position behind Jay-Z and Kanye in terms of strength and influence.

"Link, we have more fans. It will do you no good to continue to fight. I think you should understand this. As long as you admit that you are a fan of Jay-Z on Twitter, we will no longer compete with you for the list." , how about it, is this request very simple? "

Lil Wayne wears dreadlocks and has a large blue tattoo on his neck and face. He puts his pockets in his pockets when he speaks, his posture is very casual, and he does not seem to have much sincerity.

Link glanced at him, smiled faintly, and continued walking forward.

“Hey, you haven’t answered me yet.”

Lil Wayne wanted to reach out and pull, but Link's bodyguards Bob and Wallace stepped in from behind, blocking the two of them, and put their hands into his pockets.

Lil Wayne and others were startled when they saw the two men showing signs of pulling out guns, and quickly backed away.

In fact, Bob and Wallace did not carry guns. To prevent accidents, the Los Angeles police would use metal detectors to check before entering the venue.

"Hey, man, I just want to chat with Link, nothing else. Link, what do you think of our proposal?"

Lil Wayne raised his hands, took two steps back and said.

“A great proposal, but my request is exactly the opposite. As long as Jay-Z and Kanye publicly express that they like my songs and are my fans, I promise to reconcile with you.”

Link said after stopping.

"You want Jay-Z to admit that he is your fan? Are you crazy?"

The people in Lille looked at him in shock and anger.

Jay-Z is the number one person in the rap music industry at this stage, with a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars. It is absolutely impossible for Jay-Z to publicly admit that he is a fan of a small pop singer. Jay-Z will not do that kind of embarrassing thing. thing.

“This is my condition. It’s up to you to decide whether to accept it or not.”

Link shrugged his shoulders and left the scene with Bob and Wallace.

“Link, you’re going to regret this.”

Lil Wayne snorted coldly and took people to report to Jay-Z.

(End of this chapter)