章節 5: Columbia Records
At 10:00 a.m. on Saturday Arthur woke up, did some light exercises in his own room, such as push-ups and sit-ups and went out for a run around the neighborhood. When he got home it was after 12 o'clock and the smell of lunch spread throughout the house. The smell of Brazilian food, with its characteristic and unmistakable seasoning.
As soon as he arrived at the kitchen door, his mother, who was cooking while listening to R&B music, turned around and greeted him.
" Hey Arthur, a man came by and left an envelope for you, I left it on the table. Go take a shower and come down here for lunch. I won't be home tonight, I got a job as a cleaner. "
" Yes ma'am. Be right back. "
He took the envelope and went up to his room, after 30 minutes he came back and sat at the table with his mother to have lunch.
"What was in that envelope Arthur? "
"Just some documents for a school project, nothing much. "
" Um, is that guy working at your school? He didn't seem like the most appropriate type to work in a school, you better not get involved with anything wrong Arthur. "
The two continued talking while they ate lunch and as soon as they finished, Arthur removed the plates and pans, taking them to the kitchen where he washed them. He soon locked himself in his room where he stayed all afternoon reading the contract in detail looking for possible loopholes. When he came across any unknown term or word, he would promptly look it up in the dictionary.
As soon as he finished reviewing the entire contract and concluding that there were no pitfalls and that it was in agreement with the previous conversation between the two, he signed the 2 identical contracts he received, one would stay with him and the other with Bob.
Arthur was lying on the sofa at home consuming some excellent American entertainment when he heard a knock on his door. Opening the door he found Bob standing there.
"Hey man, come on. I'll take you to the studio. Get in the car. "
Hearing this, Arthur entered the house, quickly turned off the TV, grabbed a sweatshirt and got into Bob's car.
Driving through the streets, he could see the presence of Latinos throughout the Bronx neighborhood. Initially the Bronx was an Italian neighborhood, but as time went by the Italians left and Latinos took over the neighborhood. Little by little, the neighborhood became a little piece of Latin America in the United States.
In the neighborhood, Latino gangs have spread completely, in addition to the existence of traditional bloods and crips gangs. Furthermore, when walking through the streets it was possible to hear a mix of music from different stores.
Arthur avoided getting involved with all these gangs, he just had some business now and then.
As they went to the studio, the two talked, which made Arthur understand a few more things. He would have the right to use the studio until next Saturday, on the weekend he could use the place at any time, during the week use would be limited to the early hours of the morning. He could use anything in the room, but he would not have any assistance during his musical production and only he could enter the room.
Another point was that when the period ended he didn't need to show the song to Bob, he just had to take it to the contact within Columbia, the Puerto Rican José. As long as the song was good enough, it would be published in a PD contract and Columbia would retain 30% of the profits on the music, the copyright would remain in the artist's entirety.
Soon the pair arrived at Columbia's headquarters where they met 37-year-old José, a Puerto Rican with olive skin, dark hair and eyes, and striking facial features that expressed the country's varied ethnic heritage in general. Furthermore, he exuded a contagious energy, typical of Latinos.
The 3 had a brief interaction with introductions and farewell to Bob. Now the newly introduced Jose and Arthur were walking through the company's corridors towards the Studio, Jose was introducing the space too.
Suddenly, further in front of them a door opened and some people came out, going directly to meet the duo in their midst, 2 they were unmistakable, they were the future global superstars Beyoncé and Jay z. They were currently famous, but had not reached their respective peaks.
Instantly, Arthur's gaze, which focused on Beyoncé, met her gaze. It was just an exchange of glances that lasted a few seconds, neither of them stopped nor thought about saying anything. It was just both of them appreciating each other's beauty, but in that time of eye contact the two completely forgot what was happening around them, immersed in the magic that the exchange of glances contained.
"What do you think of this proposal? "
"Do you hear me Beyoncé? "
" Hey Arthur, those rhymes of yours were unbelievable. Hello man, can you hear me? "
"What is Beyoncé doing here bro? "
Arthur, having known José for a few minutes and already calling him in such a familiar way, showed the rapid improvement in their relationship.
" She is recording some more songs for her debut solo album, it has been a while since she has made a public appearance so she is completely focused on doing the best work possible. Apparently there will be several features from her and Jay Z on the album and Columbia sees the album as our possible best album of the year. Basically the current best money printing machine and they are investing heavily in the album. "
The album Jose was talking about was "Dangerously in Love", the album that introduced Beyoncé as a solo artist to the world, in Arthur's former reality, showing all her artistic talent and being acclaimed by both critics and the public. With it she won Grammys and sold more than eleven million copies.
Arthur immediately remembered the track that marked this album and led this project, a collaboration between until then secret boyfriends Jay z and Beyoncé, the song in question was Crazy in Love. An R&B song with elements of funk, hip hop and soul, with a completely addictive beat and melody.
However, he promptly forgot about this because he had no way of contacting Beyoncé at the time and had no one in mind to replace her and steal the song for himself, and he had no confirmation that the song had not been released. recorded yet. As soon as the thought passed he found himself entering the studio room.
Before him was the environment that had brought him the most comfort since his last life. The room was medium in size, with walls covered in acoustic material and a high ceiling to ensure better sound dispersion. The room could be divided into 3 rooms, in one corner there was a comfortable area, with a large sofa and several puffs, in the other the recording equipment, computer, mixing table and others and finally the studio had in a separate environment, a vocal recording booth.
As soon as he entered, he started to ignore José, focusing only on the devices, testing them in every way. Finally, José got tired of being ignored and left leaving some words that caught Arthur's attention.
"The room is yours from today until 5:00 a.m. on Monday, from then on you can use it from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. every day of the week. Have fun, I look forward to seeing what you, or rather Ace, comes up with. "
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