Ajay was a little disappointed that he wasn't able to learn all that much from Cory while he was directing the music video, since between his outbursts and his intense, rapid-fire abuses, he didn't know when to approach him. But thankfully, despite not talking with him directly about how the crew worked and how the people are generally brought together, Ajay figured out a lot of things by himself, sometimes by watching, while other times asking around, bothering the technicians whenever they were free.
Although the information he had gathered was not as comprehensive as if he had learned it systematically in a school or under a professional director, he still understood the various professions and the people that came together to make up the crew.
He decided to pick up a few basic directing books and increase his theoretical foundation in his free time.
Unfortunately, time was one thing he lacked.
7th July 1994
"Yo! How much longer are ya going to take, n*gga?" Bryce yelled from within the living room, and Ajay, who had just come out of the bathroom taking a shower, yelled, "Coming! Just a minute."
The music video for "Thrift Shop" had not been completed yet. Cory was still shooting it somewhere downtown, but the part that included Tjay had been shot. Ajay had known about the schedule for a long time, since he was there on the day Brad explained it to Tjay, but being immersed in watching movies all night long as a way to study film composition, he overslept.
Quickly putting on his cargo jeans, a plain black T-shirt, an oversized black hoodie, and a small chain, he quickly got out of the room.
Ajay felt a little embarrassed when Bryce looked at him with a stern gaze as if he wanted to eat him alive, but thankfully, he didn't stare at him for too long and turned around. "Let's go," He waved and walked out.
Ajay picked up the luggage prepared yesterday and followed. Walking down the stairs and looking at what was before his apartment, he was taken aback. It was a gigantic bus, one of the largest he had ever seen. 'Will the tour be in this?' Anticipation was slowly building in his heart.
Entering the bus, to his relief, he was not immediately questioned or scolded for being late. On the contrary, they didn't care that he was there in the first place. They were already dancing around, God knows where that space came from, not worrying about who entered the bus and who didn't.
As for Tjay, Ajay found him on the sofa half naked as he jumped up and down, spilling water on everyone as he danced to a song Ajay was not so familiar with, but the classic reggae rhythm slowly made his shoulders fall and move to the beat until he eventually had a wide smile on his face and dropped the bag right on the floor and ran forward to join in the fun.
"Ayee, the songwriters here," Henry declared, and everyone immediately cheered.
This was the scene Bryce saw as soon as he got on the bus. He shook his head, let out a disgruntled sigh, and walked forward to sit with the driver and the manager.
As the bus started to move, 'This is going to be fun,' Ajay thought.
Since they were in California, it was only natural that they would first visit the major cities in the state. So, on the very day they set off, Tjay performed at a club and even gave interviews to several radio stations right there in Los Angeles.
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By the 9th, they had reached San Diego, where a record store signing event was held.
On the 10th, they had left California and were on their way to Arizona.
By the time they arrived, it was close to 8:00 at night when, under the moonlit Phoenix sky, the crowds' roaring laughter became almost tangible, casting an exhilarating mood over the entire concert, filling the atmosphere with a cacophony of cheers and Shouts.
♪ I'm gonna pop some tags ♪
♪ Only got 20 dollars in my pocket ♪
♪ I'm, I'm, I'm hunting, looking for a come up ♪
♪ This is fucking awesome! ♪
Ajay screamed at the top of his lungs as he stood on stage behind Tjay, singing "Thrift Shop" and enjoying the music to the fullest. People in the audience were dancing, jumping, drenched in water and beer, laughing and feeling free.
But right in the middle of so many people having the best moment of their lives, Ajay had a moment where he began to doubt whether his decision to sell the song was the right thing to do. He looked at Tjay, who was the centre of attention and the sole focus of admiration from the crowd, and felt a hint of regret.
'What if I were the one standing there?' He unconsciously put himself in Tjay's shoes, but a moment later, he came back to reality with a slight loss of breath. He felt uncomfortable, once again reminded of why he did not want to become an actor or a singer after recovering his memories of his past.
Because he simply couldn't, he felt like he would collapse under the weight of those gazes and that attention. Maybe it was a psychological problem from his past life or a problem developed during childhood in the orphanage. But whatever it was, he didn't try to get behind it.
However, as the concert ended and he stepped off the stage, the lingering sense of exhilaration and enthusiasm he had just felt a moment before was like a seed that had somehow embedded itself in his heart, like a seed bound to germinate when the time was right.
After Arizona, it was Dallas, Texas. Apparently, Texas had one of the largest black communities outside California, so the tour bus stayed in Dallas for three whole days before moving on to Houston, where BMG had scheduled a promotional activity at a record store. Tjay was made to give an interview for a local magazine and sign a few hundred vinyl records.
By the 17th, they were in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ajay felt a little awkward in the city, and he could feel that Tjay and the others were the same. Although the audience that came to watch the performance was some of the most welcoming and passionate he had ever seen, the people of the city were a little, how to put it, too on the nose about their dislike for him because of his colour.
It was not like he had not encountered racism, but in California, especially in Burbank and Los Angeles, it was only when it inadvertently slipped out or because of stereotyped biases, but here in Louisiana, the people talked without thinking about it at all.
There was one instance where the security at the supermarket actually verified everything he had bought while letting all the other customers pass by without even looking at their receipts.
He felt extremely annoyed, but in the end, he didn't want to cause any trouble and walked back to the bus.
However, the experience in Louisiana was not all bad, though, since Tjay had called a few dozen girls from somewhere to a party, and Ajay was able to hook up with a hot brunette for the night.
Next, the tour moved on to the Mid-Atlantic, and it was already the end of the month. Surprisingly, Tjay was not as outgoing and carefree as he was in other places. After chatting with Bryce, Henry, and the others, he understood that it was because Washington, D.C., and the other cities they were going to visit in the Mid-Atlantic had a strong East Coast hip-hop culture and affiliation.
Since they were from the West Coast, they had to be careful not to have any altercations with anyone from the city because apparently, gangs were not all centralised as he had imagined. Instead, they were completely decentralised and had very loose control over the members, but this allowed for the influence of the gang to spread wide, and even if they had a dispute with a single person, and even if that person was in the wrong, it didn't matter since this could become a gang issue the more people got involved. And in some extreme cases, the situation could even devolve into violence, and chaos could ensue.
Bryce, who was explaining all this information that was widely known among the black community, looked at him and handed over the toothpaste. "Since Lil Tjay was born and raised in Burbank, he is not affiliated with the Crips or the Bloods, but as he featured Reggie, an active member of the Crips, the Bloods will immediately consider him as an associate of the Crips. Now that we are in the Bloods' territory, we have to be careful."
Ajay nodded in understanding and started to brush his teeth.
To be continued....