5th May 1994
A week later, Ajay had completely changed. He now had a buzz cut, a chain around his neck, loose, baggy pants, a slim-fitting vest, and a red jacket.
The moment he entered the studio, he greeted Jake, who was at the console and then dabbed up Bryce and the others he had gotten to know over the past few weeks.
"Tjay isn't here yet?" he asked as he sat down on the sofa without the slightest bit of hesitation.
Ajay no longer felt nervous or restless like he did the first time. He deserved to be here and had earned the right to be here.
Henry, one of Tjay's men, taking a puff of his cigar, replied, "Nah. He'll be here in a bit. Reggie E's with him."
Ajay nodded in understanding before casually joining the others in conversation.
The reason for the change in his appearance was naturally Tjay. A week ago, after Tjay heard the track once it was produced, he was so happy that he even gifted his chain along with several designer clothes.
Although the chain was fake, the guy happily patted his chest and put his arm around Ajay's shoulders.
"You know what, Jay? If the single is a big hit, I'll shoot a music video, and you can be in it," he promised, after asking him to buzz cut his hair and, in his words, "Dress like a motherfucking n*gga." Then he ran off screaming into the booth, eager to record his part.
Coming to the present, Ajay was alerted when a ruckus was heard outside the studio, and as he got up to take a look at who it was, He realized that it was Tjay's car, along with a convoy of four to five trucks.
First, Tjay stepped out of his car, followed by a group of burly Black men emerging from the trucks, all surrounding a single man. Ajay immediately recognised him. It was Reggie E.
In order to make up for the lack of knowledge about the music industry, he had done a lot of research about the industry as well as the artists within it. So he immediately recognised who the person was. Reggie E was an artist from Compton who had formed his own record label, Brutal Records, and had even formed a group in the early 1990s.
He did remind Ajay of Easy E from his last life, who formed the N.W.A that pioneered the Gangster Rap genre, but Reggie E was a completely different person. He was a tall man with a muscular build and a deep voice, the polar opposite of Easy E.
Not to mention, he was not as lyrically gifted as Easy-E either.
Eric had a way with words. His delivery was raw, and it always conveyed his emotion, whether he was rapping about his neighbourhood, Compton or showing his frustrations about the social struggles a black man faced while growing up in neighbourhoods like Compton. This emotion and the soul in his music connected to black people throughout the country, making him a huge sensation in the rap scene.
Reggie, on the other hand, was a completely different type of artist. Although his songs did venture into the gangster category, he was not as vicious with his lyrics, and his delivery came out fake and somewhat unauthentic. His delivery was not as tight as Eric's either.
Maybe that was the reason why. Compared to Eazy-E, who turned Compton into the Ayodhya of Gangster Rap, Compton in this life was still relatively unknown, and the Notorious Thugs, a group he had founded, were not too successful and had actually disbanded just last year.
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But Ajay wouldn't try to underestimate the man because he, Reggie E, had a gang background. He wasn't entirely sure if Easy E, in his last life, really did have a gang affiliation, but Reggie E did. He even went to jail for a few years on charges of several gang-related violence.
This was the main reason why he was a little hesitant when Lil Tjay said that he would be bringing in Reggie E, but he had no say in who Tjay wanted to collaborate with, so he didn't try to convey his opinion at all. Besides, he felt like it was not entirely a bad thing.
The Thrift Shop is an alternative rap song that leans more into the pop genre, whereas Lil Tjay is a famous pop artist in the local scene, not a rapper. In order to reach a new audience, it will probably be best if a recognisable face from the rap community is brought in to feature on the song.
Coincidentally enough, although Reggie E does not match with Easy E, he kind of looks similar to the Artist that was originally featured in the Thrift Shop.
"Hey Reggie! Remember the n*gga I told that risked his life to show his song. This is it." Lil Tjay immediately pulled Ajay by his jacket and introduced him to Reggie.
Reggie removed his gold-tinted glasses and looked at Ajay up and down.
A few seconds later, he stretched out his fist, and Ajay knew what to do immediately.
He hit a fist bump and quickly dabbed him up.
"You got guts, n*gga. You got heart," he said, nodding appreciatively.
"Thanks, Reggie." Ajay nodded and humbly accepted the praise.
Reggie moved inside, but one of his entourage kept looking at him with a weird gaze and finally spoke out.
"You look a little weird, bruh," he suddenly said. "Your skin colour is like a n*gga, and your face shape is like the white man's."
Ajay's expression immediately turned awkward as it came out of nowhere, but he didn't have to be embarrassed for too long, as Lil Tjay just stepped forward and patted the guy on the shoulder. "He's half Indian."
The entourage member with a lip piercing looked at Ajay and nodded. "Makes sense. Those Indian guys are pretty dark like us, and their faces kinda look like white folks too."
Ajay had trouble adjusting to some racist remarks that were thrown at him from time to time, but thankfully, he didn't have to respond as Reggie and Lil Tjay quickly went into the studio and started discussing music.
"Phew!"
He let out a sigh of relief and went inside.
Lil Tjay had already recorded his part, and Reggie heard it from beginning to end. He was quite excited and was jumping around the room like an excited kid, bopping his head up and down as if it were connected to a motor.
"Let's do this shit." Reggie E said as he was hyped up and entered the booth.
It was still Jake at the helm, and he started recording in the chorus as well as the last section of the song, which extended into a pop breakdown.
Ajay carefully observed the production process and keenly paid attention to the vocals.
"This part here, it has to be one note higher. It's off-key. "Ajay commented, and Jake simply used a microphone to relay the instructions.
The recording started once again, and after several tries, the chorus was finally recorded.
'This guy's singing is surprisingly inaccurate. Thankfully, the same chorus could be repeated again and again, and the original song itself did not require high-level singing, or else it would have taken days.' He thought to himself and made a mental note to never write a song for someone who cannot sing it.
The studio session continued after a small break, and this time it was for the recording of the pop breakdown. As Ajay had expected, the number of takes that had to be made was drastically higher than the number of takes taken for the chorus, and Reggie was getting visibly impatient, and the quality of his vocals deteriorated further.
In the end, unable to move any further, Jake decided on a different approach. "Let's record four beats at a time."
This time, the results immediately shifted in a positive direction. The delivery was noticeably better, and progress could actually be seen in the recording.
The session went late into the night, and finally, when everyone was very intoxicated, all the audio clips were recorded, and the song was completed.
A few days later, Ajay came to the studio and participated in the sound mixing. He wasn't supposed to be invited, but apparently Tjay and Jake both requested his attendance, and the producer who handled all the affairs related to Tjay in BMG reluctantly agreed.
"Hello, Mr Grey. " Ajay greeted as he extended his hand.
Brad Grey, a stern middle-aged man, looked at Ajay with a scrutinising gaze and simply shook his hand with a polite nod without any words.
Ajay could tell that he was not welcome in this place, but he did develop a little thick skin from begging so many directors and taking such a risk to contact Lil Tjay, so he simply shrugged and met with Jake.
To be continued...