Kofi heard a knock on the door. He looked through the peep hole, and opened the door.

"X, why the fuck you got a police knock?" Kofi asked, holding a notebook, and letting him in.

"Police have a knock?"

"Yeah, they're trained to do that knock."

"Why would police want to knock the same? Wouldn't that give away that it's a police officer at the door?"

"Look, what do you want?"

"I'm off work, and I wanted to use the car to take Sasha to-"

"Nope. Sorry, we were just about to leave." Kofi said, as Big E entered the room.

"Where you guys going?"

"The studio."

"Great, I'll go with, we can pick up Sasha on the way there." Xavier smiled, opening the front door.

"I don't have time to take you and Sasha nowhere, X."

"Just take us to the studio, we'll hang out there."

"The studio is a place of work, we don't need distractions." Big E said.

"We won't be a distraction, we'll just chill in the back, maybe offer some opinions."

"That's my job."

"Fuck it, I'll take y'all." Kofi said, walking out of the door.

E rolled his eyes, as Xavier smiled and started texting Sasha.


Kofi parked outside of Sasha's house.

"We running late, where the fuck she at?" Kofi asked.

"I told her to come outside." Xavier shrugged.

Just then, Bayley and Sasha walked out of the front door.

"Who the fuck is that?" Kofi asked, confused.

"Oh! That's the girl from the bar!" Big E exclaimed, his smile lighting up.

Sasha opened the car door.

"Hey, is it cool if Bayley comes too?"

"No." Xavier and Kofi said, in unison.

"Yes! They were kidding, come on in!" Big E said.

Kofi looked at him, confused.

"The studio is a place of work, we don't need distractions." Xavier mumbled quietly, in a mocking voice.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, get in."

"Okay cool." Sasha said, as they both got in.

"This is gonna be awesome! I've never been to a studio before." Bayley exclaimed.

Kofi said nothing, continuing the drive.


Becky and Tyler sat alone, in the empty studio.

"Where are they at?" Tyler asked, looking down at his phone.

"I don't know, they said they'd be here at noon."

"Those niggas always late."

"...what did you just say?" Becky asked, partially in shock.

"Those niggas always late?"

"Dude, you can't say that."

"What do you mean I can't say that? They're my friends, and they say it all the time."

"That's not how it works."

"What do you mean that's not how it works?" Tyler asked, with a laugh.

"I'm sure if you said it in front of them, they wouldn't like it."

"Well we'll see."

"That's not a good idea, I don't think you should-"

Just then, Kofi, E, Sasha, Bayley, and Xavier walked into the studio.

"My niggas! Wassup!"

Sasha gasped.

"Nigga don't call me a nigga." Kofi said immediately.

Xavier chuckled a bit, at the hypocrisy of Kofi's sentence. Becky simply sighed.

"What? I thought yesterday you said I was your nigga?" Tyler asked, confused.

"Nigga that don't mean you start saying it." Big E said, as Bayley, Xavier, and Sasha sat down.

"So I'm... I'm not your nigga anymore?"

"Who is this nigga?" Sasha asked, turning to Xavier.

"I don't know him." Xavier shrugged, still laughing.

"He's our engineer." Kofi said, walking into the booth.

Tyler sighed.

"Look, I just don't understand why you niggas say nigga all the time and it's fine, but when a white nigga says nigga y'all niggas wanna-"

"Say nigga one more time and see what the fuck happens." Kofi said, putting on the headphones.

"I just don't get it."

"...well basically, it's more of a reclamation thing. The word had a negative connotation for so long, and we as a people began to use it as a term of endearment, and even though you could argue at this point there's such a generational disconnect from the black people who were alive when the word first came into use as a slur and to the people that use the word today that it shouldn't matter, it's basically become an unwritten societal rule that you're not supposed to say it, unless you're around a group of black people who have specifically expressed to you that they don't take offense to you saying it. I mean, I personally don't care, but Kofi and E do, so you can't say it... sorry nigga." Xavier shrugged.

Tyler simply nodded, taking in everything Xavier had said.

"Becky." Becky said, extending a hand for a handshake.

"Xavie-"

"Sasha!" Sasha smiled, jealously, grabbing Becky's hand before Xavier could. Becky awkwardly shook it.

"I'm Bayley."

"Are you guys like his management team or something?" Becky asked.

Xavier began thinking for a bit, as if he just got an idea.

"Oh nah, X is my cousin, that's some girl he fucked at a club, and that's her friend. Play that beat with the piano roll." Kofi said, flipping through pages in his notebook.

"He's joking, I'm a friend of Xavier's." Sasha said, with a fake smile, before glaring at Kofi.

"What do you do?" Xavier asked.

"I'm the producer."

"Producer?"

"Yeah... I make beats." Becky said, turning on the beat Kofi requested.

"Unexpected."

"Is unexpected a bad thing?"

No, unexpected is good." Xavier smiled.

"Hey, Xavier, you wanna switch seats?" Sasha asked, with another fake smile.

"Uh, sure." Xavier said, standing up and sitting next to Bayley, as Sasha sat next to Becky.

Kofi cleared his throat.

"Flex 16. Kofi K. Leggo. I come through and flex, I-... hold on."

Becky stopped the beat.

"I'm running out of shit to rhyme with flex."

"You use sex yet?" Big E asked.

"Yeah."

"Checks?"

"Yeah."

"It doesn't matter what word you use as long as you change how you use them." Xavier shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"You've said, 'I flex cause I get checks' but you never like did any wordplay or anything. You can say 'I come through and flex, ain't no cereal but bitch I get checks'."

"Oooh, okay X." Big E said nodding.

Becky shook her head approvingly as well.

"That's good."

"What does cereal got to do with checks?" Kofi asked.

"Like the cereal, Chex."

"Oh!" Bayley said.

"I like that." Sasha smiled.

"Aye, that's fire. Alright, I come through and flex, ain't no cereal but bitch I get checks... killed the game, I'm coming at ya necks..." Kofi began.

"Rest In Peace, nigga, pay respects." Xavier shrugged.

"AYE!" Everyone else said in unison.

"Y'all like that?" Xavier asked, in confusion.

"Just take the notebook." Kofi said, walking out of the booth and handing him the book, along with a pencil.


Tamina sat on Naomi's couch, flipping through channels on the television.

"Okay, so Valentine's formula is right here on the-"

"Why am I watching Valentine again?"

"So I can go to work." Naomi said.

"You see that's where I'm confused. I remember a little 5'7 trombone playing Princeton dropout nigga running around here, what happened to him?"

"He no longer resides at this residence."

"Why?" Tamina asked.

"Cause I don't have time to argue every single day with a lazy, spoiled, man-child that won't do anything for himself."

"You have a daughter Naomi, she has to have her father in her life."

"She will. He can come see her all the time if he wants."

"I can tell you're not happy with this decision just by looking at you."

"If I wasn't happy with my decision, I wouldn't have made it."

"Xavier's dick is gonna be inside you in the next 48 hours, I'd bet anything on it."

"Shit, bet me. I'll take that easy money." Naomi laughed.

"I'm not gonna bet you, cause I don't wanna take your money, but it doesn't matter how many Samoan twins with bow ties you go on dates with, you and Xavier go together like Alicia and Henny."

"Every time Alicia drinks Hennessy she ends up doing a bunch of regrettable things and it always ends in disaster."

"Just like you and Xavier. But you both always end up back together cause you can't live without each other."

"What's your point?"

"That you and Xavier are going to be together forever, and that Alicia is an alcoholic and we as friends should probably be concerned for her."

"Me and Xavier are already broken up, so your theory is wrong, and Alicia isn't an alcoholic, she's a HennyHolic, there's a difference."

"Have fun in denial-oops I mean have fun at work." Tamina smiled.

"Xavier will be here sometime to pick up Valentine." Naomi said, leaving.


Xavier wrote for about 5 minutes, before clearing his throat.

"I come through and flex. Ain't no cereal but bitch I get checks. Killed the game, I'm coming at ya necks. Rest In Peace, nigga, pay respects. Wood floor, my house look like it's Shrek's. Diamonds shining, look like special effects. My ex look perplexed cause my checks looking stretched. I'm the best of the best, so I know I'm up next. Stephen Spielberg, pulling up in the Lex. Malcolm X when I put on my specks. Oh man god damn, I ball like Famous Dex. Money old, Tyrannosaurus Rex. On a yacht with bout like thirty decks. Voodoo drop top cast em with a hex. All I need, money weed and some sex. Young and rich, what the fuck you expect? Flex."

"BRUH!" Big E exclaimed.

"Oh my fucking god, that's amazing." Sasha said.

"That shit, is CRAZY." Kofi shouted.

"Bruh, that was terrible." Xavier said.

"What are you talking about!?" Bayley asked.

Becky shrugged.

"It's not like super lyrical, but for trap song that's really really good."

"I said 'voodoo drop top cast em with hex'. What the fuck is a Voodoo Drop Top? I just made that up."

"It sounds good." Big E shrugged.

"Xavier shrugged back.

"That's gone be the hottest 16 on the tape, let me see that, I gotta record that."

"I'll give you the notebook if you make me your manager." Xavier said.

Kofi sighed.

"You do need a team around you if you're going to start to get serious about all this. My friend Charlotte is going for her public relations and marketing degree right now, she should manage your public persona, Xavier can do the business side of things?" Becky asked.

Kofi sighed again.

"X, what you know about management?"

"I dropped out of Princeton."

"You went to Princeton!?" Becky, Big E, Bayley, and Tyler exclaimed, in unison.

"What the fuck is Princeton?" Kofi asked.

"Bro, you hired as fuck." Big E said.

Tyler laughed.

"Don't you have to have like a 3.8 GPA to even get in there?"

"3.9 actually. Only 7% of applicants get in." Xavier said.

"Can't be that smart if he dropped out." Kofi shrugged.

"Kanye dropped out and Kanye's a genius."

"Tyler, shut up, Kanye is not a genius."

"Take that back right now." Becky said, very seriously.

"Kanye's not that good, y'all dick riding." Kofi laughed.

"1st off, Kanye has 4 classic albums, 2nd off, we're not talking about Kanye here we're talking about me." Xavier said.

"Kanye only got 3 classics." Big E said, drinking his water bottle.

"3 is pushing it, I say two." Kofi said, crossing his arms.

Becky looked in shock.

"He easily has five, what the hell are you guys talking about?"

"Five!?" Xavier, Kofi, and Big E asked in unison.

"College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation, 808s & Heartbreak, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy." Becky said.

"808s is not classic." Xavier laughed.

"I can see why you'd think that, you're not a producer. The instrumentals on there are insane."

"What about Yeezus?" Tyler asked.

"Yeezus is really good, but classic is pushing it." Becky shrugged.

Kofi rolled his eyes.

"Yeezus is trash, 808s is decent, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is okay, College Dropout got some heat, but it ain't classic, Kanye got 2 great albums, please stop deepthroating that man."

"Dropout is definitely classic, you're crazy." Big E said.

"Okay, once again, let me reel it in. Dark Fantasy is one of the best, if not THE best rap album of all time." Xavier began.

Becky reached over and high-fived him.

Kofi laughed.

"Secondly, 808s is really good, I don't know about classic, but it changed music, influenced Drake, Kid Cudi, Future, basically every melodic rapper we have today. Dropout, Registration, and Graduation are all classics. Yeezus and The Life Of Pablo are cool, but they could've been a lot better, and last but not least, let me be your manager, I'm smart."

"Wait, which one is the one with Gold Digger?" Sasha asked.

"Registration." Becky said.

"Alright that's classic. Which ones the one with Stronger?"

"Graduation." Xavier said.

"Alright, classic. Heartless?"

"808s."

"Yeah those 3 albums are his classics." Sasha laughed.

"You've never listened to them all the way through, your opinion's not exactly valuable, anyway, Kofi, let me manage you."

"...I'll tell you what, I'll sit down and listen to the Dark Fantasy jawn again." Kofi said.

"Okay, but can I be your manager?"

"Sure."

"Great, here you go. Enjoy the verse. As your manager, I'm going to need your car real quick."

"What for?" Kofi asked.

"I have to go pick up Valentine, I'll come get you from the studio later, Becky, Tyler, it was nice meeting you. Sasha, Bayley, you guys ready?"

"I wanna stay." Bayley said.

"Yesss! I mean, achoo." Big E said.

"Bless you."

"Alright cool, we'll be back in like 2 hours, uh, yeah, continue flexing on those niggas Kofi, good luck." Xavier said, grabbing the keys.

Kofi walked back into the recording booth and Becky turned the beat back on, and Sasha and Xavier left.


"She's so cute, can I hold her?" Sasha asked, sitting on Xavier's parents' couch.

"Sure." Xavier said, handing Valentine to her.

"Hey! Hey!" Sasha said, excitedly, close to Valentine's face.

"Mommy."

Sasha's smile immediately disappeared as Xavier looked a bit worried.

"Nooooo, no, no, no. Sasha." Sasha laughed.

"Mommy."

"Sasha."

"Mommy."

"Sasha."

"Mommy."

"You know what, let's give you back to daddy." Sasha said, handing her back to Xavier.

"Daddy." Xavier repeated with a chuckle.

"You didn't laugh when I called you that in the bathroom at the club."

"You called me that?"

"Yeah."

"How do you remember that? I don't remember anything."

"Because you were blackout drunk, I was just regular drunk." Sasha shrugged.

"We'll finish this conversation, you know, when children aren't present."

Sasha simply nodded.


Xavier was in the driver's seat, with Kofi in the passenger seat. Sasha was in the back, holding Valentine, and sitting next to Big E and Bayley.

"Say Uncle Kofi again." Kofi laughed.

"Uncle Kofi." Valentine smiled.

"Now say Sasha."

"Mommy."

Everyone in the car laughed.

"Bruh Naomi gone kill you, X." Kofi said.

"Her name's Naomi?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah... do you know her?" Xavier asked, nervously.

"No."

"Good."

"Huh?"

"I said, Kofi, did the song turn out good?" Xavier lied, as Kofi laughed.

"Bruh, past 2 days we knocked out 6 songs. We got Flex-Y-Z, Flex 16, Queen B, Scarf, Breadwinners, and Kevin Garnett."

"Haven't heard 5 of those."

"I heard them all. My favorite is Queen B, it's FIRE!" Bayley said.

"Play them."

"Tyler got all the files, he's making sure everything is leveled and shit." Kofi said.

Xavier nodded.

They pulled up to Sasha's house, letting Bayley and Sasha out, before driving to and arriving at Naomi's house.

Xavier walked to the door, carrying Valentine, and rung the doorbell.

Naomi opened the door and Xavier walked in.

"She's knocked out." Xavier laughed.

"Wait here one second." Naomi said, grabbing Valentine and taking her to her room.

She returned to the living room.

"Do you wanna fuck?"

"Uh..." Xavier began.

Naomi immediately grabbed Xavier's head and kissed him.

Xavier broke free.

"Wait!"

Xavier ran out of the house, and back to the car, handing Kofi the keys.

"Hey, I'm staying here tonight, y'all can go home." Xavier said, running back into the house.

"Wait, what!? Why!?" Kofi shouted from his car window, as Xavier closed the door behind him.

"I guess we ain't gone be seeing Sasha for a little while." Big E shrugged, getting in the front seat.

"I don't know what X is thinking. Yeah, Naomi is bad, but Sasha is BAD bro."

"Nah, it's the other way around, Sasha looks good, but Naomi? DAMN."

"Okay look, first off, she lightskinned. Point Sasha. She fucked on the first night, she's clearly a freak. Point Sasha. And she found out the nigga got a kid, and she didn't leave. That's loyalty. Once again, point Sasha."

"Okay, but Naomi's ass is like 4 points, so she still up 4-3."

"We gotta come up with a point system." Kofi said, as Big E began to drive away from the house.