Xavier yawned in the backseat of the car, while Big E drove and Kofi sat in the passenger seat.
"We made a Venn Diagram comparing Sasha and Naomi for you." Big E said.
Xavier looked confused.
"Wait, what? Why?"
"You fucked Naomi last night, right?"
"You don't know that."
"Alright, you fucked Naomi, well we made a Venn Diagram-"
"That's that little joint with the two interlocking circles by the way." Kofi added.
"Yeah, it's two interlocking circles, in each circle it has a list of unique characteristi-"
"I know what a Venn Diagram is." Xavier said, as Big E parked in the parking lot of the studio.
"We left it at the house, but we'll show it to you later."
They all got out of the car.
"Okay, why did you two make a Venn Diagram comparing two human beings as if they were objects, and why do you want me to see it?"
"Just to help guide you through your decision making process."
Xavier rolled his eyes, as they entered the studio, Becky and Tyler were already there, as usual. Tyler had headphones on, listening back to the final mixes.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" Xavier asked.
"Making the tracklist and developing a tentative release schedule. I gathered a list of local events and other local rappers release dates for us to plan around and find the smartest times to drop stuff." Becky said, pulling out her notebook.
"Wow... that's... that's really impressive. I mean... as his manager, it's kinda my job to consider his scheduling and all that."
"Yeah I know, you're welcome." She said, with a smile.
"I can't tell if you're being nice or you're doing this because you think I don't know what I'm doing."
"I'm being nice and doing this BECAUSE you don't know what you're doing."
Big E chuckled, as he sat down. Kofi sat down as well, as Xavier remained standing.
"Why do you think I don't know what I'm doing?"
"Have you signed Kofi up for ASCAP or BMI yet? Does he have a TuneCore membership? LiveMixtapesDotCom account?"
"If I knew what those things were I probably would have." Xavier shrugged.
"Well let's do that today too. ASCAP is the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, BMI is Broadcast Music, Inc. They're two different performing rights organizations. Basically whichever one we chose would protect Kofi's copyrights, and if his music is used in a live or recorded broadcast, they'd make sure he gets paid accordingly."
"I like that getting paid part." Kofi said, nodding.
"That's more so for television and radio, stuff like that. Tunecore is a music distribution service, it allows you to get your music on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon, TIDAL, and Google Play."
"Woah, what's wrong with Datpiff and SoundCloud? They're free. And I thought record labels handled that type of stuff with a big streaming services." Big E said, a bit confused.
"You can still post there. The more places you post, the better. And that's how you get signed to a label. When they see how much you can do without them, and how valuable you are or how much money you're worth, they just hop on the wave and see what they can get out of it. When you sign to a label, you're basically an investment. They put money into you and your music and as long as they keep getting more money out then they put in, they'll keep the money flowing, that's why they handle that for you. When they stop getting that money, you're dropped from the label."
"I like her. Keep her around." Xavier said, sitting down next to Becky.
"I like you too, you have a good head on your shoulders, and you understand the genre well, just not the business side of the music industry so much. But you seem like a quick learner. I'll teach you."
"What's your number?"
"You're gonna fuck her too, bruh!?" Big E exclaimed, impulsively.
Xavier rolled his eyes, and Kofi laughed, as Becky looked confused.
"No dickhead, I need her number because we're co-managing Kofi."
"'Her too?'" Becky asked.
"He's retarded. Ignore him."
They heard a knock at the door.
"Oh, that's probably Charlotte." Becky said, standing up to open the door.
"Charlotte?"
"Yeah, your public relations manager."
Becky opened the door, and Xavier raised his eyebrows.
"She got you a PR manager?" Xavier asked, looking at Kofi.
Kofi shrugged.
Charlotte entered the room.
"Charlotte Flair, I'm your new PR manager." Charlotte smiled, extending her hand to Big E.
"Actually, that's-"
"Big E. You're not my PR manager, but it's nice to meet you." Big E said, with a smile, shaking her hand.
Charlotte turned to Kofi, extending her hand to him.
"Kofi K."
Charlotte looked confused at the handshake Kofi gave her, as Xavier and Becky began to laugh a bit.
"What does a PR manager do again?" Kofi asked.
"Basically I'm here to help create and maintain a positive public image for you, find out your target demographics, and figure out the most effective ways to market you to them."
"I don't know what that means, but it sounds good and shit, so I'm gonna nod my head."
"She's here to make you look good, and get you more fans." Becky said.
"Aye, we got a pretty solid team going. X makes sure you get your money, Charlotte makes sure you get your fame, and Becky and Tyler make sure your music sounds good." Big E smiled.
"What do you do?" Charlotte asked.
"Oh, I... uh... I um... I just realized that I don't contribute to Kofi's career in a tangible way holy shit, yo Kofi what should I do?"
Kofi thought for a bit.
"Um... you big as hell, bodyguard."
"Nah, nah, I wanna do something involving the music."
"Yeah, I'm a musician, you the bodyguard so crazy fans don't run up and kill me before I can make my music."
"Nigga, get Titus big ass to be your bodyguard, I wanna do something cool."
"You're a really energetic person. You could be his hype man on stage." Becky shrugged.
"I like her! Keep her around!" Big E exclaimed.
Becky and Xavier laughed a bit.
"I'll just chill back here and take notes on your music, your personality, get to know exactly who 'Kofi K' is, and what he represents, ya know?" Charlotte asked, sitting down at the back of the studio.
"Alright, what do I gotta do?"
"Just act like I'm not even here."
Kofi nodded, as Tyler handed him the headphones.
Sasha sat in the mirror, looking at her freshly dyed hair. It was no longer pink, and now more of a purple color. Bayley excitedly stood behind her.
"So... how did I do!?"
"Uh... I like it, I think..."
"You're just getting used to it, once you get used to it you'll love it."
"I guess... I hope Xavier likes it." Sasha said, taking a picture with her phone to send to him.
"You know, you seem to care a lot about what some guy you met 3 days ago thinks."
"Because we're kinda a thing." Sasha said, taking a different picture.
"I mean, you went on one date with him, and you had sex with him one time."
"It would've been two if wasn't for you!"
Bayley sighed.
"Look, every guy that I've ever hooked up with before Xavier was stupid, ambitionless, or misogynistic. I don't have the best luck with guys. Then all of a sudden, I hit the jackpot! He went to Princeton, he's funny, he might become the manager of a famous rapper."
"Your boyfriend Darren was cool." Bayley shrugged.
"Yeah he was awesome, the relationship was going great for like 5 months, and then I found out he was gay and was using me as a cover up!" Sasha said, sarcastically, still trying to take the perfect picture of herself.
"Oh! Right, that's what happened. Sorry, I forgot... yeah you have terrible luck with guys... wait, what about Dean? He was cool, he had money, wait... was he the one that went to jail for selling heroin?"
Sasha nodded.
Bayley awkwardly clenched her lips and nodded back.
"The only problem with Xavier is that he has a kid... well not that he has a kid, I don't mind him having a kid, it just... he broke up with his baby momma like a week ago."
"A week ago!?"
"Yeah."
"So what if they get back together?"
"That's why I'm so pressed over impressing him. I don't wanna be a girl on the side waiting months for him to break up with her for good. I did that with Rich... perfect!" Sasha smiled, sending the picture.
"Which one was that again?"
"Rich was the one that got me an engraved bracelet for $500 that said 'Sahsa instead of Sasha'."
Bayley burst into laughter, as Sasha sighed.
"Okay, okay! One at a time!" Becky exclaimed, over Xavier, E, Kofi, and Tyler arguing.
Everyone stopped.
"Flex-Y-Z HAS to be the intro. It's the best song on the tape." Big E said.
Xavier rolled his eyes.
"Why would the best song be first? The rest of the project would sound underwhelming, you have to peak early but not immediately."
"Nigga if the first song isn't fire, no one's gonna listen to the rest."
"All the songs are fire." Kofi said.
"Yeah but they not Flex-Y-Z fire."
"What's your tracklist, E?" Becky asked.
"Flex-Y-Z, Kevin Garnett, Queen B, Flex 16, Scarf, Breadwinners."
"Okay, Xavier, yours?"
"Flex 16, Kevin Garnett, Flex-Y-Z, Queen B, Scarf, Breadwinners. And we just make Flex-Y-Z the lead single."
"Yo, I completely forgot about singles." Big E said.
"Okay, Tyler, what do you think of the tracklist?"
"I like Xavier's." Tyler shrugged.
"Kofi?"
"That's up to y'all. I don't worry about tracklists and shit, I just make the music."
"Alright great, once we find a graphic designer to start working on some cover art, Charlotte and Xavier can look over the release schedule I put together, and we can get this thing going. What's today's full date?"
"April 19th, 2017." Xavier said.
"We should set a tangible goal for April 19th, 2018. What can we shoot for this time next year?"
"Consideration for the XXL Freshman List? It's in June every year, so I'm sure they've already talked to the rappers that'll be on it." Tyler shrugged.
"Year-long goal. Kofi K, XXL Freshman List Finalist." Becky said aloud, as she wrote it.
Later that night, Xavier was sitting on the couch of his parents' house, holding a notebook. He opened it, sighed and began to read the Venn Diagram. He noticed that the "Sasha" circle had different handwriting than the "Naomi" and "Both" circles, so he assumed Kofi wrote that one, and Big E wrote the other two.
"'Sasha. Fucked on the first night. Is willing to be a step mom. Always smells like strawberry?' Why the fuck is he smelling Sa... whatever. 'Always smells like strawberry. Y'all both nerdy so y'all probably into some weird kinky shit, also y'all could play video games and read comic books together. She's lightskinned so it's basically like having sex with a white girl and a black girl at the same time?' What does that even mean?" Xavier asked aloud, to no one, before continuing to read.
"'Naomi. The mother of your child. The love of your life. Knows everything about you. Thicker than a chemistry textbook. Can probably cook better than Sasha. More mature/financially stable. Doesn't fuck random guys in nightclubs.'... this nigga really wrote 'She looks like she gives good head, if she doesn't then just cross this out.'" Xavier said, looking around the empty room in disbelief.
"'And if you don't choose her, child support will be on your ass until 2033... Both. Fine as hell. Will gladly be accepted by me or Kofi if you don't want em." Xavier closed the book and threw it across the room. Sighing, before going to sleep.