' 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗠𝗘 𝗦𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗜𝗡 ' › D. SWING

32.

DeVante.

I had finished the lil' soundtrack for Suge so now, I can focus on Sista and get their project completed so we can release the album. For the past week, I had been only able to work with them once so I insisted that Missy keep writing and Tim practices his production skills when he wasn't around me. Little did I know, they were all disliking the way I was handling business.

Walking into the studio, I could hear Tim say something about 'Don't tell him. He ain't gon' be too happy about that.' Suddenly, eyes were on me and the room fell silent. It made me uneasy. "Don't tell me what?", I inquired as I shut the door behind me, walking further into the room past Static who was eating a Hershey's bar and looking around at everyone else with wide eyes.

'Ooooh' was all that Chonita and Rolita said, instigating as usual. I shook my head, waiting for an answer while I casually walked over to my seat, sitting down and leaning back to look at Tim who currently pretended as if I couldn't see him, turning away and ducking in his seat beside me. This mothafucka'.

"Oh. So, now nobody knows how to talk?", I inquired, annoyed with my eyebrows tightly knitted together and lips pursed as my eyes scanned the room. They all looked nervous, except for Static. "Speak up. Say what you gotta' say. Fuck y'all so scared for?"

Tweet stood against the wall with her arms folded over her chest as she looked at Missy as if she knew something which caused me to squint my eyes a bit. What the hell? Tweet, too? These niggas is buggin', for real. When she caught me staring, she sighed and stepped forward, dropped her arms to her side, "Look. You clearly ain't got enough time for all of us. Why don't you allow other producers to work with us? I mean, we've learned a lot from you and all but damn. We ain't gonna' get nowhere waiting around for you. You're a highly-requested producer. I think it's fair to say we've been working our asses off and deserve better than what we're getting."

"So what you sayin', T?", I responded dryly, already knowing that this was only going to get worse once all of them got riled from what she was saying. Shit, they probably already are since they were talking about me as a group. They just didn't understand where I was coming from and what I had planned.

Missy chimed in, walking over toward me, "What she's saying is we're tired of gettin' the short end of the stick. We are your artists. Them other folks are just side-jobs. We should be your main priority, not them." She paused, glancing over at Tweet, "And no offense, but we've been here way before y'all and yet we still haven't gotta' damn album out." I kissed my teeth but allowed her to continue, deciding that letting her finish what she had to say would make this easier for everyone. She glared at me, "I'm happy you buildin' a name for yourself and an empire and shit but let's lay out the facts here. Some of us ain't got no money to our name for the work we did on your album. On top of that, you had us starvin' for a whole two days and almost got us evicted. You forgot about us! Now you out here teamin' up with a nigga that's built like a Motorola car phone for what? Because the last time I checked, his artists and producers are broke and get no royalties. And guess what? It won't be long until he does that shit to you! But what you not gon' do is pull a Suge on me or I'ma give you a real reason to call me misdemeanor. I love you, D. You like a dad to me and all but you gotta' do better or..." She trailed off, leaving me curious as to what she had to say.

"Or what?", I inquired, my hands clasped together as I stared at her. It had become a mannerism I had picked up from Suge. I must say, it could come off pretty intimidating.