Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 173 Eight Gold Medals

On the fourth week since the release of "I\'mtheOne", T.I. released the single "Dead and Gone", which was jointly recommended by rappers such as Kanye, Jay-z, and Lil Wayne.

It was downloaded 168,000 times in the first week, ranking third on the Billboard rap chart. Link's "I\'m the One" was squeezed out of the top three, falling to eighth place, followed by 50 Cent, Drake and others. The single returned to the top five.

Just when the East Coast rap gang was popping champagne in the recording studio, the Associated Press came out with a news from Serbia in Eastern Europe.

  The 25th Summer University Games will be held in Serbia in mid-May.

NYU student Link Baker represented the school in eight swimming events at this Games, including men's 100/200m freestyle, 100m/200m breaststroke, 200m/400m individual medley, 4x200m freestyle relay, and 4x100m mixed. swimming relay race.

 After seven days of competition, Link won eight championships, personally won eight Olympic gold medals, and broke three world records, two of which were set by the famous swimmer Phelps during the 2008 Olympic Games.

 After the news reached the United States, it caused quite a stir.

  Major newspapers such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post have forwarded the news from the Associated Press, and television news networks such as CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX have followed up on the news.

Due to the small scale of the Universiade, the quality of the contestants is low, and the viewing experience is not enough, and the public does not pay much attention to the news in this area.

 During the game, almost no reporters from mainstream American media were sent to the scene for coverage.

 Until the Associated Press released news that New York University student Link Baker won 8 gold medals at the games and broke three world records.

Mainstream media have really taken it seriously.

 First of all, Link Baker is a big celebrity, a world boxing champion, an Olympic boxing champion, a popular singer, and a controversial figure.

Secondly, at the sports meeting, Link won six individual gold medals and two team gold medals, broke three world records, and was faster than the flying fish Phelps.

This achievement is too dazzling and very newsworthy.

 Celebrities + strange things equal big news.

 American media rushed to report and hyped the news that Link won 8 gold medals at the games.

HBO TV station also spent US$2.3 million to purchase the exclusive broadcast rights of the Games from the Serbian organizers, mainly for the eight events that Link participated in, and it will be officially broadcast at 6 pm on May 20.

According to statistics from Nielsen Data Company, this broadcast attracted a total of 18 million to 25 million users to watch, which is no worse than last year's Olympic Games.

Through TV, the American people saw Link wearing the same sharkskin swimsuit as Phelps, swimming quickly on various tracks, leaving the college athletes behind him far away.

In the two team events, Link continued to create miracles, leading three lame teammates to the finals and helping them win a gold medal.

 “Oh! It’s amazing. Link looks like a male mermaid in the water.”

In the Los Angeles villa, Katy Perry stared at Link on the TV and shouted.

 “Get out of the way Katie, can you stop standing in front of the screen.”

 Blake Lively shouted.

Katy Perry shrugged her shoulders, turned around and asked with a smile: "What do you think it feels like to sleep with a male mermaid?"

Lively covered his face, not wanting to answer her question, "Katie, Link is Taylor's boyfriend, and Taylor is our friend."

“You mean you want me to call Tyler and ask him how he feels? That seems like a good idea.”

 Katy Perry thought for a while and said.

Lively was stunned for a moment, and quickly explained: "I'm talking about my friend's boyfriend, and I can't seduce him. I'm not asking you to ask Taylor that question."

 “Okay, I’m just kidding.”

Katy Perry laughed and continued to stare at Link on the TV.

Lively shook his head and was about to ask everyone to continue playing tarot cards when he realized that Kristen and Emma were also staring at the TV, obviously attracted by Link's figure.

  —

 “Damn, he’s faster than last time.”

In a swimming club in Baltimore, Phelps said while watching the swimming competition on TV.

“How can Link, a boxer, swim so fast?”

Coach Bob Bowman exclaimed.

 “His ancestors were fishermen and he was born to be able to swim.”

Phelps said jealously.

“That’s impossible. No matter how skilled you are, you still need long-term training to break through the limits of your body and achieve faster speeds.”

 Bob Bowman stared at the TV for a while, "His swimming skills are average, but what's strong is his physique. His strength, speed, and body coordination must be extremely strong."

Phelps looked at the coach, "You mean, if he receives professional training, he can be faster?"

 Bob Bowman pondered for a moment and nodded heavily.

 “Damn it! How can this **** be faster than me? No, I absolutely can’t lose to him.”

Phelps cursed, put on his goggles, and jumped into the swimming pool.

Coach Bob nodded. In the 2008 Olympics, Phelps won eight gold medals and became a sports star. He also relaxed a lot in training. In February this year, he openly smoked marijuana, which caused a lot of controversy in the media.

 With a powerful opponent like Link, Phelps will be more serious about training.

  —

 After the games were broadcast, Link became popular in the United States and became even more popular than when he became the world boxing champion. The media were all discussing his swimming skills.

 In the past, I only heard that he swam faster than Phelps and even exchanged gold medals with Phelps, but there was no accurate data and many people did not believe it.

 Now he has broken three world records at the University Games, proving that he is indeed a strong swimmer.

 Everyone is looking forward to his performance at the 2012 London Olympics to see who is better between him and Phelps.

 After the game, many media wanted to interview Link and ask him about the sports meeting.

But his agent, Ms. Mandy, held a press conference and said that Link was training in seclusion to prepare for the upcoming boxing championship challenge and did not have time to be interviewed for the time being.

The media just remembered that on May 25, there was a boxing match at Madison Square Garden Arena in New York, where WBA North American boxing champion Andre Rey challenged WBA world boxing champion Link Baker.

Although Link was busy training and had no time to deal with the media, on the day after the sports meeting ended, he sent a tweet through Twitter, "I\'mtheOne, NumberOne". Within 24 hours of being posted, the tweet received 1.218 million likes and 80,000 comments.

 The comments are all very positive, and most of them praise his swimming skills and that he is truly No.1.

The single "I\'mtheOne" also bucked the trend on that day, with downloads reaching 82,000.

Link Music released a MV on YouTube, which is a video of him participating in a swimming competition, using I\'mtheOne as the BGM.

 This video has been viewed more than 2 million times in three days.

In the fifth week after its release, "I\'mtheOne" had 314,000 user downloads, ranking fifth on the Billboard singles chart and first on the rap song chart, surpassing Kanye, T.I., 50 Cent, and Drake. Waiting for others to leave the song behind.

 "Billboard" released news, saying that "I\'mtheOne" won the first place on the rap chart and set multiple records.

Including Link, he is the first singer to reach number one on the rap chart after releasing his first rap single, and he is also the second African-American singer to reach number one on the rap chart with his own rap song. He is also the first Florida rapper to achieve this feat.

Billboard magazine praised Link's musical talent, saying that he is a talented person who dares to challenge the unknown. The music industry needs singers like him.

Other media also praised Link, calling him a double star with both talent and talent.

"how so?"

Lil Wayne and others were stunned when they saw the rankings on the bulletin board.

After Kanye and TI released new songs, Link’s new songs have been far away.

 According to the song sales trend, sales are the best in the first few weeks, and show a decreasing trend as time goes by.

Link’s new song was suppressed for four weeks, and as expected, it fell outside the top 20 of the rap chart.

 They thought they would win this battle.

But no one expected that this guy quietly went abroad to participate in a sports meeting, won eight gold medals, and became a swimming star.

Thanks to media reports, "I\'mtheOne" became a hit, and its popularity also increased. It rushed to No. 4 on the Billboard singles chart and No. 1 on the rap chart, firmly pushing their singles to the top. Under the body.

An outsider rapped across different genres and rushed to the first place. The song was also called "I\'mtheOne". This was undoubtedly a front-loading output for them.

“Haha, what are you going to do now?”

Eminem was lying on the sofa, looking at Kanye, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent and others who looked extremely depressed, and joked, "Why don't you also go to the sports meeting, if one of you can get the gold medal?" , there is a chance to turn defeat into victory.”

A few people stared at him with dark faces. If they had that ability, they would have gone to the Olympics long ago, and there was no need for him to say anything.

"Kanye, don't be ridiculous, don't forget that your song was also crushed by Link, you should work with us to find a solution." Lil Wayne said.

"No, there is no conflict between Link and I, and I don't care about the ranking of this song. Also, have you ever thought about the reconciliation between you and Link, which was made by MJ, and now you are taking advantage of Link's release of a single to join forces to suppress it?" How will he, MJ, feel about this? "

Eminem was smoking a cigarette and looking at a few people with a smirk on his face.

　　When Kanye heard his words, his face turned dark and his expression became even more depressed.

Lil Wayne and others also changed their expressions. Michael is not only a superstar, but also an idol and spiritual symbol for their black singers, just like Ali.

In March, after the conflict between them and Link broke out at the Grammys, Michael asked about the matter through his manager, hoping that they would stop making trouble and not cause trouble for Washington.

When they heard Michael speak, they naturally wanted to save face and stopped letting fans cause trouble. They even took the initiative to apologize in the media.

Last time when Michael came to New York, he invited them there and met with Link. He also wanted to persuade them to reconcile. Kanye also expressed his willingness to reconcile at the time.

That incident seems to have passed.

 But after Link released a rap single and saw that the single performed well, they teamed up to release a single to suppress Link's new song, and their fans even went to scold Link.

Would Michael know about this?

 Michael has been in the music industry for decades and must be aware of their moves. He also knows that they have not truly reconciled with Link and that they are dealing with him and their spiritual idol.

What’s even more embarrassing is that dozens of them joined forces, but they couldn’t fight a layman like Link.

 “Ahhh!”

Thinking of this, Kanye suddenly yelled, kicked over the table, picked up a folding chair, and smashed it on the table, sofa, and wine cabinet.

Eminem and others quickly stood up and stayed away.

Kanye has bipolar disorder. When he is depressed, his face looks dark every day, as if everyone owes him a million.

 When he is angry, he will get angry and smash things, and even hit people accidentally.

"Kanye, don't get angry. This is not our fault. It's Link's fault. He is a pop music singer and releases rap songs on our territory. This is provoking us and stealing our jobs. We are suppressing him. He's not wrong either."

Lil Wayne shouted.

“Yes, it’s Link’s fault. We’re not at fault. We’re just competing normally.”

　　50 cents, Drake and others also followed suit.

Eminem crossed his arms and touched his chin and said: "How do I remember that Link notified you before releasing the rap single, and you said you didn't mind."

Everyone was stunned for a moment. Link did say this in the Lincoln Center parking lot that day.

 He said he wanted to work with Eminem. Is that offensive?

At that time, Kanye said, "Whatever you want," and everyone was still laughing when they left. Even the depressed Kanye was laughing.

 But in the end they broke their promise.

 No matter from which aspect, Link is right, they are all wrong.

What would Michael think of them if he knew that Link was still suppressed after he said hello?

Thinking of this, even Lil Wayne and 50 Cents had a very dark and thick skin, and at this moment, they were blushing with embarrassment.

"ah!"

Kanye heard Eminem's words and became even more violent. He swung an alloy baseball bat and smashed things in the house to pieces.

Eminem shook his head and was about to persuade him when he suddenly saw Kanye picking up a dark object from the overturned cabinet and yelled "Fake!"

 “Who the **** brought a gun in! Run!”

Eminem yelled as he ran outside.

 When other people saw Kanye had a gun in his hand, they also held their heads and ran outside quickly.

boom! boom! boom!

 (End of this chapter)