Million Dollaz Worth Of Game - MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME EPISODE 131: "FEATURING CARMELO ANTHONY"

Episode Date: September 19, 2021

FEAT CARMELO ANTHONYYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mworthofgame

Hey, million dollars worth of game listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Right. Enough portion. Come on enough. I'm on that check and I look what they did to me. I let it sing.

I let it ring. I let it ring on the enemy. Sallantee, grip on my jeans I'm not just on infinity I don't rent a chug up in the Zana Put my bitch in Frily Larian Nah Zana Come on NF

And I'm laughing out I don't know comments I'm not fishing just keeping and honest And I'm not being in the all I don't shop at this store anymore I can't fuck with that hoe anymore Either right for that new vendor door

And I bought a side since in the y'all And I link with a big being on what's got a bitch in a leg and she can wave oh boy shit I just want to flex wait wave wave

wait wait come out of that check and I look what they did to me wait wait wait wait wait on the energy wait for my genes

I said my drip on infinity come on enough I spend 42 of my married dreams keep that same energy keep that same energy Talk it, youngie. Talk it, talking, talk it, talk it, talk it. Right now that check and I look what they did in me.

Wait! I let it sing, I let it rain. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let it play some more. I like that. Let it go some more. He right, put me on the song. I'm ready to spit on his joint.

Let me go. I'm going to spit. I'm going to know. I was right. No, you mess with. Hold on a minute and FNMO. You'd rather have me, and that everybody had me on this song to you.

Any day he'd rather have me on your song to you. Listen, man, that was in that fortions, man. Wave. Listen, man. It's going down, man. What's y'all wait for? You ready? Let's get it.

Let's go. You now tuned into me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. million dollars worth a game. Yes, sir. It's going down. God my nigga. Little Curly is in the building, baby. A little Curly in the building, baby.

Rest the piece of a big Curly, man. Little Curly is in the building right now. It's going down. Listen, Baltimore City is going down right now. We're in here. Absolutely. And what's important, though, listen, not just Little Curly here, he brought us up, man. Listen, when tomorrow ain't promised, listen, it's going down him, D. Watkins.

They got together, man. They put some good stuff. This is a good book. Listen, it's coming. But we got ours before you got yours. Don't hate on me. Don't hate on me because I know people. This is about to be a best seller.

This is going down right here. This is going down right here. Because let me explain something to you. One thing is important about this book. And you see the background in there. You see them streets of Baltimore is serious. One thing about the ghettos of America, tomorrow ain't promised none of our ghettos.

That's why I just connect. And it represents a struggle, the extraordinary struggle that we go through in the inner cities of America because we don't know what's going to happen. When your mom's on drugs, your dad dead, your dad in the penitentiary, you know, you don't know what's going to happen. You're living with your grandmom.

So tomorrow's not always promised where we come from. That's why this book right here is important, man. This episode of million dollars worth a game is brought to you by New Amsterdam Vaca. New Amsterdam. Let me tell you something about New Amsterdam Vaca. It's a great vodka with a reasonable price. Extremely reasonable. That could get the job done.

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Listen, listen, hey, listen. Yo, Nick, don't know why call me a little kid. Hey, that's a fact. Yo, you know, the only people that call me Little Curley is people from Red Hook. Okay. That's it. From my building, that's it.

Yeah. That's the only people that call me. You ain't know I grew up in their projects I moved out before. Big Curley was that name. Little Curly, like, that name meant something in Brooklyn. You know, when you say Curly is like, oh, shit, you're talking about. Big Curly. You know what I'm saying?

So, like, I never knew that. I never understood what Little Curly meant. I just knew that was my pops. I never knew what it meant until I started getting older, started discovering myself, talking to my brothers and family and people, talking to people in the ejection. It was just like, yo, Curly was... Your dad was fighting for a cause.

He was fighting for a cause. I never knew that, though. I never knew that until probably 10 years ago to 15 years ago. So it was... I love it now. You call me a little Curley all you want. I know what I know what to stand on with that. Absolutely.

I'm going to get straight to it because you went to my time. team in Lakers. That's my squad, man. We're ready to win the Chiff and they think is going down. That's my squad, man. He got to whatever team he think will win when he gets a team. No, oh, oh, oh, the Bucks was my team last year. Because they won the Super Bowl. No, no, no, the Bucks won the chip. Tampa Bay was my team because they won. Lakers is my team because I know they're going going to win. Like I want some real stuff. Would I pose to just be

riding with losers? My team, I'm playing with the winner. I want to deal with winners. Lakers going to win. That's my team this year. You know what? You're like a, you're like, you're like, you're like, you're like, like a groupie woman who mess with 11 basketball players before in a life. She just bounced around to all the winners. You're a winner today. You're a winner today. I always got to do this.

You're a basketball groupie. I'm going to say this, though. I always got to ask people this, man. Carmilla, I always got to ask people this because this is important because my rep is on the line here. Now, I'm pretty sure on social media you probably ran into my game a couple times. How do you rate my game from a one to a 10? I honestly, champ, I can't really speak on that. I ain't really

I ain't I didn't ever see his game I saw him play I ain't never see you play You know what I'm saying I ain't never I ain't never see you play I'm just saying

To all my All the people that support my ball game Somebody's going to vouch for me one day It's hard I just I see him I see him boxing You know what I'm saying

I see him I see that Billow Two boys I'm just saying I'm trying to get an NBA CO sign Nobody's going to vouch for you

That shit is trash My unit All right Well that's another story Now let me get to some shit. Coy, go to it, man. Damn. Bella.

Talk to me. You go to the Lakers. Now, the day you went to the Lakers, I get a call. Everybody in L.A. that I know called me. Talking spicy. Talking crazy to you. I'm talking crazy to me.

It was that nigger is over. We got Mello. We got less broke knicker. You might as they might just give us the ring now. Like Big You. talking spicy they were talking crazy I didn't like this shit

I went on the grab and I'll exaggerating a little bit I said I had them niggas up they 811 years old and then like 40 minutes left 40 minutes went by

Brian post or something I'm like wait I hope Brian know I was playing right like I wasn't for real like you like like I'm 45 I still got wheels maybe like cook the

I wasn't, like, I don't want to make you niggas mad or nothing. I just, I'm going to let you finish it quite. I'm going to let you finish what you're going to ask first. Like, when you get back, can you tell O'Brien in Westbrook? Because I was playing. I'm going to tell you what, though. Niggas is locked in, though. I know.

You know what I'm saying? That's Raleen, you ain't, like, that's the running joke. You know what I'm saying? But I look at it like, you don't see no team who won a championship over the past 20, 30, 40. in the history of the game that won with a young team. You're right. It's always, now you got young players.

Absolutely. You got to have a young player sprinkled it. You got to have that, I ain't going to say, older, you got to have that wisdom out there to know what to do in those trenches. When you're younger, you ain't really got that experience like that. When you get older, you got to know how to move. You got to know who's doing what. You got to know shit that need to stop, shit that need to keep going,

who we can plug and play into this situation. Now, we could throw the young boys, you know, in there, but you've got to have that foundation. Without that foundation, you don't, we ain't doing shit. Now, we already know you're a Hall of Fame. That's, that's what I was saying. 2003, draft class. Yep.

You, Brian, Wade, Chris Bosch, Hall of Famer. Dark old milititch. I mean, he's a bum. He was a bummed, didn't without a doubt. But all them got rings. now is your turn. It's his turn. Indeed.

No doubt. How important right here is this season, this one right here? This is probably the most important season ever. I don't have important seasons, but this one right here because I know what's at stake. It ain't no pressure, but I know what's that stake. And we don't take advantage of this. You don't get moments like this in life often. You don't.

You know what I'm especially in sports. Right. You know what I'm saying? It's like even last year, like I'm hitting CP like on my mom. I know you're going through it because we know we're competitors we don't get these moments often and CP probably

finally got his shot like he got his shot so it was like damn bro like you know what fuck that CP you can get there you know what I'm saying I got to support you absolutely so now the shoe is on my side right it's on the other foot we got to do it there's no if as a bus

about it right if we don't if y'all don't you know what I'm gonna be talking a lot absolutely you and you You and the rest of the world. You know what I'm saying? It's going to be like when Team USA lost in 2004.

It's going to be that feeling. Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? So we don't have to get away for a little bit. Absolutely. And we don't make this happen. So I know what's at stake, but that's what makes it fun, though. Yep.

You know what I'm saying? That's what make it fun. We back in it. Fans is back. Hopefully fans be back in the arena. 82 games. It's the ups and downs of a season. We ready.

We locked in. Brian, did he call you? for the Lakers? Yeah, did he put that call on? He did. Let's do it. He did. Let's go.

Let's get it. You know, it was a real call, though. It wasn't like no bullshit. It was a real call. I wasn't expecting it from him. I mean, we talked about it years before, about getting with each other, but I heard it. And that's my brother. I know him since we was 15, 16 years.

I heard it. Yo, I need you. Say less. You ain't got to say nothing. I already know what time. it is when you you hit me direct you ain't the GM ain't the GM

he hit me like he hit me he was like yo champ like the time is now and you felt that I felt it I felt like the time is now right now you it's just a different vibes a different aura different energy around time is now

okay Brian know that you still one of them niggas without a doubt Without a doubt. Do you think him putting a call in was like, we're doing something great over here. I need my brother over.

He got to get one. It was, yeah, it was like, yo, we're going to, I need you. And then my rebutter was like, you need me or you want me? Like, it's a difference. Because if you want me, I, you know, I haven't been through that situation before. If you're telling me you need me, your brother going to be there. Right, you know what I'm saying? So he put that calling, you, I need you.

Let's make it happen. But it was like, damn, okay, let's work. Let's, let's, let's, he called me direct. Let's make it work. You know what I'm saying? So that gives you, that gives you a different, that gives you that motivation. It was like, you know, it was, you know, Russ was hitting me. Right.

And nigga, what we're doing? Come on, what we're doing. I'm like, damn, my son might go to school in high school in New York. I told him I'll be there. Right. I don't really know. You got to go ahead of this conversation. I got to have a conversation, champ.

So they was like, yo, hurry up, nigga, we need an answer. Damn, they rush in them. I said, look, I said, you know, free agency don't even start to next week. You want me to commit now. So I'm like, nah, I don't really jump in this shit like that too easy, too quick. I got to think about it. I got to observe it. It came and my son was like, yo, go.

Like, go ahead. I'm going to be all right. I'm going to be all right but go ahead That was some big boy shit No it was big boy shit But I've been I've been in Portland

I've been in Houston I've been okay C So I've been during the season I've been going away from For the past couple years So he understands But I always said Yo when I

When you go to high school I'm gonna be there for you And through high school So I was kind of little That was the only skepticism I had when Brian hit me I was like I gotta talk to I gotta talk to the fan

Brown and Westbrook Viscis vicious They call nigga at 5 o'clock We need you Come on Let's put this play together They called a nigga back at 730. Did you tell you done yet?

Come on. I'm trying to figure out. Tell a nigga we. Yeah, let's get it. Let's get it done. Now, you all Mike is cool. Mike Ho. MJ.

Oh, indeed. Indeed. What's the conversation? Like, have you ever went to him, went to Mike Jordan and said, man, what type of advice did you went to him for? And what did he provide for you? So I went to Mike.

I went to Mike early in my career. And I was just, You know, I was a nigger for B-more man who just knew how to go get it. Like, I ain't really had, I was just green, but I knew how to go get it. And for him to sign me at 19 years old to represent his brother, I was the first signature athlete under the Jordan brand. But you was that nigger coming out of Syracuse? So when I, so when I signed with him, I knew he had my back.

For him to take that chance with me, I knew he had my back. I was having a hard time with, like, certain, certain players in the game, certain situations in the game knowing how to figure out how to how to beat certain defenses and i went to mj for that i wanted to speak i wanted to spend two weeks a week and a half in j in chicago we trained every morning six in the morning six during the morning but it was more the conversations that we that we had he the way he broke film down to me i ain't know how to watch film he broke it down to me watch it like this do this do that why would you do it question to me then he was like taught me really how to break down the art of scoring the basketball

And I'm like, man, I already know how to put the ball in all. That's what I do. But he was like, nah, it's a, I'm going to give you the mental part of it. Listen, he said, how much you want to average? He said, you average about 28 right now. I said, yeah, he said, here's an easy way to go get it. Seven points a quarter. Right?

He said, break down seven points in a quarter. That's two layups, maybe a three. A layup, two freethos, a three. You might get hot one quarter. You might have 11, 12, 13, one quarter. now in the second quarter you can pace as long as you get your 14 in two quarters

So I'm like Damn it gets broke That's crazy Right Yeah And I'm thinking about that In the games That next season I averaged almost 30

Right But I'm thinking about Like what he's telling me Like I ain't got to go get it As much as I really want to go get it As fast as I want to go Right You just slow the game down

Right And that was probably the best advice That he's ever gave me You ever had any Uh Competition talk where Mike was like You can't have

You know how to barbecue chicken You can't You can't You can't You can't It's impossible Did you ever see it like Mike If you was

But he know He didn't He know it's certain of us You know That we go back at him Like we'd talk out shit to him Right But then he gets to start talking about

Winning and no You know what I'm saying Rings and shit That's like That's his defense mechanism Right Just throw your ring Come on Mike

Right But what's the example Of something You didn't say To say it to Mike Like yeah I'd have cooked your ass You was too small

like you told me we all we talk shit he told me i was he'd made me run around the game i was out of shape shit like that you're out of shape man you don't get tired chasing me he's and say shit like that he was just i i tell him man you too small you was you know you was light right you like the ass man you you you like the ass bro hey look at this shit when you're like mike like but you can't win the argument with him again i don't get fuck who you is you can't like start holding up yeah like start holding up championships and shit no losses yeah you can't never been to games and you can't argue with somebody who knows who's who's knowledgeable of everything like he know shit about you that you may

might not even yeah right and he's breaking that he's throwing that into the arguments you're like damn nigga how you knew that and that you did research so Mike is Mike is a is an ill nigga when it comes to being knowledgeable of of everything who you are who you are shit that you into you're not into when you want to go to sleep how much you want to party you know what I mean like he'd know all that shit is hard to argue right

right now you had to you had to pick your team oh shit I hate this question 12 players who are your team 12 players all time who your team that's a fucked up question

bro I got to know I hate that shit I don't care who it is we got who your team basketball who you team he like we need to see your team This is you going to be all sports. I mean, I know what time it is.

Who are your team? Let's start off. Who at the one? Who at the one? Who's at the one? Magic. Who's at the two? Cole.

Who's at the three? Me. Who's at the four? KG. Who's at the five? Lajewan. He's the second person. He said Lajon wild over Shaq.

Yeah. Meanest footwork in the game, ever. Football are crazy. Footwork impeccable. That's fine. Go ahead. Keep going. You're ex.

Who's the next point guard? I'm a CP fan. Who's the next shooting guard? Hmm. I mean, you got MJ. Is MJ exclusive? looted from this or no they might put MJ in their shit though

MJ is above the game all right you know what I say you got to the other two Dway you're over the ring Bron the other four KD

small ball now five Shack your last two let's make this good because I'm the last damn if you're going to lead KD he said KD

I said KD. You know, my last. I thought he said KG. I said KG first, yeah, yeah. First team. A.R. Thank you. Bubba.

Got to. What the fuck I'm doing? Yes. Come on, who's the last one? I got to put somebody in there that I'm a fan of. Like, yes. Because this is your team. Yeah, this is.

This isn't anybody else's team. This is Little Curly's team. I'm a Dr. J fan. All right, Doc. I love Doc. Got some sixers in here. I appreciate that. Like, you know, fucking show.

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You were using the projects, right? Who was the old heads that, man? Who was these old hairs that kept you on point? Made sure you ain't getting no trouble. Yeah, so I moved from Red Hook, Brooklyn, when I was nine. So some of, some of 92. So at that age, I'm thinking that everything is the hood. Everything is, projects is everything.

So I get to be more, and I moved to Myrtle Avenue and Murphy Holmes is like, nah, shit is different. You know what I'm so? So now I go from apartment 1C in the building to the row houses on Murdo Avenue. So that's, that was different. I didn't have, in Rehook,

my brothers was the old heads out there. So I could just watch them, look at them, admire them. They, you know, I'm eight, nine years old, so I ain't really tapped in like that. Right. I get to be more is when I started. Taping in. tapping in like I started survival I know how to move I know how to what car that car can't come down the block right yeah he can't come on our block you know he ain't from me I don't like

the way he walked like it was like survival tactics right you know what I'm saying so my big homies they was on a block they I didn't look up to basketball players I ain't you know I ain't have no role model typical hood shit so whoever was coming out of block take a kid give me to me hold $5 man yeah let me hold a dollar chain let me go get a twisted really real quick with a hot pocket. Like, that was people that I looked up to. Right.

You know what I'm saying? Go keep the chains, chant. Right. Like, I was that. So, but my big homies, God bless their soul, man. They kept me out a lot of shit. And they was a sacrificial land for a lot of shit for me.

You know, so when I, when I think about them as like, damn, like I wish they was here right now, reaping those benefits because we put that work in. Right. You know, running through BMO, we put that work in at 17, 18, 19, 19, we put the work in. And I didn't, I didn't know, no, I didn't,

only thing I knew was, my niggas is coming with me. Like, I don't care about none of that. Y'all ain't, I ain't, I ain't, I ain't anything from y'all. Right. We're going to do this our way. We didn't, we didn't know in charge. We hood movement. Right. You know what I'm saying?

So, y'all going to buy down to us now. You know what I'm saying? And the game, the street game was changing around those times. Like, it was a shift in the streets. They started knocking the projects down. Yeah. So once they knocked the project, down, everybody started scattering.

Start scattering going to their different areas. So it was hard to connect with a lot of guys because the beefs were so ingrained into our community that you couldn't go to those neighborhoods. You go to those neighborhoods. You know what time it is when you walk around that block. So we stayed around those four blocks.

And my big homies is always, you ain't, nah, they can go to school. Well, see, you have real big homies that seen that, no, God bless him a little different than everybody else. Yeah, it was that. See, I don't know what they saw in me. They probably said to.

They saw something, but it was just like. They saw that jumper. But you know, I was a baseball player, B. My first love was baseball. Yeah. Yeah, I thought I was going for baseball. Then I played football, and then basketball was just, like, seasonal for me. So I ain't really care about basketball like that.

Then what coach talked to you into told you common sense? What was that coach to say? you're going to the league. Nah, but you know, all that you came later. I was heavy, I was heavy, I was heavy baseball.

I was heavy baseball. Was that the time you was trying, you wanted to change your name when you was younger? Yeah, around that time, man. But why do you think of Tarron? Why you wanted your name to be Tyrone? That was the first shit I seen on the board.

Tyrone, you said, that song was out. You're trying to call Tyra. I wasn't, that's Joe's what I think. But why, but why, listen, listen, listen, he wanted to name Rome like out of all the names why are you wanting to make Carlisle

you gotta thank you out of the stand this is what's crazy right I'm nine years old so I ain't really You know Yeah I'm just You know when they hand it When they handed the

You know the index cards To write your name on there I look up And all I see is I see the names on the board Yeah Of the previous class Fucking Tyrone

Anything away from Carmelo Like at that point of time You know what's so funny though Because I grew up Ferrar Nassir And that was the worst shit as a kid Yeah but it's a real true meaning

Behind those It is You know what I'm saying It comes from something When you were in the fourth grade And they First day of school And they called out everybody's name

And then they get to the ends And you're like Here the fuck we go Far Naser It's like, oh, bitch, but everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody knew because that was your culture. That was your culture.

So everybody knew that y'all, you know, y'all had names like that. Yeah. So I was the only Puerto Rican now in West Baltimore. Yeah, that's real. You know what I'm saying? So, nah. So they was, you know, it worked from.

And don't speak no Spanish. That don't speak no Spanish. So it was like Little New York when I came to be more. Then it was like Curly. The only family called me Little Curly. But it was like Little New York because nobody really could say my name.

butchering my shit. Caramelo. Caramel. Like, it was great. T. Roy. They called me, man, listen. Shout out to T. Roy, man. Now, you know what? When you was growing up, man, you wanted to get fly, you wanted to do nice things. You used to squeezy cars and sell candy. Yeah, indeed. Shout out to the squeegee boys in Baltimore, man.

But calm your ass down, though, man. Because they on the, they're on the boulevard going ham out there. You know what I'm saying? They're going crazy. So I know what that life is like. But I never wanted to go to my mom, man. I asked my mom for nothing. Yeah. Never. Never.

I knew she was working two jobs. I knew she was... I just knew she had it set for us. I ain't want you to go on your pocket and break, you know, and get me some shit that... I'll go ask one of these niggas on the block, man. Let me... Let me... Buy me some sneakers, man.

You know what I'm saying? Let me... Let me buy some pips. We ain't wear joins. Right. We wore pips. We wear Tim Dunker. We wore, you know, phone ponds.

We're dope boys. Like, that's what we wore. That's what I wanted I wanted polo shirts I'm saying I want a polo We was polo heavy polo Absolutely Philly too I'm saying

Damn near the same shit So Those things That's what I was on But I never wanted to go to my mom's for no breath So A couple of the homies Was down there squeegee in

But it was one building Who just That's where all the squeegee boys lived At that project building Even though it was our project It was one building that just the dirty niggins was at. They were squeezing, they were scamming.

Like, it was just, you stay away from that building. Stay away from the sixth floor in that building. You know what I'm saying? So I never wanted to go down there. I never wanted to be looked upon like that. But I said, fuck it, we don't go down there. We're going to take our own corner on Malu de King. Mallory the King and, I think that's Molludu the King in Fremont,

and on Marbury Street. And the bridge separates the two projects. So you have Murphy Holmes on this side. you had Lexington Terrace on that side, you couldn't go on that corner. I'm like, yo, we squeeze you in, man. You couldn't go over there, but I just found it was a quick way to get some bread. Then the old head came on the block with the van, candy bars, yo, y'all can sell these, y'all, you know, just give me 30 cent on the dollar.

Cool. I mean candy bars we got to sell? He gave it 30 candy bar. You come back with your bread. You give him 30 cent on the dollar. You make a 70 cent. you make a 70 cent every cell. Right.

You're good. Right. Now I can go to Marshals and get the irregular polo. That's that, yeah. Burlington, co-factor. He still gets to a bitch. Absolutely. You know, you can go to Burlington and go get the first down back in the day.

All of that. The worst thing, now, I was in the cell. I was still in the penitentiary. And, you know, when you talk about your father and all the things he did, and the riots jumped off in Baltimore. Mm-hmm. And I've seen you come out there with the people. You, Stokey.

Kevin Lows, D. Watkins, and you was just walking, and you was talking, you was dear to support the people. How did that moment feel knowing what your father was doing, and you just coming out there to be of support of a historical moment? Yeah, yeah, it was different. He turned it up. It was different to be more, man. And I was just sitting back waiting.

I remember sitting back waiting like, damn, like, what should I do? Should I say something? But I like to wait until I get all my information before I make my move. Right. So I'm just falling back, and my phone is blowing up. Yo, Chant, we need you. The city needs you. The town need you.

Come back to the town. I was going to go back anyway. But I was going to go and just sneak in and go to the, you know, city hall and the courthouse and really put the pressure on the powers that be. Yeah. And they was like, yo, we need you. We need you on the front line. We need you.

Like, we need you. So once I get in, police is like, Mr. Anthony, you know, it's a lot of tension. out here. Come on, man. I got four men. I beam on my neck. You know what I'm saying? My city is calling me.

You was on the ground. I don't care what y'all talking about. I don't care who say what. I'm here with my people. We're going to march. And, you know, and another reason people don't know there's East March with West.

So West March and East March, and then we met in the middle and then we walked downtown. So that was even a bigger moment. Yes, it was. Of the city, because, you know, if you know the city, you know East and West saying to this day, to this day,

I don't like going over the east. Yeah. Oh, you're a west side. I'm West Baltimore, man. So, so, so, let me just tell you the, what they give me on Baltimore. Oh, shit. The East side niggas is the grimy knickers. Indeed, no, no, indeed.

Indeed. That's like, side niggas is the niggas that want to get fly. They think they did shit. That's what they told me about Baltimore. The West side niggers want to get fly. They think they do shit. And the East side niggas is more, east is more like, like, Crimey, Iraq, like, you know what I'm saying?

saying it's shy rack over over east West is more like cool you know what I'm saying niggas get money right niggas coming through

with the cars the you know niggas is fly right but then it's a different you got project niggas now from west now we was

the down bottom guys right now down bottom was we didn't consider ourselves west we consider down bottom even though you're out of west

even though we like to be start of the west we don't consider the west we down bottom we project like shit, so you ever in B, B, Ma, I know y'all, you're being B-Mor-A-L-A-L-A. Yeah, I know, I already know.

Be-B-More a lot. Yeah, I'm from East Baltimore. See, we're from down, see, we from down bottom. Okay. You know what I'm saying? Oh, you're jealous now. He's going to throw that out there. Pussy.

You ain't from his Baltimore. It's cool. It's from fucking Kornahvin'all in Philadelphia. We do that's where I was from. We do, we do real, we're the wire. Yeah. And when I say this to people, we do true wire. That orange couch is us.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Pennsylvania Avenue, hitting in the hole, that's us. That's down bottom. This episode of a million dollars' drift of game is brought to you by Roman Swipes. One thing about Roman Swipes, they're fast acting. I'm talking about clinically proven, and guess what? You don't need no prescription.

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Last long. Well, let's connect with some real Baltimore legends. I need to know who the hood legend. When you was coming up, you was 15, 16, 17. You're the top, one of the top players in the country, if not the top player in the country. Then you go to Baltimore. You know, every major hood city got them playgrounds. Indeed.

Them playgrounds. What did the dude, Drake the 40? Who was the old head that would drink 40 and drink a 40 and give y'all 40? So we, so I speak about my cousin. Or your cousin, my cousin, Luck was the one that drink a 40 and give out of 40. Jen and come through a Nike booths on it. Lucky out there like this shit niggins in trouble today. But he was, you know, they was calling him New York too.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So he had, he kind of laid the foundation for us. But, like, old hair is like, you know, we had Skip Wise. Like, I'm talking about legendary. You know what I'm saying? Skip Wise back in the day, you know, fiend, like, you know what I'm saying? How I just come to the gang, give you 60.

Damn. And leave. Like, it was that. Ernie Graham, you know, went to Maryland. Yeah. I kicked out of, you know what I said? It was those guys. They taught you something.

I learned, I learned a lot of shit from them without them even teaching me none. I learned not to do some shit. that they was doing. Right. Because that was who we had to look up to in order for us to make it out. Like, yo, now, you see Skip Wise? Skit Wise supposed to be in the NBA.

Right. You know what I'm saying? He back home. Ernie Graham's supposed to be one of the best powerfuls ever at the University of Maryland. And he back out West Baltimore or East Baltimore. He back over. He back up Park Heights.

Right. You know, and Beemore. You know, we had a guy went to Temple. One of my favorite player, Mark Carcher. Went to Temple. He was my big home. And that was somebody I used to run home from school to go watch. LaFonte Johnson.

You know what I'm saying? With the UNLV. See, the reason why we asked these questions, because these are the questions that, okay, people that's watching this all over the world, they might not know who these guys is, but the hood in Baltimore. Oh, indeed.

So, you know, we had, in my hood, in our projects, it was one guy we had named D. Brown. And D. Brown was like, I thought he was the best thing since Slice Brad. You know what I'm saying? But he had the same mentality. We grew up together, project shit. Like, wherever he went, we went.

You know what I'm saying? And we piggybacking on for that. Right. And he was the guy who really held out hood down from a basketball standpoint. And we followed that. I ain't seen him. I know he's back there. I know a couple of homies are still there.

But that was the guy. On our block, Dee Brown was a guy. They say your mind wasn't no joke in South Carolina in the ball with the basketball. Yeah, she was nice, man. I ain't know that shit. And Big Curley was nice, too. Big Curley was the one. But Big Curley got his game.

You know, he did Time Upstate. And I didn't notice. I never knew he did Time Up State. And I'm, he used to write poetry. And he wrote, he left a book with, like, his poems in there and like old pitches and shit like that. Book of Life. And I'm looking at the book. And I'm like, yo.

It's newspaper articles from Buffalo, Albany, upstate. Yeah. Mr. Wonderful. Who's Mr. Wonderful? I'm like, what the fuck is Mr. Wonderful? I think it's going 50 and 60 and 70 in the joint. And they're like, yo, that's curly. I'm like, get the fuck out of here.

That ain't, you know what I'm saying? That ain't, that's not him. But he had the name, they gave him the name Mr. Wonderful up there. But that was also at the time where you had movies like American Me. American Me, yeah. Right? So in the joint, you already know what that was like, blacks, Puerto Ricans, Muslims, you know what I'm saying, the brothers. And my dad was a young lord.

And I didn't realize that until I'm doing my own discovery and see the pictures in the book. I'm like, yo, dad, why he got the beret on? Why he got the black level on with the turtleneck? Why he got the fro like that? You know, why he's wearing the red flag around his neck? And I started doing all that research and found out he was part of the original young. Lord's. And I'm like, oh, that's why I'm so tapped in like that. Yeah. That's important. Now, what bring the book about? It was time. It was time, man. I always want to tell my story,

but I didn't know how to tell a story. I didn't know who was ready to hear that story. We need it. You know what I'm saying? We need more of these stories from people like us. people like me who know I can touch a lot of people out there, a lot of younger generation. And I'll still say I'm glad that I'm still connected a little bit. You know what I'm saying? To a couple generations, a generation that's older than us

and a generation that's younger than us and the younger, younger generation. You know what I'm saying? But I built that off of this story and my basics and life and my morals and what I stand on. You know what I'm saying? And the way that I operate, that's what they're. this story is about, but this is about, you know, survival.

Right. Like, what is like to survive those, that concrete is different. It's totally. But that concrete shape you into a person that can go through anything, man. Man, I say, you know, I used to say, like. Absolutely. I can make it through, man. But see, when you, when you go and do it, you don't think that.

No. And I was 13, 14. It's like, man, what is, like, what is life? You know what I'm saying? I ain't making that out here. There's no way I can. make it out of here. I ain't got a shot. I'm going to die. Man, he just got killed yesterday.

He just got hit by a car. He just got hit by the police ride on the dirt bike. My man was just with me yesterday. He got 30 years. He's doing Jubi life. You know what I'm saying? So it was like, I ain't no hope. I don't got no hope in this. And basketball was the last thing that I ever thought about.

And the beat all that is like, and I'm glad this out here because you have a platform, you're big, you know, because you know, once you get into sports, there's a whole different people looking at us. Yeah, yeah. And a lot of people really don't know our story at the bottom. The story of a bottom of America is extraordinary story. And I'm talking about it's a horrifying story.

It's a horror movie. And just to see you sitting here on this bottom all block to let them, because this book is going to educate it. It ain't just for us, it's for people that's outside of us and outside of our coaches. Yeah, I say, not to cut you up, I say this is a universal message. Yes. It's not just for boys.

It's not just for girls. It's not just for people in the hood. Everybody is going through some shit. Everybody's trying to figure out how to survive their own situation and their own environment. This is what help you. This is a blueprint to how they make it, how to get out of there. But I'm telling you the stories.

I got to get you the stories first. And then you can get the, you know, you get the flowers after that. But what a lot of people don't understand is that niggas in the hood and niggas that struggling financially ain't the only motherfuckers that got problems. No, they're not. You know, you think that way when you're at the bottom. When you're at the bottom and you can't, you know, you ain't never been nowhere, you ain't never traveled nowhere you don't know people that really got money you feel like

just having money is everything and then you get around niggas that got money and you like yeah this niggas miserable yeah yeah this only thing he able to do is pay his bills on time so let me go back to the block let me go back where I'm comfortable at that's how they be feeling right you feel with them because you get around niggas that got money and then you be like the only difference between me and you is you pay your bills on time right and you drive better cars to me and you're able to take trips but you're not actually happy as me and I don't have shit

you're miserable and you don't realize that until you get friends that got money and then they have all these problems and you like the fuck you realize that money don't stop your problems your money don't always stop problems and it's like one thing that I like is like

when you think about when you look at the book you see in the ghetto but when I talk about the bottom is a local bottom and it's a global bottom The bottom is when you're at a place in life White, black, green, red You can live anywhere in the world And tomorrow might just not

It ain't promised Because you might be going through depression You might be going through a lot of stuff And that's and that is your bottom Our bottom might be the ghetto Our bottom might be our parents being on drugs But somebody else bottom might be depression Insecurity anxiety

They don't love self not They don't have self-love It could be a lot of stuff. So this book is not just for the, you know, like you said, this is for everybody just to understand, but also to get my story because this story can connect. But, you know, just me knowing that this, like this place. It was hard, man.

Different. Like writing that book, it was hard because I know people want to know, they want to hear the other story. They want to hear the NBA story. You know, they want to hear when I got the gold and the flowers. They want to hear that shit. nobody really want to tap into that belly of the beast. Right.

That's the belly of the beast right there. Yes, it is. You know what I'm saying? Like it's different. Like you said, it's ghettos all over the world. Yes. But that concrete jungle,

that shit hit different, man. You know what I mean? When you got to sit under the lights at night, you don't know what's going, you don't know what's going to happen. You're on the block and, you know, it's dark. Right. You're scared, you know what I'm saying?

You're scared, but you can't show you scared. You want to be vulnerable, but you can't, you can't, you can't project it. that you're vulnerable because you fooled after that. You know how many homies and how many people got to be, they got to be gangster because they're forced and they just really trying to do the defense mechanism and that gangster get them dead on the penitentiary.

Man, I know so many people. I know so many great guys, man, who just, you saw it, though. They didn't have no hope. It was no hope. So the only hope that they had was to go up under another nigga. And when you go up under that, and he's going to teach you how to say, he's going to teach you what he'd think.

Absolutely. And the minute that you make that first, sell, your whole or it changed. Right. Your life change. Your whole life change. That gun on your hip. Man, it's over.

You come alive. You know what I'm saying? It's over. I know guys that I used to sit on my stoop with day and night talk conversation. He was a nigga, yo man, I'm getting out of here. They gave him a hundred pack real quick. He felt that. Life change.

And he put the hammer on? Oh, man. It's like a uniform. It's over. And see, people can't understand what you've been. been through unless you don't know you know what I'm saying unless you've been through it like what's so real about this concrete jungle shit is by the time I was 16 I probably had about four or five homies that I directly knew that got killed you feel what I'm saying then you'll

have a person that grew up in over there here in Dubuille. York, Iowa, they never know nobody that got killed in their life. In their life? I never, I never knew nobody. Nobody got killed here. So on this side of the spectrum, this shit is like, wait, you know somebody that's been murdered? And then

on this side of the spectrum, it's like, wait, you don't know nobody that's never been killed? Right. Think how crazy that is. It's a tale of two worlds. Right. And, and it's normal over here. It's normal, but that's why I wanted to tell that story. Because a lot of times, even now, when tragedy happens, we are immune to it.

Immune to see it. It's like, you know, it's like the same niggas die every day, B, like we immune to that. I've been to like six funerables this year. You know what I'm saying? We're super immune to that and other people would be like Hey, Melo, man, you are all right, they call and they check and I'm like, man, this shit. Yeah. It's only, man,

you're going to hit me next week because somebody else going to die. Right. You know what I'm saying? So it's like that mentality, you become immune to that environment and that's the sad part. When you have to, when you're forced to become immune to tragedy, man you ain't got no hope in that and you don't care no more and it takes a certain part of your sensitivity away you feel what I'm saying yeah listen y'all know y'all grew up

in the hood man you ain't no sensitivity right no no no you start off as a child you start off that way you and then no sensitivity eventually it gets taken away from you because because at five six seven I never knew what a hug was man I never had nobody hug me me as a kid. My mom, you know, my mom did what she did, but I never had nobody. What about, what about I love you? I never, I haven't. My mother should tell me she loved me all the time.

I never knew it, though. I never felt it. I never felt like the intimacy. You know, I knew my mother loved me, obviously. You know, she used to tell me I love you and, you know, shit like that, but I never felt that intimacy like, yo, man, I love you, brother. Like, you're going to be

a right. You know what I'm saying? Somebody see you, fuck. Get the fuck out of here, man. Oh, I'm over there with that shit. You know my mom. No matter with that clown shit, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, when you start hearing that, you get cold, man. And you get cold and you got to protect yourself.

So you got to act like, you got to act like, I want to be loved, but I got to act like nothing matter. Absolutely. I speak about that. You got to put a whole body vessel. I start talking about being depressed. I'm not knowing that I was not knowing that I was depressed. You know what I'm saying?

Really ready to risk it all to get out of there? Like, that shit is hard. I didn't know I was, I didn't know I was going. to depression. I ain't know. I ain't know shit about it. I couldn't talk to nobody about it. And a nigga, like, man, you bugging, man. Because there's certain words that go on now that I've never heard in my life growing up in the ghetto.

Oh, I'm an introvert. No, that was just, that mean you was a fucking loner. Yeah. Stook to yourself like, you know, like, oh, I got anxiety. I never heard nobody say that when I was growing up. Like, you got anxiety. Like, not saying, you know, this shit's real, but I'm just saying in the fucking leach.

70s in the early 80s when I was a kid I never heard not one person ever in life say these fucking words and we knew a lot of people we knew a lot of people who had mental health issues you know we knew a lot of we call them slow you know we used to pick on you slow man

you're in a special class you know what I'm saying these are people that part of our environment we fuck with those people right but that was just the way that we interacted with those guys because that's the that's the coldness that we had right with us we couldn't be like man, yo, leave him alone, man. We couldn't show that shit.

No, we out there, part of my language, but I'm just keeping it real. This retarded-ass nigga, man, you stupid and shit, you slow and shit. That's how, that's like, that's how. So, imagine the trauma that he had to go through hearing that. And when they used to flip, you know, they'll flip. You know, when that switch flipped, they go on. That's when everybody's scared. Right, so there's anybody telling you to chill out now.

You don't leave alone, man. And you're already over the top. He's gone already. This episode of a million dollars worth for game. is also brought to you by Ship Station. One thing about Ship Station, if you're trying to do anything, I don't care if you're doing it on Shopify, you're on SD, your own website.

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They're going to take care of you. Once again, go to shipstation.com, hit the top, hit the microphone at the top, and type in game, G-A-M-E, and guess what? Let's make ship happen. Ship Station. Mella, coming from New York, going to Baltimore. Baltimore is a city that if you've never been to Baltimore, Baltimore is like Philadelphia.

All the houses touch ain't no fucking trees, ain't no goddamn backyards, ain't none of that shit. is niggas living on top of niggas. You got one block. It might got 100 houses on this side touching and 100 houses on this side touching. And each one of these houses is three to four motherfuckers. It's about 800 niggers on this block, man.

Motherfucker cooking something in the microwave. Just this one fucking block. Just this one block is 800 niggers live on this one block. If you get your ass, if your mom beat your ass, though, three houses here. Everybody here. You can't come out the house for a couple days. You coming from this and making it to the league.

When did you know this shit was real? Was it when you walked on the court, you're seeing Kobe? Was it when that first check hit that motherfucking account? Was it when you told your mom, no, don't pack nothing? Leave all that shit right here. We're not taking nothing. Start life over. You know what's crazy.

Like my mom, my mom still. lived on a block when I was in the league, when I got drafted. And I used to be like, mind, we moving. Like, no, I'm not, I'm not going nowhere. This is what I know. This is our neighborhood. And we've been here forever. I'm not leaving.

So, every summer I would go back. I'm going to get to your question. Every summer I would go back, I would be in my neighborhood, in my block. When I come home, no, because that's where I'm from. Forget what my mama was. That's where I'm from. I'm coming home to show love to the hood. You know what I'm saying?

And as I got older, I started feeling like survivors guilt. It's like I made it, but I feel guilty for making it without, and leaving y'all back here. So I brought everybody with me to the draft. I probably had 35 people at the NBA draft from BMO and New York. Out of those 35 people, probably 15, I'm dead right now. So I had to deal with that. And that's not nothing to do with basketball.

And when I got to the NBA, I still carried it like that, is my point. I ain't care about basketball. I'm here. I made it. I'm already good. I shook David Stern hand. I got a Denver Nuggett jersey.

I'm cool. Like, I don't give a fuck. What happens after this? And my niggas had the same mentality. We're here now. Let's go. It's go time. We're going.

I stayed back in Baltimore, my first year, two years. as an NBA. People don't notice. David Stern had to call my agent and tell him get him out of there. What is he doing? He don't stop snitching videos.

You know what I'm saying? I remember that. I remember that. You got to get him out of there, Chip. You just dropped 30 last thing. I'll be telling him on niggas. Fuck y'all doing out here. At that moment, it was like,

I had to really start taking basketball serious. Because the shit started happening. It was fucking crazy. You know, I had. Weed. charge at a DUI I had to stop snitching I had

I had the argument with Larry Brown Nick little T and Tee on the hood like Turn that shit up But that was the moment We ain't the West Baltimore We're in the East Baltimore We have to bough

Stop snitching you bitch here stix They like mellow They were third like Get dead Nigel That was the moment But that was the moment where where it became the hero and the villain.

Braun became the hero. I became the villain. They needed to play off of that. But also, I became the villain, but I became a loved villain. I had street love. Any hood, every hood, but I embraced it. And that was a difference.

So I didn't want to, I didn't know how to be the hero. Right. You know what I said? I knew how to be the villain. Right. And that's the only thing that I ever known until I started. I had to get older four or five years in the league and realized like, Nick, are you tripping?

Nick, this chick will be taken away. Yeah. But when David Stern told me what the last incident was the fight in the garden. We had a fight in the garden. And a bra, it was a bra. And I get suspended for 15 games. Wait, hold on. What happened, though?

Wait, I remember this, but I don't know. This shit's now clicking in my mind. I'm going to give you this short story. So we're playing, then we're playing the Knicks in the Garden. Isaiah Thomas is the coach. Yeah. Isaiah got beef with George Carl. Yeah.

Right? So I don't know what the fuck the beef is. They got beef. So in the game, Isaiah looks at me and say, yo, nobody go to the hole. Like, go to the, you crazy, nigga this is nobody better not go to the hole, right? We on a free throw line, the ball comes off, goes down the court. If we get the rebound fast break, we throw. we throw it to J.R. Smith.

Now, we up, we up. We're busting the air. We blowing him out. J. Y'all gets in about to do something crazy on the break. And all I see is the kid run full speed down the court and grabs J.R. out the air. So when that happened, J.R. getting into it with him. Now, I'm looking at Isaiah, you're a sucker for that. Like, you know what I'm saying?

You don't do no shit like that. You don't do no shit like that. You're a sucker for that. Like, you're going to get yours. Like, you're just sucker for that. And now J.R. and Nate Robinson is in the crowd. So now I run over there. The coaches, everybody grabbing me, players grabbing me. And I'm like, nobody touched me.

And I think Jerry Jeffries is somebody grab my neck, like, and I blacked. Yeah. And the kid from Philly, the kid from Philly. What's his day? I ain't going to do all that. You know what I mean? Don't worry about that. Hey, you know what?

I mean, you can snitching in a little. Man, we can pull this shit up on YouTube. No, I'll let you do that research. Yeah. So he said some crazy shit when I walk, but in the heat of it. It would take a Philly nigger. It would be a Philly niggas. Hey, but he said something like, no, he said something like, no, he said something.

Like, fuck, like, you're running down here. Like, you want to do something for it. Like, that. Weird. Philly shit. Oh, it's the chance. And I had, the coach was on me, like, with an arm. And I knocked this hand down.

And at that point, I just swung. Like, and I connected, and as I'm connected, I see three niggas. coming this way. So I'm like trying to get back. And anyway, long story short, David Stern to spend me out of everybody, 15 games. Everybody else got like six games, seven games, shit like that. And I go speak to him. Like, why do you do me like that? Let me tell you. Man, your rap sheet.

A rap sheet? Man. Look, NBA rap sheet. NBA shit. You want to be in the street or you want to be in NBA? This is what he told you. In his office. You want to be in the street or you want to be in the NBA? You're fucking with a corporation there. that you're doing stop stitching you're going to leave you're going to leave that alone

I know who you're with I know where you live at I know what they live at I know when you close your eyes I know when you work when you wake up so I'm like you know and I know what they're doing he's telling me I know what I know what they're doing either tell them to stop or you got to cut them off and I'm like damn like how the fuck like that's when I knew NBA was part of the fed you know what I'm saying that's what I got him in there and a little one with the old four or five he told me he told And he was just like, man, he said, I got to make an example out of you. I got to make you, I've got to make an example out of you.

Damn. That's a fact. He said, I know everything. I know everything. They do be knowing everything. I know where, I know your whole crew. I know who's doing what. You have the best investigators ever.

You know what I'm saying? I get it. I get it. If you're giving me, if I'm giving you, you know, a hundred million, I need to know everything, you know what I'm saying? And then that was, I didn't understand that at that point of time. It took me to be old. would get old to get wiser to be like that that

motherfucker made sense a couple years ago they counted you out man facts they had you done finish I'm talking about the niggas was on first tape talking like talking spicy about a nigga it was spicy

huh Stephen they were spicy I ain't calling nobody out I'm just saying niggas was talking like a nigger was done finito What thing I could say about the NBA?

Some players in the NBA that stood up for you. The niggas was like, no. You know why? It's wrong why they're doing this. This nigger's still nice. This nigger could still fill it up. This shit ain't cool. You know why, though?

I always stood tall on everything I did. And I stand on everything I say. So I never did nothing wrong with none of my colleagues, none of my teammates. I don't know for what any coach say, any media. None of my teammates can tell you that niggas a fucked-up person. Right. Or he's a grimy nigga. Or he's a bad teammate or bad locker.

Nobody can tell you. Right. So when everybody started to jump on the bandwagon of kicking me while I was down, the real ones understood that. Like, nah, that ain't him. Y'all, enough is enough. Like, y'all keep saying that bullshit. Like, enough is enough.

And they stood tall. And the guys that said what they said, said about me that's still with me they know who they are you know what I'm saying I ain't got to expose that but they know who they are and the ones who said this shit about me they know who they is too and I didn't I didn't seen them

I didn't man to man had conversations with a lot of them and information that I get back from them and ain't it's bullshit right it's media shit it's you know I'm out I ain't mean you know I ain't mean it like that come on man you said it but you ain't mean it like that but you was trying to fuck my paper up well you first of all you

You ain't put the narrative out there. You ain't try to fuck the paper up. You fuck the paper up. Family, friends, businesses, you know, companies. Like, you put a lot of that shit at risk by being chatty-patti. Right, because them niggas be on TV every day like this. That's what I'm saying. And once you get, once you become a hot topic, oh, they're going to burn this out for two weeks straight.

Absolutely. They're going to come in every day. Is Carmelo Anthony? Right. Should he be allowed to be on another team? They throw the question. They shoot it up, they shoot it up, pine the sky, see what we'll grab it in there.

And then it's like a team take a fly on you, and then you come and you do your thing, and then they want to scoop your balls up and act like polish your nuts off and act like they wasn't just trying to throw your balls on the e-way and get a brand and fuck over. They tried, they tried it. They did.

I ain't going to lie. But they did. They did. They had me. They had me fall back. Like, how did you feel? At first, I was fucked up. I was just like, I kept asking why.

Yeah, why me? Like, me? Like, me? That's the ego part. Like, me out of all people, like, what I've done for this game, out of all people, like me. So I'm like, I just remember shit that I used to talk the AI about when he was going through his shit. And I'm like, I can't go like that. You know, he did it his way. And it wasn't the wrong way, but he did it his way.

Right. I got to learn. I'm learning from that. I'm seeing how everybody, you know, moving. I got to move the way that I know how to move. The way I'm going to move, I got to say I fuck this game. Where did the hoodie mellow come from? That's just a mindset, man.

Because it's like you didn't put the hoodie on, so they started talking shit. Did we see you're the hoodie with the shit? That was my thing of, that was my way of blocking out a lot of shit. You know, throw the hoodie on it. I'm in my own world. Right. It ain't nothing nobody else.

say about me once I throw the hoodie on. So it became a mindset. It became, you know, I woke up every day with a hoodie mindset. Did they ever make you all a chatty patty and all the negative commentary and all the shit that you heard that was, was that two years ago or three years ago, right? Did it ever make you waver? Did it ever make you start self-doubting yourself? For sure, at first, at first, because I'm like, why?

Damn, am I losing, I lose my skill? I can't play no more. You mean to tell me I can't play on a, I can't make a nine-man rotation? Like, this is what you're telling me? Me. Right. I fuck anybody else, me, me. I can't make a nine-man rotation.

So now you start second-guessing, like, why you can't make a nine-man rotation. So I really, I went through like three months of just like, like, I don't want to say I was depressed, but it was just like, questioning myself, second-guessing myself, looking back like, damn, what do I do? Going back over my career, like, damn, did I do anything wrong? Did I say something to somebody? Did I do something to him?

I started second-guessing a lot of shit. And then it came to a point, I was just like, you know what? I got to fuck this game. I just got focused on me. I'm fuck this game. The game don't love me the way that I love the game no more. So I ain't going to keep giving you my all

if I ain't getting nothing back in return. So I had to disconnect from the game. I ain't watch it. I ain't watched no media. I don't watch, I don't watch ESPN, and I don't watch that shit. I had to disconnect from all of that shit. Now, what age did you start watching it? When I got to New York.

Yeah, that was smart. Because New York is the capital. No, that was strategic. Yeah. That was very strategic. I'm not reading no newspapers. I'm not watching no talk shows, no sports shows. Because New York is crucial.

Yeah. But I, you know, and I learned that from, what's the name told me that, Derek Jeter. Like when you was in Denver You go to a press conference What is it like Eight cameras there Now it was it was it was packed in there Because we bought something new to Denver

Like we bought the coach But it wasn't like New York No come out of this is a media capital of the world You go there's 80 cameras But this is practice Every practice you got A hundred media outlets in one practice So eventually you're gonna get tired of this shit

Like man I don't want to talk to all these motherfuckers But I stood tall On it I spoke every single day When lose the draw Bad game, great game, I spoke to the media. And you started slowly seeing media started changing the narrative, especially towards the end when I was leaving New York.

Because they knew a lot of the shit that they was writing their first was bullshit. You guys was with me every single day. I never was disrespectful to them. Always held them with high regards. Always cracking and laugh jokes with them about their journalism and shit that I think could be better with, you know, with them. But I built that rapport with them. And that was something that I observed from all the other athletes that came to New York didn't do it the right way.

All right now, two last questions. Who was that player in the NBA that always gave you hell? When you knew you stepped on the court. Oh, I got, I got, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we asked the good shit. Hi. Yeah, who was that dude? Who was he?

Oh, who was that one? Okay, and the second question. It might be a team, though, man. It might be a, there ain't no player that always gave you. I know it's a player that gave you the business. Or is it what player or players? years when I'm playing such as such tonight

he's the fuck horn. It's on. I'm going to answer both of y'all. I'm answer your question first. So the own question was everybody who was in my position. So T-Mack,

Paul Pierce, LeBron, Kobe. Even Kobe was, you know, he was played the two, but I knew he's going to try to go on me then. He's going to try to do some slick shit tonight. Like he's cerebral with that shit. Ron our test

I knew I had to like I had to get my rest the night before strong 6, 9 you know what I'm saying And you fucking round I got a rumble tomorrow Man I might have

We might have to fight Like you If you found me the wrong way We might have to tuss him Now I don't know how this gonna go But we might have to tuss him But now our test Like D Wade

You know what I just knew those guys Like I had to really like I ain't going out tonight Right You know I ain't having no drink tonight I'm chilling I ain't smoking shit I'm chilling.

So that was those was like the guys, you know. And to answer your question, it was like, coming into the league at 19, 18, 19, like guys like Bruce Bowen. Okay. I didn't know how to, I ain't know how to maneuver with him. You know, he was older, he was a vet, played with San Antonio. They could just get paid to play defense. And knock down the corner shot.

And they sent in the whole defense at you, the refs. They let him beat you up. You know what I'm saying? So I never knew how to deal with that, which is why I went to MJ. And MJ used to tell me, man, stop fucking, he used to tell me this. Stop fucking playing with him. Get his little ass on the block. And after that, it was like, bully ball after that.

Like, I don't get fuck who it was. You was going on. And one, listen, I see maturations in your game. Yeah. Early on, you was a fucking bully. Well, because that's the only way I knew how to go get it. And I'm going to keep it all the way real. You and Kevin Durant is two people that I've seen in college

that it was like, it almost seemed like y'all was developed in almost every aspect of the game. And Katie, from up the road, you know, he's from PG, he's up the road. And you had to be something. Like you had to be that guy. You know what I'm saying? Like I grew up playing. outside.

Right. You know, I spoke on the guy Dee Brown earlier. Nick, they used to come get us at 9, 10, 11 years old. Right. You're playing against,

you, come on this game. You bet not fucking low. You can't come back to the block. Right. So I had to be a bully at 11, 12, 13 years old. So by the time my game started to connect to my physicality,

I was in the league. Yeah. So when it met, it was bully season. Yeah. You ain't, I'm, I'm hitting you on my shoulder. I'm hacking you.

I'm fowling you. you ain't giving me 50 I'm a foul of shit out you like you know what I'm saying like that was the mentality that I had and then like you said you had to evolve the game you had to adapt to certain situations but I just wanted to go get it man that's it I guess I really just wanted to go get it I was my guy was the guy I was looking up to and I loved the way that he was doing he you know I ain't always agree with everything he did but he did it his way and I wanted that that was my path right I'm gonna do it I'm gonna do it my way all right last question Doing your time in the NBA, what's the music,

the songs you was listening to that turned you up before you stepped on that court? You know, it's crazy. I'm a, I listen to like Frank Sinatra and all that before the games. Okay. You know what I'm saying? Get it my way.

Coach, get it my way. Start spreading the news. See how these shoes. I was listening to John, I used to work out to Miles Davis and John Coltrane. I worked out to that. John Coltrane, my favorite things. One of my favorite songs I played to this day, Sam Cook.

Change's going to come. Change's going to come. I listen to that all day. How are you working a hurdle for change going to come? Because I know what that song really means, so I need to, I need to program my mental with that. But the artist that when I came out, it was Jeezy. That was the guy.

You know, I was a major state property fan. You know what I'm saying? I'm beanie to the state property. I'm a beanie guy to the death. You know what I'm saying? So it hurt me when him and kissed was, you know what I'm saying? Like, I was fucked up. But that's who I want to do.

to listen to you know what I'm saying was a reason ain't nothing like it you know what I'm saying I don't do much right you know what I'm saying that's my shit so I needed that I needed GZ Ross was coming out game was out at that time 50 was 50 was out nize I always you know always I can listen to nines all day long you know what I'm saying and even now I try I give anybody chance though champ I let you shoot yourself in the foot yeah I ain't going to dis you though yeah you know what I'm saying I ain't going to dish you I'm I'm going to listen to your music. I don't like it.

You know, I don't like it. You know, but I ain't going to listen to her. You know what I'm saying? So I give everybody, I ain't the nigga be like, no, we did it this way there during this time, so I ain't going to listen to you. No, I got to support them.

Right, absolutely. You know what I'm saying? I've got to embrace these little niggas out here. They're different today. And that's what it's about, man. Well, man, listen. With tomorrow's on promise, baby. Absolutely.

That's in life. Absolutely. New York Times bestseller. Go get this. right now. We're going to take this all away to the top. Indeed. You hear me? With tomorrow's arm promise, man. I understand that truly.

Man, listen, man, you're the shit, bro. Love, man. Yeah, your flowers right now. I appreciate that. You know, you've been the shit since I first laid my eyes on you. Back in college, at Syracuse, you know what I'm saying, and you're the shit till this day. I wish you nothing but success, health. Hopefully you win a championship this year

unless you're facing the Sixers. If you're facing the Sixers, I wouldn't not be rooting for you. I will be rooting for big motherfucka. You know, big motherfucker from African-Moodie for God? Yeah. Other than that, I'm going to be rooting for you. Y'all got your own issues over there, man.

Y'all got to work that shit out over there. Yeah, but I heard Ben trying to come out there with y'all, y'all just, what y'all try to put together the Dream Team Part 3? Like, what the fucking show doing over there? But shout out to y'all, man. Shout out to the Lakers for, you know, bringing you over there, man. You got a hell of a shot to win it, y'all probably will be favorite. or the second favorite to win it, one of those two.

My team in Lakers. So just, you know, go out there, man, ball, do you, man. I wish y'all nothing but the best, man. And we appreciate you coming through, man. Because you truly are a living fucking legend. Yes, he is. I had to come touch down on this. You know what I mean?

I needed this conversation for sure. I'm a basketball guide, man. Indeed. But every once in a while we got to tap into, you know, even for me, like I got to tap into that. Yeah. You know, I need that conversation. I need that authenticity.

I need that realness. That's the beautiful thing about me and I was worth a game. When we get you here, we want to talk about life as well as basketball. And even when we do talk about basketball, we talk about life in basketball. You know, so you're a legend, man, and you did a lot of great things out here. You're still doing great shit, man, and we just want to give your flowers and tell you, man, you truly are the inspiration to young black men all over the country. That coming from the ghetto, man, coming from the bottom, you could really make it. out man and you could really make just got to stay 10 toes down you got to surround yourself

around the right people and you most importantly got to put that fucking work in put that work in put the work in and watch how god work you already know you had a little curly on this going down man rest of the piece the big curly and it's just like that right