No Jumper - The Professor Interview: Why He Didn't Make The NBA, Going Broke, Blowing up on YouTube & More

Episode Date: November 11, 2021

The Professor talks about his come up, his booming career, his trash talker series, the glory days of And1 and more! https://www.instagram.com/theprofessor/ https://www.youtube.com/user/Professo... ----- NO JUMPER PATREON http://www.patreon.com/nojumper CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5te... FOLLOW US ON SNAPCHAT FOR THE LATEST NEWS & UPDATES https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! http://www.nojumper.com/ SUBSCRIBE for new interviews (and more) weekly: http://bit.ly/nastymondayz  Follow us on SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ENxb4B... iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/n... Follow us on Social Media: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper https://www.facebook.com/NOJUMPEROFFI... http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm Follow Adam22: https://www.tiktok.com/@adam22 http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Jumper, coolest podcast on the world. And today I'm in here with a legend, a YouTube legend, a basketball legend. The professor is in the building. Hey, honored, man. Thanks for having me. How you feeling, man? I feel great. I feel good, man.

It's an honor to meet you, man. Honestly, like, I spent the last couple days just deep in your channel watching all kinds of crazy shit. And you're an excellent top-tier YouTuber as far as I'm concerned, my friend. Hey, that's humbling come from you because I've been watching you in Flagg for years now. Like, y'all are the goats. I found out about you from watching Vlad. Oh, I actually met Vlad. Like, I was telling them I actually met Vlad, 2012.

He asked me to do an interview before a Floyd Mayweather celebrity game. Really? And I turned it down because it was either I would get to warm up for the game or do that interview. So I asked him if we could do it after. And then I lost track. It was too chaotic after the game. Wow. But that's how I found out about you from watching Vlad.

So that's serendipity right there. It was meant to be. Yeah, humble coming from you. You guys hustle. That's crazy. Yeah. The one thing that stands out to me about your channel, is just the fact that still after all these years,

your channel still does such good views. And you haven't really like switched the formula up that. Like you do a lot of different stuff, but it's like I'm just so used to seeing channels that are based around a specific skill or niche kind of like level off or drop off in views at a certain point. But I really think it's pretty awesome that your fan base is still so excited to see you just go out there and kill it.

Thank you, man. Yeah, I think you're right. It's still highlight-driven basketball. And we've tried actually a lot of stuff, but the ones that are at the bangers that most people see, they are kind of similar. But I still try to, like, evolve over time, whether it's higher production.

I've got, like, a friend of mine, he's an award-winning reality TV producer, director, cinematographer. So he does one video a month for me now. Oh, okay. And then, like, just dressing it up. Like I said, it's funny, you had this Joker costume. Like, we dropped one this morning that was a little different. Like, I actually, like, went on a date.

And then in that date, with a chick who played ball. So, like, we went and got costumes for Halloween, you know what I'm saying? And we wore them. And then we went and hooped at Venice. So that's, like, a little bit different. Yeah. Or, like, I recently did, like, a space jam, you know.

So I dress up my highlight-driven basketball in different ways. But one thing I did learn over time is that if you're breaking ankles or you're, like, really putting on an impressive show with basketball, that's going to be hot as long as basketball is hot. Right. So that's, you know. But do you feel like you've seen, like, basketball, from my perspective as somebody who's not super knowledgeable about basketball, it's interesting. like basketball has just always been huge.

Do you see the ups and downs and sort of the interest over time? Basketball's at all-time high, popularity-wise. But the NBA just did incredible job the last like 10, 15 years especially. Like, of course it's always been popular, right? I mean, we can go back to Dr. Jay and it was still cool. But like I feel like in the 90s, you know, with Jordan, it really blew it out the water. And then even today, it's like next level to the point where you even got people,

influencers who are like basketball comedians. Right. You know what I mean? They're making a living off emulating, being funny and emulating NBA players. So that's like an actual job. So I think it just continually has gone up. I don't know that it's ever like dipped. Right.

I just know for me, what's vital for mine is putting on an epic performance, whatever I do. But then also trying to come up with like new moves and like I actually play totally different than I did when I was on the AN1 mixtape tour. Like try to get better. I'm getting near 40, but I'm still trying to get better. Okay. So let's go all the way back to a very young professor. Where exactly were you born and where did you spend your formative years? Tell me a little bit about that time.

I'm from a small town, Kaiser, Oregon. It's like an hour south of Portland. Okay. And suburbs just played every second of my childhood was basketball. Really? Yeah, my parents. Basketball family? Your dad was just obsessed with it?

Yes, exactly. He wasn't a college or a pro-level player himself, but he was obsessed with the game. And then he put a basketball on my hands like two years old. I got footage myself at two. Wow. And his passion for the game, wore off on me like right away you know by fourth grade I was trying to make the NBA wow so but I

had no social life just straight basketball straight AAU straight a driveway we at the gym as I got older we go to the hood and who you know so but you were just practicing like all the time you were that driven to be great yeah my dad was my biggest idol uh Michael Jordan then and then Alan Iverson and once Alan Iverson became my favorite player it was like fourth or fifth grade they hired me a personal trainer. And this was like, now everybody got a basketball trainer, right? If you're a parent, you're trying to get your kid individual training. That's a huge thing. But back then, I had this trainer. He was like real innovative. He just was doing it by himself. And he showed me the Iverson crossover when I was like in fourth grade. And that was the first move. That's why I realized I had

a gift. I picked it up in like one week. But I was crossing grown men at fourth grade. And honestly, I've always looked really young for my age. So, you know, when I'm the fourth grade, I'm a tall as this table right here, but I could cross like grown men. So that put me on the map for like having handles. That's dope. So you were getting a fair amount of popularity in school and stuff because people just knew that you were talented in this regard or? Yeah, yeah.

I was actually like really antisocial, but I was popular just because I was good at basketball. Right. But I didn't have like an elite run though through school. Okay. Because I look so young. I didn't get the opportunities. Right.

Because you are, like when I'm watching you in the N1 league stuff like you're, you're much smaller, but then you're doing crazy technical shit. Like was that? always something that you worked on a lot because you knew that you weren't going to be able to necessarily, you know, dominate based on like strength and size and stuff. So you just got better at the handling side of things. 100%. Always been a super finesse player because, yeah, like you said, size and strength is so big in basketball. You know what I mean? Like some people will tell you size doesn't matter, right? That's a big, that's a saying, right? I love that. Some people tell me,

you prove size doesn't matter. And my response is like, well, it matters. Size doesn't matter if everybody's the same size. Yes. Then it doesn't matter. Size and strength super matters. Even in the things where it's not supposed to matter, because I was into jujitsu forever. A jujitsu is supposed to be like the thing that is, it doesn't matter.

Like a little girl could choke out a grown man. Yeah. In reality, these guys are all fucking giant muscular dudes. The ones that we sell because size does have a big effect. It's everything. Like, it's so much everything. It's almost to where like, you know, if I was, if I was two inches taller and weighed 20 pounds more, I would have been in an NBA for like for sure. Right. Like that, just that, it doesn't

sound like a lot, but that's, it's a lot, you know? So, so, going back to it, yeah, I say the smaller you are, definitely the more skilled you have to be. But I just did it because I was copying my favorite player, Alan Iverson with the crossover. I shot floaters. I never really like, I could never shoulder nobody to the rack, you know, so I would shoot my mid range was like a layup. Right. You know what I'm saying? Fifteen feet in, automatic and I was a good shooter too, but my main goal is I was trying to make the NBA, you know? Right. Like that every kid's dream.

But so high school, you didn't really have an epic run, but then where do you go to college? Drew? Or what happens after that? So high school, I mean, okay, let me take it back. I was always a starter on every team. And then as I got older, I'm such a late bloomer. Like, you know, I still look like it's eight years old when I'm in high school. So I got held back on the JV team when I was a junior. Okay.

It was a big hit to my pride because all I played was basketball. You know what I'm known for, but I didn't even make the varsity team as a junior. So stayed down. And then I had a great C. I scored a lot or whatever. But I transferred to the small Christian school just for a better opportunity. My parents put me there for a better opportunity to play college ball. So I got second team all state.

I was one vote away from MVP. Crazy high. I wish who mixed tape and ball's life was been back then. Right. I might have got a scholarship just off that. You know what I mean? Because now they'll give you a scholarship off potential. If you go crazy on a mixtape and they're like, yo, this is lit.

Like you might get a scholarship like that. Right. Because it's just they understand how valuable a really good player is that everybody's in serious competition now. Yeah, high skills more valued and potential. You can get a scholarship about potential. Before it used to be like you had to be that dude. Sounds like the music industry. Or they used to sign artists who like clearly could make hits.

Now it's like they'll sign you because you look like you seem like you have a little bit of talent. You seem like you might be able to be worth $100 million one day, even if you're presently worth zero. Yeah. See, I didn't even know that to be a truth. But yes. It's like that basketball for sure. Sure. So basically, I had this really good run. But I live in a small town. The school I graduated from only like 300 kids in the whole school. And I'm a kid. I'm sheltered. I don't know how it works. So I didn't get no college letters, no nothing. I went and tried out for three community colleges. But again, even 18 years old, I looked like, I looked like I was 12. So I would go out there. I remember one trial for a community college. I don't think I missed a shot. I might have missed one shot on the day. And we won like five games straight. And we're only going to like seven or 11 or something like that. I'm scoring. like more than half the buckets.

Right. Still got cut. The coach was like, I don't think he'll match up here. So what happened was my dad, he owned a jewelry. We have like a family jewelry business in my small hometown.

And the head coach from the local community college, he would go there and like buy his jewelry for his lady or whatever. And I didn't want to go to that school because I wanted to get out and go away from home. But my dad persuaded him to like give me a shot.

He's like, hey, my son's passionate about the game. Like, can you give him a look? You know what I mean? Right. And this guy was cool enough to like, let me go up there and try out, and I would kill it on offense, but I couldn't guard anybody. Like we had seven footers, people going D1 and all that, and I was, I shied away from contact. You know what I mean?

People drove. I was like, I didn't want no parts of that. So nobody could really trust me on the defensive side things. Okay. So he lets me redshirt. Then a bunch of guards got injured. So next thing, I know I sued up. I played about two, three minutes a game.

If the game was close, I ain't even get in there. But then after that freshman year, I improved like 300%. Like I didn't even know, I had to know in retrospect, like how much I actually improved. Like, I literally went from bench player to D1 prospect in like a few months. What would you credit that to? Like, was it just pure sweat of just being in the gym working your ass off? A few things. Yeah, that's part of it.

One, just love of the game. It's still the only thing I went back to, any setbacks I had, I didn't know nothing else. So I still would go to the gym the next day. It's what I love to do. And in streetball, I'd always kill it. You know what I'm saying? And everybody knew me for playing in like pickup and string ball stuff. And even when you were young, you had a passion for doing that?

It wasn't, it was the actual part of your life? That was, it's my only, that was my only thing, yeah. So, but also I had an incredible coach. This guy by name of David Avederhalden. Okay. He's still the coach at the community college, Schemeck at a community college. Okay. But he had me hit the weights for the first time consistently,

um, make thousand jumpers at 5 a.m. before class. open gym is at 2.30. So literally 5 a.m. We're making a thousand jumpers. 2.30's open gym. Making. A thousand shot. Make a thousand.

Make a thousand. Even some other stuff. We had like a two and a half hour workout. Wow. But I loved that. I was like cool with it. That's what's so funny. Then open gym was at 2.30.

And then I would go hit the weights. And then afterwards I would come back and still work all my game. So I did that for like three months straight. And I think also, you know how people are late blooms. I mature really late. So at some point being physical and stuff just clicked. Like it was no problem. As soon as that clicked, I never even lost at the open gyms.

We had guys going D1 and D2. People would come in with their prospect. They'd bring their D1 prospects. I was mopping them up. They'd be like, oh, who's this kid? And my coaches were like, oh, we don't really know. You know what I mean? They didn't have answers.

But it was right at that moment that and one was going crazy. Right. And so the mixtape tour was like the biggest thing in basketball rivaling the NBA at that time. You know what I mean? Not outdoing it, but, you know, MBA is the goad of all basketball. It was like taking some of the business. I remember I read one time that Ann One actually took 15% of the basketball market from Nike Adidas and Reebok. That's crazy.

Yeah. So. I remember this like vaguely at the time, but yeah, I didn't realize it was that significant. Holy shit. Yeah. You remember that Nike freestyle commercial with like the dudes were, they was like in a black room and they're freestyle. They're passing it out of the screen to the next dude. Okay.

So that phenomenon came about. but Nike did that kind of like to compete with Ant 1 because streetball was like on high. So all the companies made their own version of streetball. So you left college to go play in the N1 league. Yeah. So I actually went as a fan. Oh. I was just a fan.

You know, hot sauce, A.O. Skip to Maloo, main event, headache, streetball legend. Shout out to my big bros. They were my idols just as much. You seen this documentary on Netflix that just came out with him in it? With who? With the headache guy? Oh, no, I didn't see it.

It's called Bad Sport. Oh, I got to check it. Oh, yeah. Okay, I got to check it. It was pretty, yeah. I won't go into it. Okay, I'm supposed to call them today, actually. That's funny you say that.

But anyway, yeah, those are as much my idols as Alan Iverson and Michael Jordan, like, literally. So I go up to just go as a fan to watch it, and then they were having these tryouts before the game. And I was like, oh, I said, anybody can play? So I tried out with nothing to lose. And I was, like, culturing an one at that time. I didn't want shoes. Like, I wore that to school, you know? Right.

And I got in there and crossed up a couple people and people were losing their minds, you know what I mean? So next thing we know, the players are picking who should go in that night from that trial to play against Team A-Wan. So next thing I know, they picked me to go in the building. I'm going at it with my idol, hot saw. Like, literally it's like a movie.

Dream come true. I mean, I couldn't even believe it, you know what I mean? But the crowd was loving it because, like, I didn't back down, you know what I'm saying? We were going back at it, even though he was crossing me up. Right. And then it just so happened that, that year, you know, they're trying to find new talent.

And that's what the TV show was actually about, unbeknownst to me at that time. Oh, okay. So they're like, you want to go on tour with us after that night? And I was like, I mean, yeah, what? Wow. I'm like, did I hear that right? Was it hard to blow off all your obligations in your actual life at that moment? Well, I had no life.

So it made it easy. Just played basketball. But no, I was blown away. I called my parents. They're like, yeah, do it. My parents are always super supportive. So I went on tour. and I'm thinking this is so funny

I'm thinking when the ESPN episode debuts I think it was like two or three weeks behind real life right so two or three weeks when it was supposed to come out on ESPN I was hoping that I could pause it or maybe like they'll show one of my buckets that I got but then I found out the show was about the new talent like I was the star of the show and I didn't know it till it aired

they didn't even they might have told me but I was so young minded I might have been too caught like didn't under hear it you know I mean Holy shit. So I remember watching, we were in Jackson, Mississippi, and we were about to play a game out there, and I remember the show came on like at 3 o'clock or whatever, so I'm checking it out with the dude who was my roommate at the time. And I was just like nervous, you know what I mean, like see myself knowing millions of people are watching on ESPN.

And the whole theme of that show was modeled after Survivor. Remember that reality TV show when reality, this is when reality TV just got going. And they're like, we're going to try reality TV for everything. Exactly. Yeah. So they did it for N1, and it was basically. like the summer long process of elimination. They're trying to get one dude to win a contract with AN1.

And so I ended up making it all through the summer. And then, you know, one of the last games, I hit a game when he shot with Beat Team 1 in Madison Square Garden. Right. I think I've seen this in the highlight real. Yeah. And so then eventually the last game was like in the hood in Linden, New Jersey. Shout out to a big bro main event.

It was his hood or whatever. And I ended up winning a contract. That was in this. So I wasn't going anywhere. with college so my parents were like yeah let's do it you know because we thought and one was going to be like a globe tryer what did the contract look like financially for you at that time i think my first one was 60k okay 60 or 70k so and one is kind of a working class type of league at this time like it's the guys aren't getting rich but the culture of it was very i did a few years in

okay but yeah i mean it was season two mind you none of these dudes have made six figures so like this was like their first dose of probably making six figures. I know I had the small contract first time. Like Hot Sauce was the headliner. Okay. You know, Skip was already in the NBA main event. They probably had some bigger deals. They probably had six figure deals at that time.

Right. But I was just happy because all my work, you know, it's like that whole preparation meets opportunity success could we have. So I feel like that moment had happened for me. So I just feel like living a dream. Because you seem like you have such a good attitude about all this. But at the time, was it nerve-wracking? you've at times maybe even depressed, like, you know, thinking that, like, you weren't, you've been

obsessed with this thing for all these years and maybe it's just not going to turn into anything. I mean, it must have been hard times. It was, it was. Like, there was some a lot, yeah, like getting cut from the varsity team was like broke my heart. Worse than heartbreak from a girlfriend, you know what I mean? It was like my everything. And then not being able to play college ball. And, but it was funny, too, because I look back on it.

And really what I was a victim was that, like, Oregon play. is like white people basketball, right? It's like four-man and Princeton offense and we're going to outsmart the team. But I was playing like how to play in the league. I was playing like streetball and like my coaches didn't trust me enough to like let me be the man and like cross people up until I was like on that one school

my senior year. And then going into college, I just didn't look the part. So sometimes just passing the eye test goes a long way. Even like in college recruits. Like my brother's a college coach, you know what I'm saying? And he always says that. Like, was it past the eye test?

Like, that weighs in a lot if you just look the part. So I looked opposite the part. Right. So, yeah. Do you feel like that was ultimately a negative for you at that time? Like, it is the very rare situation where being like a white guy is going to be kind of to your detriment that people are going to discount you. Do you feel like it put more attention on you or do you think that it kind of hurt you because people just automatically assumed you weren't going to be good? it helped me because I could play an underdog on the court and I could surprise people how good I was

but it didn't help me as far as them giving me opportunity to play at different levels so it was like both but it's funny because it made me how good I am today it made me work harder you know always being the underdog it was kind of like Eminem right he was in Detroit doing his thing but like right nobody Detroit didn't receive him like the rest of the world right you know what I mean and you I always kind of wonder, like, what would Eminem's career have been if he was like a normal-looking black dude who happened to be that good at rapping? You know, what would that career look like? I don't know. I think he probably would have been pretty successful regardless, but it definitely wouldn't have looked like it actually did.

100%. Yeah, so it was weird. It was to my, like you said, it was to my detriment to be a small white dude that didn't look the part. And then when I got on N1 and I was pitted as an underdog that succeeded, people loved it. And so then it was like to my advantage with business and everything. So it was both sides of the coin. Right. So how long were you doing the And 1 League for? And when did it eventually end? I signed my deal.

I tried out of the summer of 03. Okay. And then our actual endorsement deals ended in 2008. Okay. The company got bought out. Owners knew nothing about basketball. It was an elderly couple that actually lived in Orange County. Why the fuck did they buy it?

Because on the numbers, I mean, 1 one was bananas. You know what I'm saying? We were cover sports. Illustrated. I mean, they were starting to really get into foot locker heavy, like threatening Nike and a, you know what I mean? Like it was literally going nuts. I think, oh, 70 to 80% of the NBA was actually wearing at one at the time. And they only have like one or two like, you know, seven figure endorsement athlete. KG was one, Stefan Marbury, skip obviously. But outside of that, a lot of just the regular NBA players were rocking it.

And it was all because of the mixtapes and the streetball, even though nobody really talked about it. It was just the unspoken thing. Right. So, 08, they don't even call us. They hired a whole new head of branding. They got some dudes from Adidas who were not really into streetball. They were OGs. They were in their 50s.

They like Dr. Jay and like, like they knew NBA. That's what they did. Like one dude made, I remember he was telling me, made a shoe for Shaq and all that. So they respected NBA. It respects streetball. But they thought that they knew better than everybody who was already involved. Yeah, I remember they told me. They said, hey, you know, and one's a tree.

the mixtape tour is just just a brand just a little limb out here you know what I'm saying we got a lot going on and in my mind I was like that don't sound right now looking back I can be like retarded you know like it built the brand you know what I'm saying and when mixtapes built that that whole movement that's why the TV show happened that's why the brand went to new levels

so the original owners though I respect them though you know they started at 93 passing out t-shirts out of the back of their car at the rucker right or in New York and then sold it 05 or 06 whenever that was but they had two more years in the ESPN deal so I did it to 08. Okay.

But they sold it for like, you know, 50 to 100 million or something like that. So I don't blame it, right? And then basically that ended and I started my YouTube channel. I went broke. I remember I had just under $200 in my account. I was living out here West L.A. Around the time that the M1 thing ended. Completely broke.

I probably blew $3 to $5 million, my whole M1 run. You were going crazy financially or was it more just like actual normal expenses? Yeah. I mean, I had a bans. I lived a four-story. condo and like my bill spend was probably like 10 to 15k like I don't know why I was just being a kid you know what I'm having fun we thought and one was like the globe chargers though I think it was never ever going to end and in theory it could have went for a really long time right if the right

people were behind it like understanding it's max potential but it didn't they didn't even brand in Hollywood that's the funny part like they didn't have no PR we like weren't repped by any agency right like we individually were exclusive to them they did all our marketing like I look back and now people would you what would you do different i'd be like uh beyond leno and yeah it sounds horribly mismanaged like in retrospect now it kind of makes sense to me like why and one was in the peripheral of the culture for so long or was like around for so long but then yeah like i mean i remember even a couple years ago we're at a convention talking to some guy who was like a rep from ann one and okay it just you know they have no fucking clue why they exist anymore from what i

could tell yeah well i do know a couple people up there nowadays been bought like three or four times. I think it's been a reacquired three or four times. And now the company that owns it, they know is built off streetball, but they're in Walmart. So they're smashing it. Right. Okay. They're Walmart's main sports brand with Shaq. Wow. But really it's An one. Like Shaq just had a few shoes up there. Okay. So they crush it. But as far as like marketing, like they have like a small IG. They don't really like it's more of a legacy brand. You know what I mean? So you were you were partying? Like what was your lifestyle like at that time? Like we're wild. You're having a good time. Rockstar. And one had six tour buses. Like, like,

one was for production, two or three player buses, PR and all that. And yeah, I mean, yeah, partying, chicks, all that was probably, like, at one point, I think the priority might have been a little out of order, like that was probably a higher priority than basketball. Right. Or at least I can say for myself and probably a few of the teammates

or everybody, I don't know. I don't want to speak for them. But it was some great times. I learned a lot from it. And so then you go broke. Dead broke. And then what do you do? The YouTube channel was your big idea?

Here's what's funny. So I started the YouTube because An1 was in 40 countries. So they licensed it out, right? When we would tour, like we went all over the world, but we would only go to those entities that had Antoine's stores. So I knew that they were still out there. And those people still wanted to get a hold of us. So I knew a dude in Brazil, like we did an N1 Brazil game.

And the head of N1 Brazil was like, yo, like, you know, everybody wants you to go all these places. They don't know how to get a hold to you. because we're used to going through the company as people aren't there anymore. And so I was like, I'm giving my number, you know what I mean?

But then I also knew that YouTube at that time, I think it was in like 20 countries or something like that, maybe 30. Okay. Way bigger now. But like I started my channel because there was a bunch of professor

highlight mixes that fans made. They ripped my highlights from the show, put them up. They're getting millions of views. So I'm like, dang, I might as well like try to flood this, let people know I'm out here.

Right. But I did on my homies channel. I didn't know how it worked, right? I was just trying to like flood YouTube because at that time so unsaturated, right? Like you literally. Nobody had any idea that this was like a place where you were trying to build a home for yourself. It's like it's crazy to think back on that because it's like the idea that putting your time and money into YouTube seemed crazy at that time.

We're talking what? 2008, 2009, you said? I was on there. Yeah, up until 2008. Yeah. So, yeah. So I try to flood YouTube. But then Google AdSense came into play the next year, 2009.

And one of the dudes who had put out a lot of the street. on mix he's living in San Diego. Back in that day, you could send a DM on YouTube. So I DMed him. We started talking. He was a big fan or whatever. And I drove to his place. He made my first three edits from our YouTube channel. You know, paid him like a G or something like that. And then he showed me how to edit. So I edit. I edited all my videos at least until like 2015, 2016. I still do something now. But at that time, what I did to make ends me, this is so fun. is I actually kept a box and I had like 50 to 100 of my N1 jerseys. I sold them on eBay.

They're going from $500 to $1,000. I sold them one by one and you spread it out so you wouldn't fuck the market up. Made about $30K anonymously. It's funny too because like they're going everywhere. This is what showed me that the YouTube was still a good thing. And that's how I knew this was hot. It wasn't the market that rejected us. It was that they just took it off the air.

You know what I mean? Because everything was unsaid. We didn't really know what happened. right we don't know was it our audience thing was it what was it so yeah i knew it was marketable because like people were buying it in my neighborhood dude bought one for like 2 500 wow and you know then it'd be china japan these things are like going they're like hotcakes right yeah so i lived off that for a few months and then i was just i started getting booked for those one-off gigs i do like you know and one brazil um you know and one africa i do these one off games all over how much

where you get paid and what do you actually do when you show up i'm uh just go i just go there we might go to like a couple like schools or go to like you know do a little bit promotion right like play some kids or whatever just get people hyped and then the game the day of the game we'll play like a pro team or something and then just do our we're definitely trying to win we're trying to entertain just like i do now right and so uh i would make i think at that time i would make between like two to five k per game but but they'd be few and far in between like i have hard times from the end of 08 until 2011. Okay.

So, yeah, so I start the YouTube. It gets a little traction, but I wasn't thinking about being a YouTuber. It's just like whenever I got footage from the game, I chop it up myself, have fun with it, and I upload it. Right. But I was getting like, you know, 100K, you know, 50K. I think my biggest video was like half a mill at that time or something. So the appearances were still making way more than you were making for MadSense? Yes.

Right. So then This company called Ball Up Tried to do a revamp of AN1 It wasn't successful As nothing compared to AN1 Tried to bring the whole league back and everything Or just the brand?

So An1 actually was never a league Am 1 was one team That would go around the world And play people And it was hard to duplicate Because that group Like now I can look back and say Like that group was elite

You know what I mean Because what it was like the best Of all the summer league So it'd be like today The best of the Drew League the best of Rucker. It was like all those. And then I was just like

someone who tried out and played with them. But we were beast though. We would beat pro teams and put on an incredible show and then like if NBA players play with it it'd be seamless. Like like you know what I'm saying?

Like it was a high level. Nowadays the popular Hooper's on YouTube they're not near, they're like junior college or like college level. Right. You know and one.

There's a special. talent but dudes were always like one thing away from the NBA you know like maybe you're not coachable maybe in between position you're like a tweener you know like are you a one or two right you know I mean stuff like that so it was beast but uh yeah so ball up gets recreated or and one tries to get recreated it's called ball up or whatever we had a show on Fox Sports and like it was okay but I think everything was becoming digital and I think that movie that movement didn't really grasp on to like digital marketing as much right but I was

still doing my YouTube. And so a homie of mine came to me in 2013. And he's like, man, he's like, you know, you got like 17K sub. Like you're doing good out here. Like, you should take this the next level. Like you're not, you're not trying to go viral. And at that time, I'm young. I'm like, oh, you think I could go viral? You know, like, I didn't think somebody outside the NBA could really do millions of numbers at that time. So just because it hadn't been done, you know. The whole influencer, the whole idea being an influencer just really did not exist yet. that time and it was just starting to become a rational career path yeah because if you had known that in 2008

it would have been like the career path for you you would have been able to like crazy if you knew everything in 2008 that you know now about how to basically be somebody who's famous for doing something and then make merch make a couple more content do deals all this shit it's like the career path now seems very obvious and back then it's was totally foreign back the oh 50 million subs today like if you like right you you'd say the same thing right if you know If I had known to like how to be like, you know, Casey Nystad or David Dobrick or whatever,

like just to be a blogger, you know, yeah. Like they kind of like dudes like that sort of showed everybody the game in a lot of ways, you know? Now it seems clear. Those two dudes especially. Yeah. Logan Paul and all them like. Casey Nicestad is probably one of the biggest influences for almost anybody

who makes like good quality vlog type content, you know? It does a great job. He showed us how it could be done. Because before that, everybody who made a vlog, it was just sort of like, hey, how are you all doing? what's up? Yeah, like a lot of dead time and stuff. I know.

Bad angles, shaky-ass footage and shit. You know, he kind of showed everybody what was possible, yeah. Totally, totally. So, okay, when, so then you start to actually treat it more like something you were really put an effort into, or how do you go about trying to turn the YouTube channel? Yeah, so it's in stages. So 2013, my homie comes to me, he's like, man, a couple of these videos been going off. You got a half million right here.

Like, he's like, I think you can do something viral. And he was real into cosplay. Shout to my homie Rob, Rob Monroe. He was really into cosplay. And so we looked at like the top viral videos from 2011 and 2012. And a lot of it was like pranks or accidents or whatever, but a couple more like cosplay. And so he was like, yo, he's like, you know, it would be trippy.

He said if you wore a superhero outfit and you went and played people one-on-one at the park. Right. And you didn't show them it was you. And it was sort of like a prank. So look, we chose Spider-Man. you wear the suit and can't tell who it comes every part of the body. I had no idea that the Spider-Man stuff was the first thing that really blew up. First banger.

So we did Spider-Man basketball. We decided to do it. I was like, oh, that'd be funny. Like, he's like, I think it'll go viral. And I was like, ah, all right. I was like, it would be fun, funny either way. Like, I'm not thinking anything of it. I thought it might do a few hundred K views, right?

One of my better, more funny videos. So I couldn't even find a real Spider-Man costume at that time. Like, now it's easy to find a cosplay, right, that fits. But like back then, all costumes are baggy. and there's very few of them. So there was one company that sold a size medium Spider-Man. It was like in the UK.

Wow. So I ordered it. It was like 500 bucks or something. I got it. I put that thing on. It fit like a glove. I was like, made for,

like literally looked like it was tailored for me. Side note. Do you know about Spider-Cos? Sound familiar. Who's that? It's like a gangster rapper from New York who wears a Spider-Man costume

and he drinks Henny and carries a blue bandana and all this shit, yeah. You know what's funny? I think I found out about a dude from this show. If I'm not mistaken. We've definitely

disgusted about here. Yeah, maybe my cousin. Shout spider cuss. I don't know what he's doing right now. It's a cool guy. She's just gang banged on me. Oh, you just got banged on me. Oh, you just got banged on. Jesus Christ. So, yeah, so I ordered the suit. It's like it was meant to be, bro.

I ordered it fit me like a glove. Like it was crazy. And I looked like aesthetically on screen. I look exactly like the character. You know what I mean? So we go to a part. We don't even know how to do it at the time. I'm like, yo, you go first.

You know what I'm saying? Like you hoopin and I'll just come up, get in the game. just start just bust out the camera so we did it everything was flawless i don't even know if i missed a shot i played for like 30 40 minutes not that the comp was super high high level but the fact that every move worked flawlessly i didn't miss no shot i couldn't even see though you know i mean i couldn't even shoot a three point it was really hard to see how that a lot of the shot just shooting in that general area it was just you know what i was just meant to be so it literally shot only for

like 25 minutes wow but i could have made four videos from the footage and then we we left and almost passed out, you know, thing, made me nauseous, just couldn't breathe, could see, could do this claustrophobia. I go back that night, and I chopped the vid, I edited myself, it took like three hours, something like that, but I had a flight to Chicago in the morning and I was still on tour. And so I uploaded, I didn't know how to compress footage back then. So I uploaded from DSLR, like this Canon camera, and it's going to take six hours to upload on YouTube. So it's like midnight. And my eyes are bloodshot. I'm like, oh, man. So I just left the computer on. It's uploading, I go to sleep, woke up in the morning,

still uploading. So I'm like, dang. So I said, F it. I'm just going to leave it overnight. You know what I'm saying? So I just leave, uh, went to LAX by time I got to LAX and they already had like 300,000 views. And I was like, I was like, is this right?

Like I called my homie. I said, does it say 300K? Because back then it was saying you like the email update of your videos. Oh, okay. So then by the time I got to Chicago had a mill of views. And then I think in the week it did six or seven million. But you know back then the algorithm friendly now. Yeah.

Back then, six, seven million in a week. That's like a viral shutdown. You know what I mean? I got hit up by Good Morning America, CNN, Sports Center, anybody you can think of. Right. And got a million subs in one week. Holy shit. Yeah.

So it was like a business overnight. Wow. That must have really like opened your fucking eyes all of a sudden in a hurry to like what was possible on the platform. 100%. And the hard thing was I couldn't really actually be a true YouTuber until about 2015, 2016, because ball up kind of died out. but it took a while. So I was on their schedule, you know what I mean?

Right. And it was kind of the old, our contract was like the old format where they do all the marketing and all that. And I kind of have to corroborate. But the same time, I was thankful because I was broke. And like, at least I had a steady paycheck. Now we get some YouTube money. I have two streams ink.

Right. So I was like, let's get it. Holy shit. So what kind of content do you go with after that? Like, did you sort of have like a vlog style format going after that? Or what kind of things do you try? I got into vlog style format. maybe like not till 2015, 2016.

I, like, if I wanted, the way I always want to do is just basketball content and just highlights always. Like, I'm too, I'm such a B ball enthusiast. I thought that would be hot, not knowing that like there's so much more to branding, right? You know lifestyle. You can do everything. So, but one thing I did know is like people really subscribe to me for basketball. So I got like a second channel.

It's like 100K of just something like that where I just do whatever. Okay. But I ain't touched that like three years. But my main channel, I try to do like hybrid videos where it's like, a little bit of a vlog, you know, and then we go play ball. Or it's like a straight cosplay. Like I did a Bugs Bunny, Space Jam. I seen you did the nerd the other day.

The nerd. Yeah. And I was like, this is amazing. Because I'm looking at the Spider-Man one. And then I'm looking at the nerd one. It's like 10 years apart. And they're like both the same exact concept. And it just works.

Like people just love this fucking concept. Bugs Bunny. I didn't see that one. Yeah. No, thank you, man. Thank you. And I know what I learned is though is like, it has to be a good. We did some spoofy character and it didn't work.

But it was like the costume was a, lit. You know, like one thing I did learn is if you're going to do a cosplay video, you need something that looks exactly like that character. The more you can look like that character, the better it's going to be. The more Walmart it is, the less dope it'll be. So I learned that, but also the nerd, the nerd had already worked. I actually, funny story, that nerd trend has been going on since like 2018, 2017. Oh, okay. So you weren't the first one to do it? I was. Oh, you were. But I did it on Vine. Right. Vine and Instagram. I think this, I did a six, second version. I did a 15 for Instagram. I remember 15 sex is the limit for videos. So I did

nerd and it was just like a quick skit where I was somewhere in Long Beach and like had these two dudes in a du rag and I was like, hey, can I partaking some basketball activity? And, um, some kid took the idea and did it on YouTube and he got like 60 or 70 million views. And he wasn't even a good player. He just like, he just, it was more about acting, right? He's like, I'm here to play ball in the hood. And it wasn't even the hood, right? It was like, just like, like, just, Like it was kind of racist. Like just some black people were there. So therefore he called it the hood.

You know what I mean? Yeah. And I could imagine that like if you were to pick and choose your shots, you would be able to sort of make yourself look like you were good at basketball, even if you weren't. Yeah, to the untrained eye, yeah. I can't remember how I went.

I think it was like a highlight video or something like that. But he wasn't bad. He just wasn't like amazing, right? Okay. So it went crazy. And then a lot of influencers did it over the years. And then I was just like, I was curious. Like if you hop on a trend late, can you still go crazy if it's a good video.

And what I learned is yet you can. as long as it's good. So we might do some more, you know? Especially if you improve upon the concept, yeah. Yeah, I try to make my different. I left the backpack on, you know what I'm saying? Like, and then I played it up a little bit more.

My girl was watching one of your videos with me yesterday where like a random guy on a bike just sort of challenges you to a game. You wipe the floor with them real quick. I don't even think he scored a single point. And she was like very doubtful. She's like, this is real. There's no way this guy's just talking shit. I'm like,

I love that. I'm like, you think that there's, is really like that big a shortage of random dudes on the street. Like this guy's been making videos for 10 years. I'm sure he's dealt with plenty of hecklers who wanted to play them. You know, like, do you ever fake anything or like what's your line on that? We never, the only thing we've ever done, just keeping it real. So all my videos are real 100%.

People say that all the time. Like, oh, this is a fake, you know what I mean? But they don't know. Like basketball is the most egotistical game, egotistical sport, period. I think there's probably a high school up the street from here. I go, whenever that high school team I practice, me and you could go up there right now and somebody think they could bust my ass

on the high school team. Right. That's just how it is. And these days, even if they don't think they could beat your ass, they still know there's some value in getting to shake you on. Now they troll. They just won't be in a video.

But my biggest video on YouTube ever has over 70 million views. And it might be the one you're talking about. I'm not sure. I was at Laguna Beach. And this dude was like talking crazy. Yeah. He just had like a real problem with everything I was doing. Really big guy, right?

Yeah, heavy set. And we finally got into a game. I don't know, we were only playing like five or something like that. So I did a move. He like fell, like slapped the floor hard. I didn't even touch him, right? No contact ankle breaker is like A1, you know, because most of them have contact. Right.

So those dude goes down hard after talking crazy, right? All I had, our cameras died. We were out there for like four or five hours. We ran this on just two iPhone sevens. Oh, okay. You know, but I like layered the audio, you know, both sides. And, uh... This guy's good with the technical stuff right there.

I don't even know what the hell that means, but it sounds like it makes sense. Oh, yeah, I'm an editor. I'm a nerd. I'm a tech nerd. I love this center. That's why I'm like, man, this is lit. Yeah, they're in charge of that.

I don't know what the hell it is. I know, I know. But hey, yeah, well, so what happened was he falls really hard, and then like two plays later, I did a move, and he tried to, like, reach me. But he tried to, like, across him, and he threw his shoulder out. Oh, wow. And so the game just ended like that. But a lot of people were saying that video was fake.

And I was like, hey, you're right. We couldn't have wrote a better script than that. Like it was nuts. And that's what I'm telling my girl, too. I'm like, if they wanted to fake it, they probably would have got a guy. Some people are doing it. They would get somebody more entertaining than this guy. This guy is just kind of, it's not like he's like hilarious or anything.

If they were going to fake it, I would think that they would fake it a little better. Yeah, yeah. And some people are, I guess now it's coming out. Like some people are faking the trash talker. That was the first trash talker video. Now everything is versus a trash talker. But like, I didn't know what to call him when I was doing. I was like, what was he?

I guess he was talking a trash talker? I don't know that's the thing. everything with that video was like an accident, but it taught me a lot because one of the biggest complaints was like, oh, you don't play top level competition, even though, like,

I do. I play everybody, you know what I'm saying? But, like, people, they see one or two videos. They want to,

like, judge your whole career or whatever. So, so I wanted to make it clear why I was playing some heavy set dude and running shoes, you know what I made a little story around it that, like, led to the game and then, uh,

played the game, but I kept getting everybody's thoughts. We got like my reaction, the people's reaction. Yeah. And then afterwards, when I upload it, I just took the screen grab on it when he fell. And I was like, let me just zoom in on there. Let me make this like an album cover right now.

You know what I mean? Let's just try it. So with that video, I just did everything right though. Look, it was a lit intro. You know what I mean? It was like vlog style. It told a story. And like beautiful aesthetic.

It told a story that led to the game. The game was hilarious and awesome. And then in ended, I gave my sentiment, my thought. Some other people did too. And then a perfect thumbnail. and a perfect title. And I actually did on accident for real, but then it kind of taught me like, oh, this is the way.

So now people have taken some of that format. I think some people make fake stuff, but we never have to. Like, we go out trying to shoot a different video, but then like somehow a real trashdung situation happens. And I'll tell he's like my head of confidence, my homie, Zach right here. Do you think that that kind of content appeals to people

way more than you playing high-level competition? Like if you were to go face off with just somebody who's about as good you or somebody who's like really really good competition is that less interesting to the people um well if i play like an NBA player or something it would like break the internet probably but it never happens that why does that never happen well because most NBA players don't want their workouts like on film like they were in the viral era right NBA players don't even go hard in an all-star game because like you could go viral you slip up and fall or whatever and I've never been the player that says like I should be in the NBA you know what I mean like I don't even

And I got a lot of respect for people to make the NBA. And I just leave it at May because I really couldn't get players like that to do that probably. And over the years, I used to just try to brand separate from the NBA. Now I'm learning, like I showed James Harder movie like 10 million views. So doing stuff with the NBA is A1. But most people don't want to do it. And like I try to respect like high level stuff. If I do workouts with the NBA players, I don't film it or anything.

You know, just because they wouldn't even want you there. they would feel like real slated. And the higher competition, the higher the egos most of the time. Right. I would think that some of them would see the value in just doing it for the promotional element of it, you know? Well, some do. Like, you know, Big Baby, who played with Celtics, we did like a 2V2. You know, James Harden, I showed him a move.

But I played with Big Baby. You know, and James Hardin, it was just like, hey, here, check out this move. Like, maybe you can use this or whatever. But it's hard. you know, those guys are busy. Like, it has to be something that helps them. So, like, when I did James Hardy, it was actually a promo for NBA Live. And he was, like, the spokesperson for it.

Okay. So therefore, the influencers got to do some with him. That makes sense. And then with Big Baby, he was trying to start his YouTube channel and he reached out. And I was like, oh, let's get it. But he never, I don't know, he didn't do it. It's kind of crazy because, like, I feel like you, you seem like you have a really good attitude about, you know, now having made it to the NBA. But to the people, they're so used to there only being one path that you can really take.

as a basketball player that they expect you to have a shitty attitude about it and to be like salty about it right oh hundred dude it's funny you're even saying this i was like thinking about this this week but yeah and i don't know how much money like you know hey praise god we cleared seven figures a couple years now you know i'm sure you have yeah so i'm thinking that too i'm like i'm sure you know you're making as much as a lot of guys in there so who the fuck cares right and i only say that because like people still approach it like it's like a small thing you know what I mean, like, some people that don't know, right? But you've kind of written, like, the blueprint in a lot of ways for how to be an influencer

that didn't make it to the league, but it's still able to build a crazy-ass business off of it, right? On accident, yeah. I mean, started on accident. You figured it out for it. There's probably so many other people that are cribbing from your blueprint a little bit. Oh, yeah. Now there's a YouTube hooper community. It's got like a couple thousand people or whatever.

I was the first YouTube hooper just on accident. Do you feel like you get the respect you deserve? influencers always show crazy love. And NBA players do too. Kyrie Irving, a lot of players, they follow me for a long time on social media. So I think so. I mean, yeah, like I said, you know,

like I was reading a thread the other day and people were like, this dude ain't a pro and this dude does this. And they were having an argument. This dude's like, no, he's dope or whatever. And I was thinking to myself, kind of like what you said is like, they'll downplay it, but like,

I don't care what you. You call it AAU, you know what I'm saying? We're doing good over here. I'm not even worried about it, you know? But as far as research, I really do it to impact people. Like, the respect comes is like cool, but like I actually do it to uplift and inspire people. Right. At this point, that feels like that's a big part of it?

Well, yeah, for me, for me, 2011, I actually became Christian. And so I try to, for me, it's about for people. It used to be for myself now and I tried to impact people. Right. How did that transformation take place? actually it's crazy I happen my best friend Escalade rest in peace the street ball legend Escalade he's actually Mark Jackson's brother okay you know Mark Jackson NBA analyst right he passed away 2011 heart attack we were just marketing ball up we were marketing to launch a ball up

and I actually found Christ at his funeral Mark was like doing a he was preaching he was doing the altar call. Had you not really just thought about religion also much? Not much. I mean, I went to like a Christian preschool. Sorry about Christ when I was younger, but like my parents weren't Christian. They just did it because they felt like it was a good moral, you know, a good place to be. And then my senior year, I went to that Christian school and I like Bible class and so. I remember I looked at my homie at Bible class. This is the extent I actually thought about God or Christ at that time. I asked him, I was like, is Jesus real? You know what I'm saying? And he was a Christian, right you came with Christian family he's like he's like I think so and I was like like Santa or like

real and he's like no I think it's I was like oh okay so that was the that was the extent I thought about it but I had friends I here like I played in this church league that's sort of like evangelistic and then like they invited me to church and I just went just to be nice to them right you know it was cool and so I started exploring that but um but yeah my real transformation was at the funeral interesting so yeah you feel like you're basically able to like what is the goal and like how do you use basketball to sort of change people's lives and spread the message and how is that changed over the year um well like now like in terms of ministry yeah that's one way i can impact people i do like probably like three to five sometimes 10 free ministry events per year so like i just did one like

last month where some church was having a big uh like i don't know what it was some sort of like youth convention or something like that and so i went up there and i just played a bunch of people one-on-one i did an interview on the stage and just told my story and stuff like that but i did it just for free or whatever and then with other stuff you'd be shocked though it's probably like you too right people reach out and you're like man I'm so inspired by X Y Z you know what even me thinking about so like people hit me people have hit me at least 50 to 100 times talking about man I had cancer I was watching these videos every day you know I mean or even like older people be like man you inspired me pick up a basketball again I was fat I'm 15 now I'm starting getting shaved get back to

it so all different ways you can inspire impact but yeah so it's a few different it could be like for faith. It could be just like to go play ball or to get motivated to go do something else in life. Yeah. I mean, even just like a model of being able to look at you and see that you're somebody who had a passion weren't going to necessarily accomplish your dreams, but then built new dreams out of the situation that you were in. I feel like that could be so inspiring to people. Yeah, I'm not surprised by that at all. Yeah, 100%. So, yeah, so that's kind of my goal with everything. But obviously, you know, try to, from a business standpoint, definitely want to do well and go to new levels and stuff like that.

100%. Are you still the same person when it comes to your pure love of the game? Like, is that still oozing out of you the same way it was when you were a kid? Yes. Actually, even more. Because now, well, it's different, though. I approached the game different. So before I was always trying to make the NBA.

Even when I was on and one, I was still playing like pro leagues in my off time. I was playing like the CBA was like the OG league. It's like the super OG, like the G League eventually put them out of business. Okay. It was the NBA league at the time. But so I would train like a traditional hooper. You know what I mean? We do drills.

We hit the weights. Thinking about leading a team and offenses, picking roles and stuff like that. And obviously I played flashy, but streetball in that time was actually a bad thing. You know, skip to my lue to make the NBA. He had to like lose his streetball MO and conform to the system. Whereas like now the impact from. streetball and an one and everything is like in the game heavy right like kairi is basically an and one and one street ball player step curry like i met step curry 2012 he asked me for a photo like yo i'm

watching this i'm like all right so back then it was harder but nowadays i'm focusing on just like how to straight entertain like you see me play i'm gonna do i'm doing moves i spam moves every play i don't even care about you talked me about some offense i even think about that you know just think about like moves how can i entertain and uh how can I dress the video up and make something go super crazy? Right. Yeah. Yeah,

because I mean, I wonder sometimes when I'm watching you just fucking absolutely own people on the court. I'm wondering how much of that stuff is just pure flashiness that you're just doing for fun and how much of it is actually meant to sort of like mislead the player and sort of have their weight moving in one direction so you can go to the other at a certain point. Like how much of it is just pure glitz and fun versus like technically useful? It's both. I love that you even said that because these are things I think about

so it's both put together I think if you're going to dance in front of somebody like do a bunch of moves before I get into the move that's going to like break their ankle or whatever it actually does something I found it can mess somebody up because look the crowd starts to get into it

there's all this anticipation I see you fluster people so bad and they're just left there they look so mad like they just don't have an answer for it yeah so I found there's value in everything, but how much of it? I don't know, you know, 30% of it maybe. Like, I didn't need to do it, but like I did it because it's going to make the video late. Or whoever was there was going to get them hype and then it makes like the move more hype.

It's just kind of easy for you at this point too. So it's just a fun. It's not like it's risky. Like you're not scared. They're going to take the ball from you most of the time. No, those moves are called promo moves. So if like you dance with the ball like before you even get to your dude, that's called like just promo. And so it's kind of like hipes up the main event, which would be like the ankle breaker or whatever. Right. I got that. My OGs used to call that back in the day.

But I think it all goes together and all goes hand to hand. But, you know, I'm still working on, when I work on moves, it's not necessarily promo. It's more about how I can lead the crowd. Like some of my OGs were like some of the best showmen I've ever seen. You know what I mean? And so like I took, you know, pages out of their book on how to like really like lead a crowd. There's an art to it though, you know what I mean? Like I take the crowd like the other day in Utah, right?

I start out. Sometimes you just got to play real ball the first few games because all they see is the highlights, right? So the first two or three buckets, I'm just going to get a layup and be like, oh, thank you. You know, like talk a little trash, you know what I mean? And get them hyped up. And then once they get tired and that cardio gets going, that's when you can break ankles. You know what?

People got to be breathing. Yeah, they got to be nervous and not ready at all or they got to be like get their cardio going. So you're a little bit of like a therapist as well where you could see what's going on in their head and you can like read your opponent as this is going on and it's all i'm thinking that you tailor your whole game to take advantage of that 100% that's all that's all i'm thinking about is how can i get them tired like a lot of times i don't even play d because i just know like this sounds real simple but let people don't calculate this when they play and people think how good they could do against somebody they forgot the cardio they forgot basketball's all cardio yeah so i'm

managing it really yeah so i'm like a runner i run two three times a week i work out at a rehab facility twice a week and then I also play on top of that so my cardio is going to be a one so i know if you guard me and i do eight moves so now i'll do like seven eight moves of possession right that means you had to be in the defensive stance and chop your feet for like 30 seconds to a minute i'm thinking sometimes watching right here and chop our feet for 30 seconds a minute you're gonna be be able to stand up right so i know if we get to the six or seven possession most people can't hit a jumper. They literally, if we were just stopped the game and be like make a jumper, they probably can't hit a jumper. If they can, I'm going to know like, okay, they hoop and they

shape. Right. But most of the time, they can't. So, you know, you got to like time your moves. Like when I was younger, I used to try to do everything right out the gate, try to break some of my ankle out the gate and some people get a handle on the ball or like it just wouldn't work for the show because it kind of like deflates the crowd energy and stuff. Right. Now it's a more scientific about it. It's like a buildup. There's an art to it. And then like you said, I got to be reading them to know when the right time is to attack and go crazy, which still is a lot of the game, but there's a strategy. I like it. Do you, uh, have you ever ran into any bad situations, either from like going to the hood to play or even just you disrespecting somebody basically

through your playing and have them get angry at you or something like that? Yeah, well, I mean, we bring three security guards now. Really? Oh, 100%. Oh, wow. Got to. So yes, I had some run-ins, but nothing super crazy. Like when I go, when I do go to go to a hood, or like play anywhere. I try to show everybody love, you know what I mean? And on the video, I try to show it true to its form. You know, like sometimes, like if I played for two hours, the vlog ain't going to be two hours.

You know what I mean? We're going to narrow that down. But for the most part, yeah, if somebody gets off, I throw it on the video and I'm showing them love. And if they even agree to play, they kind of know what comes with it. Like people who don't like me or not, they don't usually even want to play. But one time I was playing in the CBA, you know,

Chinese Basketball Association, that's their NBA. Okay. So I was playing a preseason game. And the dude that was guarding me, he's a big six-five dude, right? So he started to get tired because I was playing my streetball style play. It was like second quarter. And I did a move and he slipped and fell, right? He did the splits real fast and I hit the jumper.

And even before that, I hit a couple jumpers, right? So they're at home playing their preseason game. They don't know anything about street balls. Kid was only like 21 or 22. Wow. But we were doing our thing. And next thing you know, the crowd's on our side. But this is their home base, right?

So then I came down I tried to go off the dude's head He moved his head though Like he moved it to the side So like ricocheted off his head It was all ugly So I grabbed it back And I forget

Like he don't know street ball He didn't even know that move So he just thought I threw the ball His head like I was trying to punk him Or something like that Like it was straight disrespect Not sport

So he picked me up He threw me And then like both benches Cleared And they went viral It's on my channel Oh fuck I missed that one It was on ESPN that night

Like top 10 Yeah I mean Bouncing the ball off somebody's head. I could see how that would go over poorly easily. You call it the heasy? Off the heasy. You got to pick and choose. You know, with this era, though, the hyper-sensitive era, it's funny, that move and turned into like the most controversial. Really? Back in the day, I've seen like Steve Francis was the first player I saw do that. And then I saw like hot saw my A-O, my OGs. They used to use it all the time. And it was like just hilarious. It doesn't

even hurt though. You know what I mean? People did it to me. Like it's if you do it right off the forehead. The fly is shit is the one I seen you do where you do it And then you hold it there for a second like on their head And then you pull it back because that must be really offensive I try to do that I try to do that one more because the hit you know Sometimes you'd be a little low It might go off the nose

And somebody pissed but Yeah I like I like the roll off the head I try to do that more nowadays Yeah that's pretty cool When are the security guards coming to place Something must have happened when you were going to one of these neighbors To feel like you needed that right Well a few things happened

We had a stalker situation. A stalker. Stalk, real life stalker. So 2000 and, it's been going for 10 years too, by the way. What? So some dude in West L.A. I was like near Century City. I was trying to, I was at a Kinko's back in the day.

Like I didn't even have a printer or nothing. I'm trying to like send a contract back. You know, sign and sent a contractor. A printer ain't working. So some dude comes over and he's like breathing over my shoulder real hard. He's standing up. I'm sitting down. And he was like, yo, your professor.

right? I was like, yeah, what's up? You know, he was like, yo, I need to play you one-on-one. You know what I'm saying? I can't find no competition in the city. And then I looked up to him, I realized, like, dude's high or something. You know what I mean? Completely off. So he started going off for like 10 minutes about how you need to play me and all this. And so finally when I got to talk, I'm like, bro, you're UCLA right here.

The best competition in the country. You don't need to play me. He's like, nah, I think I need to play you, though. You know what I'm saying? You got these certain moves. It's kind of like me. Like, I'm like that too. So I was like, okay.

like, I was like, honestly, I travel a lot. I said, if I'm in town, I hoop at a church. It says, like, an hour way. So it's like, oh, what church? What's the address? So I'm like, at this point, I just want to get out. I just got to leave. So I said, Shepherd of Hills Church, I wrote it down.

Shepherd of the Hills. I said, it's in Porter Ranch. He's like, well, when you play, I'm like, oh, open gym's like Wednesday at noon. The truth is I went there like once a month, right? And I knew if he came up there, it's a controlled setting. It was real chill. You know what I mean? It's like an outreach ministry.

situation. So that next Wednesday, I didn't go up there. I was just like chilling my house, but I got a call. And this is the head of the sports ministry. And he's like, are you okay? And I was like, oh, yeah, well, what's up? He's like, some dude came over here looking for you. And we had to evacuate the whole church. He said he was going to blow it up since you weren't here. And so I was like, wow. So he got arrested, all that. Then he started blowing up my booking email. He's like, yo, this is a so-and-so, man. He's like, I went to jail because of you. He's like real adamant that we still need to play one-on-one and meet up. And I was young at the time.

I like respond. Like I shouldn't respond to me. But I went back and forth. Then dude popped up on me like two or three more times. And so that really let me know like security is necessary. And then, you know, like I said, going to who people try to screw up the production, sometimes near fights. I even had other stalker situations a little more lightweight than that.

But like really? Yeah. security I found is super necessary. Did that situation ever resolve itself with this other crazy guy? Dude got locked up and then he got out and then he pulled up on me like two or three more time. Just seen dude like, what was that? Three years ago or something?

Maybe three years ago I saw a dude again. He was at a kid's camp at the same church. I host a camp there every summer and I was signing autographs and taking selfies with the kids or wherever and this dude popped up. He had a hat on though. So he was kind of like disguised. He's like, hey, what's up, man? It's me.

I'm bling. I can't remember who's name. I don't need to say it. But he was like, remember, I went to jail because of you. And like, he's like, but it's all good now. You know, we should hoop. Like, we should get up. And I was just like, hey, like, I had security at the time.

Have you seen him play? Can you get it, dude? Have you seen, is he nice? No idea. You don't know. He told me, told me he was A1. He told me he was elite. That's the most insulting thing about all this.

He went to jail and you still don't even know if he's any good. He showed, well, one time I had a, I had a meetup. I don't even like a couple of meters, but it was like in Santa Clarito when I used to live out there. And he pulled up to that. And he was like hot. He had his ball on his back, but he was like high though. He kept like walking to a fence and then he'd come back and walk to the fence and come back. And I don't think we can even take it to the court.

It was just like whatever. So anyway, I hope he's all right now. But yeah. Yeah. So things like that kind of showed me that security wasn't necessary, you know? Crazy. Yeah. That's wild.

I know. Yeah. but it's pretty amazing, like the reaction that you get. Like, I've seen you pull up on just like a bunch of young-ass kids in a vlog. And, I mean, they're all screaming before you even getting into the court. Like, that's the fucking professor. No, it isn't. Yes, it is.

That's him. I was like, bro, that must feel amazing pulling up to, like, any basketball court in America be able to get a reaction like that. That's incredible. Yeah, no, I feel like it's humbling because with A&1, you know, we were up. And then it was nuts. So to feel the down makes you appreciate the up that much more. And the best part is now nobody can take it from you because you're in charge of your destiny as far as this business goes.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good look. It's a blessing for sure. Definitely. Yeah.

How much work do you put into doing like collabs and stuff like that? Because I've seen you playing, uh, doing a TikTok with sweetie in a vlog and stuff like that. Like how did you even get lined up with that? And does that, I notice you didn't even bother to use that in the title and thumbnail. You made it more about somebody talking shit to you. Yeah. Tried and true classic theme. Yeah.

Yeah. So just through different connections. Like that one was with this agency with these two cats that were pretty cool. We had talked about working nothing that's come of it thus far, but they were kind of trying to show and prove. So he's like, yo, he's like, I love your videos. I watch An one forever. These two dudes were like longtime supporters,

but they do content for like The Rock and Sweety. And Swedey, you know, she killed it with the content or whatever. So they seemed like they were beasts. And he was like, yo, she's doing a Snapchat series. like you want to you want to be a guest on a snapchat series and I was like oh I think that'd be dull I said I'll do it but I say could we get a TikTok or like a YouTube video out of it yeah and he's like uh probably not YouTube vid but you know maybe a TikTok yeah and so uh yeah so I showed up shot I don't think your Snapchat series actually even dropped but

um we shot the TikTok but then somebody was talking crap you know what I'm saying like as we're shooting it so it's like I'll bust your ass man like watched you forever but I'll bust you all I got so I was like maybe we'll play after and so like we'll play after and so like we did you some of the BTS and that's why they would they didn't allow me we filmed the whole day but they didn't allow me to use anything except for the TikTok collab okay with her so that's why I didn't put a title also because like my audience they're so keen on just just watching me embarrass somebody that's the reason that they're there if I do a straight lifestyle video I get like 100k 200k views only really but I'm just picky now like I look at the top YouTubers like say Casey Neistad David

Dobrick I don't I say bangers only. I'm only trying to drop if it's a banger. I used to do like filler videos that were like, get me over, you know, because I haven't uploaded. Now I try to just be picky, even if it takes a long time to get to the next one. Right. Because I just, I just seen the growth from that and the momentum.

You know what I mean? So I try to spam IG and TikTok. Nice. But, but with YouTube, way more strategic. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Do you, um, in terms of the business of being you, is the merch a huge part of it? Is the YouTube revenue is still a big

part of it? Like, what's the biggest things that we would maybe even be surprised by? Well, Global Hooper goes crazy. Global Hooper goes crazy, yeah. And then you're just wearing the sleeve right now just for additional real estate to advertise, or is there any kind of functional purpose for this right now? Yeah, no, this is pure swag. It has no elbow treatment. I'm assuming that this interview isn't that strenuous on your body. No, shout out to Iverson. He started that elbow brace. That's what turned into the sleeve, just being for style. I admit it is pretty cool in a weird way. I don't really know why, yeah.

Yeah, no, I try to dress like, I try to just wear really loud outfits to try to give the merch more pop, you know what I mean? But I've seen a couple people lifestyle the sleeve, and I was like, oh, that's hot, I like that. You know, so I started lifestyle in it. And right now we have the 2099 collection. Everything is like a futuristic play, like some back to the future vibes. Wow. So you need these hater blockers. I brought you something, by the way.

You can play basketball on those? I did. My recent TikTok, yeah, yeah. Nice. That's cool. So I brought you some hater blockers. But yeah, no, Global Hooper's big. the biggest thing I make the most money off is actually Facebook believe it or not.

Oh, I hear this from people here in the end. The CPMs are stupid. You never got your ads taken away on there? I've heard about it happening to a lot of people. I actually talked to them directly. I did a couple campaigns. I actually have a friend who's like, you know, face. So I talked to them like all the time.

So they helped me. So I did have an issue one time. And it took like a month. Even though I was in touch with them directly, it took about a month and a half to put out that fire. But, Wow. But yeah, I mean, I try to keep everything like super safe.

Like I don't dabble with no third party music. I don't even think of putting out anything. We always say if like if we're questioning, if it's a problem, just leave it out. We're good. You know what I mean? So. And on Facebook, you can sort of like reuse your catalog over and over and it goes crazy, huh? Exactly.

Exactly. So that's what's dope. But no, I mean, I shouldn't say that. It's either Facebook or like campaigns, you know, campaign stuff. So you get a lot of brand deals and campaigns, people want to want to wear. work with you in that regard too. Yeah, they'll come and they'll be like, uh, pay, they'll pay like a nice fee and we'll do like a 30 second YouTube integration and then they'll be like, can we get a TikTok post, a couple IG story. It'll be like some big package. And then we'll base the fee on like

how bulky that is, how much you want me to dedicate. Did you figure out how much that's all worth and the business of like how to sell that to brands? You figure that all at yourself or you bring on a team at a certain point or like agency or anything like that? Yeah. No, I do have somebody in-house. We bring, The biggest one I actually did was actually all in-house. Funny enough, it was something with Adobe a couple years ago. But no, agencies would be on it, you know what I mean? Like, they know the value in it, so like it's heavy competition for agencies to get big influencers because the advertising is nuts.

You know what I mean? And it's way cheaper for them than doing TV stuff or, you know, YouTube pre-roll is pricey, you know what I mean? So they can probably pay an influencer. And I'm talking about the big win companies, you know, Pepsi, Taco Bell, Burger King, stuff like that. they know if they can pay a few influencers and spread that out, that's probably going to be a better. What's the craziest one you've ever done? You said the Adobe one was in-house, but like, oh, yeah.

The ones where you just couldn't believe you were actually doing marketing on behalf of this brand. Oh, man, we've done Jordan Brand, Burger King, Microsoft. I'm blanking, like everybody, like Wendy's. Who else? I'm blanking, Zach. Yeah, Mountain Dew. signed with Mountain Dew for a year one time. I'm a soda addict, so that's, that was cool.

You ever had the Flaming Hot Mountain Dew? Flaming hot? No. Somebody sent it to us in the mail, and we had it. It was so good. They're beasts with the flavors, though. Like, I was a big fan of Code Red was a sponsor to handwork. Oh, I used to drink that when I was a kid. Oh, my God.

I always had a lot of money on Code Red. Fuck. Yeah, it's so good. That's my diet weakness. I say I'm not really an addict, but I guess my diet week's. Code Red was was the first thing. When I was 16, I worked at the grocery store, and every day when I would leave the grocery store, I would steal a code red and I would drink it and then when I wouldn't have it I started to realize that I felt bad and that I wanted one and that was when I first started to understand what addiction

felt like yeah was was from code red mountain dude I've been there I've been there yeah 100% but but yeah no we've been blessed man I work with all the the big the big brands like doing brand integrations and you know some some long-term sponsorships nice we're great so where do you see yourself the content. It feels like you've almost kind of like maxed out in a sense where you could go with the with the YouTube and stuff. Like you'd have such a good machine going with all this. When you think about like what more you could do in terms of content and stuff, what are you thinking of? As far as the content ideas or just in general? Oh, yeah. Or like bringing it to different platforms and stuff. Like I feel like I could see you

kind of helping do content on a bigger level and maybe even just like doing content that would make basketball itself or you know, a non-MBA. storyline version of basketball. I feel like you could do so much in terms of developing that kind of content and stuff like that. 100%. Yeah, I definitely want to expand on all levels. I think, like, I've had agencies try to pitch like Netflix show and stuff like that, but you never know who you're talking about, right?

Netflix is a thousands of people. So it's like, I don't know if we were talking to the right guy. But I do notice that I really still just want to expand on social because I notice like for my brand integrations for marketing, even like this interview right here, like, Things always come from crushing it on YouTube. Everything's a win. If you're doing crazy numbers on YouTube, like everything's a win. Right.

And so lately, we've been going crazy on YouTube and just trying to keep that on it up. But, you know, hopefully the over 10 mil, you know, try to get the 10 mil subs and go past it. That's the goal. But as far as expanding, I've done acting actually off and all my whole career. I never had any, like, huge roles or anything. But I moved to L.A. I was like to lead role in a movie. And it never got released.

Oh, that's why you moved here. That's why I moved here. to expand to acting because I saw Am1 was going downhill. This is before it kind of ended. And I wanted to do that. So I'm actually trying to go back into that. I was in like, there's Adam Sandler movie this year. I just played myself in.

And then like Nick Cannon had a movie. I just played a cameoos myself. But I would love to try to continue to expand that. I'm trying to produce a film. When did you become the professor for the record? 2003. Okay. Duke Tango is the guy legendary MC.

He would be like on the floor with us announcing. So he gave Skip to Maloo his name. He gave main event his name. But he said I was schooling people on the court. And I think he thought I looked like a professor too. You didn't take a funny haircut. I'll let you call me that. When he first said it, it was funny too because like I didn't even know if I liked it.

Like we first said it. I remember I told my brother that night. I was like, what do you call? Like the professor? Huh. I was like, I guess. But then now it's, you know, full circle is like the perfect fit. Definitely.

But, but yeah, try expand like then, you know, try to get on. streaming show try to help basketball choreography all the things i've dabbled in i would like to go more into now you know what upload i loved was when you went to that prison in nebraska thank you man that was a very moving video because i feel like a lot of i've watched a lot of prison type stuff on streaming services over the years but that one just seemed really cool because it's not like they were picking the craziest criminals out of the jail to have them be the ones that are on camera it was really like you got to see all these guys just hanging out all just having like and it's so many of those guys said to the camera that this is one of the best experiences that they've had

and just seeing you do your thing really motivated them and made them think that they could be something better. I mean, that was like actually kind of moving for me to see that. Thanks, man. Dude, humble, man. That was actually through a ministry. It's called Prison Fellowship. Right. They wanted me to go there and just tell my story. And the guy, Jay, remember the guy was saying award-winning reality TV guy. He did that show MTV Made. Oh, yeah. And he did, was it, my 500, 600 pound life? Because I'm a BMX guy and they had a BMX rider. I think a girl actually on that show back in the day.

And that's the main thing I remember from it. I think I remember it. So anyway, this dude, this dude Jay is a beast. So like, I saw some of his work. And he was like, what could we do together? Because we had a mutual friend. And he linked us up. And I was like, he's like, would you want to do a documentary?

I was like, I freaking loved that. I said, I'll look at your work and see what's good. I've always wanted to do a documentary. I was like, I don't know if the, you know, the book's over, but like, let's talk about this. So I looked at some of his work and I was like, all right, you're the guy. Like, I'd love it. Let's do this. And then we took it to, we eventually now, we were trying to make a film.

But so it's on the back burner. But along the way, he was like, hey, can you do me a favor, man? He's like, I got this deal with this prison fellowship. We go to prisons and we bring celebrities in there and we try to do like some ministry. But then I'm thinking we can get clearance to play some ball. He said, this is a max security prison in Lincoln, Nebraska. Would you want to go there and tell your story? And I was like, you think they'd find value in that?

You know what I mean? This is me not knowing. And he's like, oh, yeah, I think so. He said, I think we can make one heck of a video. And he said, they'll love it if it does good. And so I was like, I agree, the video would be hot if we could do it. So I went in there. It was a little nerve wracking at first, but it went incredible.

Another one of those things meant to be. I only played for 30 minutes, you know what I got like 80 moves off. and I don't know. How many shots we missed that day? Four. So it went perfect. And then I didn't think much of it, though, because corporate always screw up my video

and they shoot basketball. Try to cinematize it. You know, for fact, I learned from AN1 mixtape. You just need to stand on the side of the court. You need to be at the right angle. But you need a few right angles, but just shoot at eye level, center of the basketball.

Like, this is a basic. You know what I mean? Like, you try to get all, people try to move around and get all my... I'm like, bro, people want to see the whole play. You try to show my... Jersey. Yeah. So I didn't have any faith in it. I was doing it more for the ministry. You what I'm saying? I was like, oh, it's one of those ministry events I'll do. I said, maybe the video

will be all right. Who knows? So he sends it back to me and I'm critical. I'm an editor, right? Sometimes it'll do like 30 drafts if we have to a video. But he sent this video to me and I'm not thinking anything of it. I watched it. Like I said, I was moved too. I was like, well, let's upload it. I know. He's like, let me know the changes. None. Thanks. So we upload it and I think they're like 20 mil in a week. Yeah. I mean, one of the guys just kind of almost casually says, he goes, I've been here 35 years. And I'm just thinking about what, 1986 must have been like in comparison to right now.

Like that just, for a moment, that just put me in the frame of mind of just being like, holy shit, I am so thankful for everything I got going for me right now because this motherfucker hasn't seen daylight since 86. Since 80s, bro. Think what you missed. But no, that was what it was for me too. sorry, I got sidetrack when I was telling you the story. I was humbled, too. Like, this is a maximum security.

Nobody there, there was only one dude that was getting out like a month. Nobody there was getting out in less than 10 years. Like it was like they were in there and then they had me sit in their cell too. And, you know, Jay was like, ask him what he's in for? And I was like, you want to be? So I was like, what are you in for? And they're like, oh, you know, took a life. Took a couple lives.

It was a trip because like, you know, outside of bars from beyond bar, nobody's going to say that. Most of the dudes that when they asked him in that vlog, like most of them say like, yeah, murder, murder, double murder, triple men, like almost all of them, that was it. Yeah, it was a trip. But what I also learned is, too, to your credit, what you're saying is they're just people who made horrible choices.

And there's still people like, so it's so depressing in prison that like me going there, I didn't see the side of it. Me going there was just like a big uplift. It was super fun because they didn't like no fun ever. You know what I mean? It's just a big. routine over and over and over and there's literally like literally

a lot of depression and like horribleness so like a lot of those dudes were and one fan so they were like yo this is late you know what I mean and we had a really good time and yeah one of my best experiences as far as like shooting a YouTube video by far right yeah that was incredible okay last question

what's the most humiliated you've ever felt after going to film a video or playing a game like for the camera like has anyone ever kind of done the professor thing to the professor, like just sort of to stomp your ass out? Does it ever happen? Yeah.

You know, yeah, so a couple things come to mind. I've got done up when I was younger, like in the Ann one day. I remember one time I did a spin move, but he stepped on my foot. But I hit the deck. And back in the day, they showed no biases.

It didn't matter if professor was on top or not. They ran on the floor. I had to got taken out of the game. They yanked, you out of here? I'm like, I can't explain my love. I'm like, step on my foot. You never can explain, right? Right.

So that comes to mind. That was in that era. But in this era, I think went to San Jose. And I had no shame in saying this dude was really good. He was 6'9. He was like an overseas player. Whoa. But I played him, I played him like right off the bat.

And he busts my ass like 5'0. Oh, wow. But like, I mean, what was I going to do? You know what these dudes like six nine? That sounds like a pretty good excuse. Yeah, I don't really have any shame in saying that. But what it did, what sucked is it was like one of the shows that I've done. done that I didn't really fulfill and it

kill it, you know what I mean? Like I played two dudes after that and like they were kind of scrappy too, ex-college ballplayers and I and like I won and I got a couple moves off but it wasn't it just like wasn't a dope day, you know what I mean? Yeah, okay. So that's that's what I remember but yeah I mean we have played in the park where we get beat. But I don't know, I haven't got

dropped in a long time like right. I mean some I used to play pickup all the time. Now I only play if we're rolling. Like you ain't going to catch me playing unless we're making a vlog. But before I yeah, Is it just not fun to you or what? It's not a good use of your time at this point? Not a good use of time because it keeps getting injured.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Like basketball to me is fun at every rate. But yeah, now you almost feel like it's useless too because I used to play in leagues and like I'll go crazy in a league. Have people running on the court going crazy and I'm like, why didn't we film this? Like, and then at a certain, I think like 2014, I was like, okay, I'm never going to touch the court without filming. Like, this makes no sense.

We keep getting too much dope stuff and like that could be viral. So, you know, I'm not know how it worked back. How did you tear your Achilles tendon? Was that the worst injury you've had in recent memory? The worst basketball injury, yeah. Yeah. So that injury comes from just being too tight.

Like, I'm not a very flexible person, but I hadn't worked out in like five or six months, something like that. So I didn't work out a long time. And then I think we played too long. You know, in my age now, I try to play for like an hour, hour and a half and called a day. I think we play for like two and a half, three hours.

and we got toward the end and I just did a movement that I never do normally like usually when you go to push off you kind of like push back into the side that's how you go to the basket your back foot it pushed back into the side for some reason I did like this fake jab step

and I unfaked and then like I put my foot on my toe right in the middle of my body and tried to like push with all my weight Kili's just snapped like my body didn't go anywhere I just hit the deck immediately but I think it was because like too tight not stretching enough

not strengthening, not enough movement. So now my goal is like, well, when you do the Achilles, you got to rehab that forever if you want to play at a high level. So I never, I made rehab lifestyle, which is dope because it helps me work out. And then like I run a few times. I just try to never not be active because when you get active, less active is when you get tight. And then tightness can lead to, that's like your worst enemy.

But you couldn't ball for what, like a year? It took me 18 months to actually get to a point where I played. I remember I played a 2V2 for a vlog and I forgot. that I had gotten injured, like, you know, during the heat of the game, I just didn't think about it. What was life like for those 18 months, though? Like, because it's kind of like a sneak preview of what it's going to be like to be an old man, right? That's what I always think is kind of interesting about interviews. Yeah.

You're in your 20s or 30s, but then you get the sneak preview of what it's like to not be able to do that thing that you kind of based your whole life around. 100% it sucked. And they even told me, like, hey, just be prepared. A lot of people get depression and suicidal during this time because you're not going to be up. So I had crutches and I was in bed for like the first like three months, I think it is. And then when you get up, you got the baby legs and you're like, we'll go with the limp and you can barely get around. Then when you can walk normally, you feel incredible. Like walking is such a blessing.

You know, you don't realize until it's taken away. But no, I didn't, I don't think I hid depression. I don't think so because though some people were telling me I wasn't going to recover, my surgeon, he was like, no, you're going to be good. Like, he's like, I think I think it'll be fine. And he's like maybe not quite as, he actually didn't even have an accurate thing. He was like, maybe not 100%, you know, but like you'll be able to make your vids and be good. You ended up basically 100% you think? Better.

Wow. Came back better. There's a lot of, so sports rehab is kind of so far the last like 20 years. Like it's nuts. Shack ended his career off the Achilles. Isaiah Thomas from Pistons. He ended his career off the Achilles. Chonsie Billups did it and didn't come back the same.

and Kobe was never quite as explosive and stuff. So I was literally thinking I was going to be a part of that, but what I didn't realize is like they got 82 games. The demands of that is way harder. That's what I was thinking, yeah. 82 games. And then Kobe, you know, he kind of, even his last game, we scored 60, right?

He's not the same Kobe's before. Like, he was slower and stuff. But I forget he had a bunch of injuries, you know. He had knee injury, all this, and he still got to play every other night. So for me, I don't have to play like NBA player, so I can go ham and feel great. Right.

But, yeah, I mean, I was bummed. I was bummed though. I was emotionally bummed, but I don't think I ever got to like depression. I just I had other injuries too. I broke my foot, you know, separated my shoulder. So I was used to trying to come back better, make it your goal to come back better, you know? That's what's up. Yeah, it just reminded me that I've been trying to kind of turn my dad into a professor fan because my dad is like the biggest fucking basketball nerd. Like growing up, he was just like always going to high school games and college games and stuff. And I always thought it was kind of strange, you know? Like at one point, one of his friends told me, he goes, there's probably nobody who knows more about college

and high school basketball that isn't working in that world than your dad. Like, your dad is one of the only people weird enough to be paying this close of attention. He's a culturing basketball. He loves this shit. I love that. So I sent him the video of you playing as the nerd, the like six-minute video. I thought maybe my dad could comprehend what's going on in this clip. And I might send him this interview too to be like, you know, because I did the same thing when I interviewed Dennis Rodman because it's not a lot of overlap in terms of people I interview that he would really know who they were. Sure.

But no, that's dope. I appreciate that. That's awesome. Phil Grand Mason's going to be a fan soon. That's my opinion. Who is this? Phil Grand Mason, my dad. Oh, okay.

I love that. Shout out to Phil, man. But no, my father's like that, too. He goes like local high school game, even though we're, you know, kids are gone. Like local high school games. My parents, they're retired. So they're out here for the next six months because my bro is the head coach at Westmont College.

Oh, nice. So they just want to watch his whole, like, season. Wow. You know, and still support basketball. You know, my pops just like that, though, same. Is your dad still super excited about what you have going on? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

My parents are like, without my parents being that supporter, I don't think I would have done what I did because all the preparation I said, like I said, the preparation before the opportunity was put in. Like, look, they put me in every camp. Yeah. I had an individual trainer in fourth grade, AAU year round. This is before, like now AAU is. standard that it's year-round, right? If you want to be a hooper, you just play

A-U all year. It's not even a debate. But this is like when that was like a new wave. So I was all year-round, gym memberships. They let me keep them awake and make the neighbors mad by hooping on the driveway every day until 1 a.m. You know what I mean? So, yeah, it's still support really heavy even today. Fire. Amazing, man. Yeah. Well, Professor, I'm a big fan and I'm really in awe of everything you've created for yourself. It's quite a life. And much respect man thanks for the interview hey man humble man you're a media go so i'm taking notes like i'm humbled to be here man thank you professor podcast coming soon i love that i love the idea that we do an interview of course all right well hey maybe it's cement it starts here for sure

what do you want them to check out obviously the merch and everything your youtube channel social media general i guess yeah check yeah check me out uh youtube professor live um the professor on all of the platforms and check it out global hooper dot com fire yeah Thank you, man. The professor. No Jumper, coolest podcast in the world. Check us out on YouTube, SoundCloud, Patreon, et cetera. Like, comment, and subscribe, nojumper.com, if you want to support.

Appreciate you, man. Hey, thank you.