Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Today's podcast is sponsored by Sea Geek. If you didn't know,
see Geek is the official ticketing partner of the Brooklyns.
Whether you're trying to go to a Nets game, Liberty game, concert,
or any other event at Barclay Center, you really only
need Sea Geek. Welcome to Courtside Conversation. I'm your girl,
(00:31):
Ali Love. After years on the Heartwood as the in
arena host for the Brooklyn Nets, it's time for me
to take a courtside. We're here with artists, athletes, and
all of our favorite people to break down the game
called life. We're getting real about the grow up and
the glow up. So let's take a seat. What's up, everybody?
(00:57):
Welcome to Courtside Conversation. I'm your girl, Ali Love of Now.
Our next guest hails from Queen, New York. He's known
for his progressive backing style. He's a professional b m
X athlete, not just so yesterday. What's up? So you
got it right too? You know, straight to the point,
right to the point. All right, So here's a deal.
Four quarters of great conversation and I want to jump
(01:19):
right in. We're in tip off. Let's talk about the
opportunities that were afforded to you. I talked about this
all the time as a kid growing up. I didn't
know what I could be or who I could be.
You chose a career that I was never exposed to
as a kid, b MX athlete. How did you know
that you could do that? It's crazy because I was
telling the story earlier where like I remember just being
(01:42):
in my grandmother's driveway and there was a big wheeler there.
And one day I got on the big wheeler and
just started writing it in the driveway and next thing
you know, I was doing drifts all my big wheeler
and my cousin was like, that was cool. Do it again.
And I was like, oh, ship, like I'm getting this.
(02:02):
I'm getting this confirmation from someone in my life that
I looked up to and by what I was doing.
And they were like that's cool. So I'm gonna do
it again to impress them. And it turned in from
it turned from that to a love to an obsession
with bike riding. Where did that big will come from?
Who had it? And it was just in the driveway. Oh,
(02:23):
you just just woke up and it was there. No,
So so my grandma she was like took kid, of
all the kids in the neighborhood, So just naturally, like
toys would come in and out of the house and
of the driveway and things of that nature. And that
big will was there, along with footballs and basketballs and
all these other things. But that was the thing that
I gravitated towards. Now, your family is from not not
(02:46):
American Granada, right, Okay, as we know, when you're not
from here, the dream looks different, the hustle is different.
What were some of the values that you grew up
in your household? Obviously you say your grandmother. You know,
it takes a village, everybody's welcome. There were other values
that you could find in your home, for sure. So um,
mom and dad both from Grenada on first generation. And
(03:08):
I'm happy to act that question about those values because
those are the things that I use now, Like those
are the foundations of me as a human being, as
a person. But also when it goes into me being
an athlete, into my career, etcetera. But um, hard work, dedication,
being relentless, sacrifice, being aware of your surroundings, you know, um,
(03:30):
being being aware of of of the company you keep,
you know, like all those things are like valuable lessons
that I grew up with that my parents like knocked
into my head as much as possible, you know, because
as a kid, like they're not out with me when
I'm out and about running around at school and things
of those natures. So they were they were very instrumental
(03:54):
in making sure that they instill those valuable life lessons
in me that stuck with me and I was able
to apply as I was out and about move doing
my thing. I love that you say aware of your surroundings,
I think, and where we are today and the news
that we received today. Um, it's often overlooked that it's
a blessing to come home like at the end of
(04:15):
the day that you made it home alive, well and safe.
And I think to your point me too. As a kid,
you know, there's a fearless element that's quite beautiful and
refreshing where it's like, you know, you're gonna take on
the world. But as a young black kid, as a
young black girl, that awareness of that surrounding, your surrounding
(04:36):
is heightened so much. So. I'm from Miami, Florida, right
and when you come to New York, I came to
New or I love the interview change. I came to
New York ten years ago, UM when I came for
university study dance, and through dance, I found the fact
that I love hosting. I love interviewing folks telling stories
through conversation, and it led me into hosting for the
Brooklyn That's being a Paleston instructor, starting my own company
(04:56):
where we do women empowerment events around conversation. But it
was it was recognizing at a young age where my
body was in space, the access that people thought they
had to my hair, to my skin, the questions that
are often asked that I deemed inappropriate, but everyone thought
it was cool. Because ballet isn't was predominantly homogeneous. It
(05:16):
still is predominantly homogeneous. Similar to BMX. There's not a
lot of folks that look like you, right, So I
think dealing with that that awareness is increased. How did
you handle those transitions of you figured out you were
good at it, You're getting confirmation from people you love,
your family, your friends, your community, You're enjoying it, and
now it's time to take it into that next level.
(05:37):
But when you get into that next level, that arena
looks different. There's no one like you, how did you again,
how did you increase that awareness and how did you
process that mentally? Um, it was it was gradually right.
So as a kid growing up in Jamaica Queens, they
were definitely a misunderstanding of what BMX was it when
(06:00):
a lot of kids road bikes up to a certain
point and then it kind of stopped right you got
into cars or whatever it may be, into into other things, music,
whatever it may be, other hobbies. But for me, it
kept it kept going. And when they kept going, people
were like, well what are you doing? Just like like
why are you still riding it? And why are you
doing it in that way? Or like why are you
doing it in a way that wasn't common to my
(06:22):
community and I and I realized that it was just
a matter of the exposure of the BMX world. It
wasn't penetrating to the neighborhoods and in Jamaica Queens, UM
and those those like those instances, those those interactions, I
developed a very thick skin to criticism where it didn't
(06:44):
matter what people were saying. I knew. I loved it
and it was I guess it was part like blind faith,
It was part of being stubborn. It was part of
just like I love this and it makes me feel good,
so I don't care what anyone else says about it.
I'm gonna do this. And when I started to get
good and I started to like rise amongst the ranks,
per se, and I started to see the results, I
(07:06):
was like, Okay, if I got to this point, I
know that I can get to the next level. And
it was also a bit of ignorance, right, It was
like that was part of it, to be honest, that
that was part of it. And at the end of
the day, man, I feel like it was also it
was also God given, you know, like I'm not here
(07:27):
by accident. I'm here for a reason, and I believe
the reason that I'm here is to live out my truth,
live out my purpose um and do as much as
I can through the bicycle to affect myself, those around me,
and those around the world who look up to me
and who admire what I do. Yeah. Rolling into the
second quarter, Religion, King says pressure as a privilege at eighteen,
(07:50):
it is pressures and privilege at eighteen you signed with miracle, right,
Like that makes it pretty official and sometimes heavy as
they heard that where it's the crown happy that it's
the affirmation, confirmation of you got what it takes. But
also there's now an expectation on your head, you know,
like to produced that signing that contract and taking it
(08:11):
to the professional level. Did that effectual performance? No it didn't.
It actually fueled me to like go harder. Yeah, so
I so I signed my first professional contract at at
eighteen years old, which is again that's very early, right,
It's literally like coming out of like high school, going
(08:32):
to the league in a sense exactly what it was.
It's like keep balling with these adults basically at that
age and coming out of Jamaica. Queen's right, where no
one in my immediate circle or my family could tell
me what it's going to be like to be a
professional athlete. So a lot of the things that I experienced,
experienced on my own for the first time, and you
go back to some of these fundamental things that I
(08:54):
learned as a kid that my parents instilled to me.
Those were the lessons that I would that I would
reference whenever I'm in a situation that was foreign to me.
And you're right, heavy is the head, right, there was
expectations from from my family, and they're like, Okay, if
you're gonna like do this BMX thing, what are you
gonna do with it? Right? There are expectations from my
(09:15):
friends like, oh, what you're gonna do with it? The
expectations from my community, from the world of BMX, right,
and like from my sponsors like this, Like there's a
certain pressure. But man, like IM marveled in it, you know,
like I loved it. I took her and accepted it,
and I went harder every single day. Like my mother
(09:36):
is the prime example for me of dedication, strength, focus, relentlessness,
like all of these things. And I would channel her
when I'm riding, and I channel the things that she
was going through through her life, um and I and
and I used that energy and put it into my
bicycarat and I was like, Man, if I'm gonna go
out and rad my bike every single day, I need
(09:58):
to make sure that I'm learning a new trick every day,
or I'm going as hard as I possibly can to
make sure that one I'm fulfilling what matters to me.
And I'm and I'm proving it to myself first and
foremost and then everyone else, right, Like that would trickle
onto the other things, and I loved it. You weren't.
(10:18):
I mean, I gotta ask obvious questions you and even now,
were there moments or have there been moments where you're
just scared, Like you go do a trick and you
just maybe for the first time, maybe for the hundred
and fifties, because it's like free throws you've done, like
like these ballplayers have had a free throw the first time.
You should have free throws. You're nervous, and then like
your two thousand free throw in front of the arena,
(10:39):
for some reason, they can just get nervous. Like when
it came to tricks and performing, like how did you
deal with that? Were you not scary? I mean yeah,
Like there's definitely certain times where like I'm going to
try a new tricker the first time and it's like
okay this my heart is pounding right, But there was
something about like in that moment right where I would
like look at it, it was like, yeah, this is
(11:00):
like a fourth charter. It's like two minutes left in
the games on the line. That's how I would like visualizing,
and it's down to me and I'm like, oh, I
missed the first shot back on defense and I get
the ball back, I got a chance to win it again,
and like I would look at it that way in
my mind, like and it's crazy because this is the
first time I'm like speaking about it in that way.
But I definitely look at it that way because I
(11:21):
grew up watching sports, right. I love playing basketball, love
playing football, and I would admire certain athletes, right, And
there were those times, but in those moments I turned
up right. And it was also sometimes where I didn't
land the trick and I was like, damn, like I
didn't I didn't execute what I wanted to execute, or
like I hit my shin or hurt my wrists or
(11:41):
hurt this, and I can't even do my thing anymore.
I gotta I gotta take a step back, recover it
and come back another day. But I'm so thankful that
God bless me the opportunity to rot another day. Right,
But it was always like putting that pressure on myself
to take it to that level. And again, like I
mean like thriving in chaos. Right, That's how I looked
(12:04):
at it, right, because like when like when we're outside
riding and I'm at a spot and there's this this
sirens going on as people walking by, like maybe a
crack on on the on the concrete right before I
have to jump, or like the like landing isn't like
the right pavement to land on. It is all these
different things, like the rail is shaky. But through all
of that, you figure out a way to execute what
(12:26):
you have in mind, and and and and you push forward.
And that's what I did through my entire career. I'm
still doing it now right, whether it's a trick, whether
it's a deal, whether it's a it's a design, whether
it's a product of working on there's always these like
speed bumps and like these like potholes and things in
your way, But you work through those things and and
(12:47):
and and how you work through it, it's a testament
to your resolved to your strength, to your mindset. You know, um,
I know you mentioned your family, your community and a
lot of self resilience and self reliance. And I recognize
because when I see you, you always have your team,
You have your people. I recognize as I've grown too,
(13:07):
that we don't get here by ourselves. The voices in
our heads aren't voices we made up. It's the voices
that you learned at home, whether you know, even though
you told your parents you weren't listening, you really what
I'm saying. So you got out of the house and
replay those voices, those lessons, um before we go into
the half time. One of the things that's really important
to court that conversation is the assist. There's always maybe
a few people, maybe that one person that gave you
(13:30):
that assist that was life changing, maybe at the moment
you didn't even know you needed it, or at the
moment that it was this was your last hope. Who
was that person for you? My brother, my brother, what's right?
Did he? What's up? My god? He's gonna watch this
and he's gonna smile when he sees that. Um. So,
my older brother, where like he did a lot of
(13:52):
things that I admired, um prior to me doing those things.
And what I mean by at is like I mean,
of course, he's four years older than me, so he
experienced life in a different manner than I did. He
was able to see things in a different way and
help me shape my path. Right, So I've seen things
to avoid and I've seen things to do, and earlier
(14:15):
in my career, like anything, I had a problem with
I would go to him and talk to him about it.
Even though he didn't ride bicycles. He always had an
amazing perspective on life that I needed because, again, a
lot of these things I was dealing with at a
very early age, like eighteen nineteen years old, my kids
still dealing with corporations and in bike sponsors and media
(14:38):
and friends and just all these things. He had a
good perspective on it and I and I'm forever, forever
grateful for him for for for being there for me.
And I would say that that's my biggest assist. Yeah, alright.
Today's podcast is sponsored by se If you didn't know,
(15:01):
Seek is the official ticketing partner of the Brooklyn Nets.
Unlike any other apps, seat Geek makes buying tickets super simple.
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(15:25):
we're gonna have into have time. It's gonna be quick
where I have a little fun. We have some rapid fire,
and then one question before we hit into the third quarter.
Here we go TV versus movie like TV or a movie? Um, movie,
favorite movie Interstellar? WHOA, I did not see book or podcast.
(15:49):
I'm a podcast guy, although you have a book that
we're going to talk about later. Kick the ball and
catch the ball? Catch Okay. One thing you carry with
you at all times it cannot be your cell phone
and money. Not that people carry money these days. So
I sound antiquated. Chap said, alright, alright, I'm here for it.
All right, let's jump into the third quarter. Connection to Brooklyn. Obviously,
(16:12):
right now we are actually having this conversation at Barkley Center.
Right before then it's hit the court. Um. And Brooklyn
is so special. I've been here this tenth season. I've
been here all ten seasons. You hail from Queen's New
York is what how what I said in the intro.
But you have ties to Brooklyn mentioned by some of
the greatest jay z my Ocean song writing. You got
a line in there, you know, with the bike flips
(16:33):
connection to Brooklyn and what And I've also seen you.
My first time of ever quote unquote meeting you was
probably the eight to nine years ago from Afar, and
it was like it was. It was a round bark
They Center, and it was a basketball event I'm pretty
sure was like a Nike event at the time. And
you were on the street and you were just going
ham You were amazing, as you still are. But it
was just like and I just remember meeting you from
(16:54):
a far and I know I knew who you were
from that moment, And so do the people in the
streets of New York in general, right, which is always love.
Shout out to New York, shoutut to the streets in
New York. You guys always shown me so much love,
and I appreciate that. We we love we do, we
love you. Um. Connection to Brooklyn what makes Brooklyn special?
I mean, so, of course I'm Queens all day, every day.
It's big queens. Don't ever get it twisted. But now
(17:16):
I've been living in Brooklyn for the past ten years. UM,
and as a kid like, Brooklyn has such a Caribbean
hub in it, absolutely so. On the weekends, my mom
and my dad would drive to Brooklyn. I'll be in
the back seat of the car and they'll go see
their friends and stop at the local bakery and go
see my aunt. So I grew up every weekend, come
(17:36):
into Brooklyn, going up Linden Boulevard, like going over to
East New York and like seeing my family. Um, and
then Brooklyn also has some amazing bicycle spots, Like some
of my favorite spots to a rout in New York
City are in Brooklyn. And then since I've been living here, Um,
what are some of those spots for folks that are
listening that are huge fans of yours are like, I'm
gonna right, I don't want to be they want to be,
(17:59):
and I do know. But when when it comes to riding,
there's a spot called George de Rail that's on Golden
something over there if I like to Broolyn Bridge, I
forget the exact street, but it's one of my favorite
spots to ride. Um. So yeah, just different different projects,
different like plazes and parks within Brooklyn that we ride
(18:20):
at frequently. So I have I have a lot of time.
A lot of my friends live in Brooklyn. Some of
my best friends live in Brooklyn as well. Um, so
I spent a lot of time Here's I got nothing
but love for Brooklyn. But also again I'm a queen's kid. Yeah,
I got for all of New York City. Yeah, I know,
I know. I think you said something that that you reference,
which I often forget, but I also kind of deal
(18:42):
with it. It's like you grow up. You've grown up
in a public eye, um before being more on a
national international it was like in the community, people knew
who you were and still no and so it's like
you're repping queens, You're repp in Brooklyn, like all of
New York because it's so much love. And that's what
makes this sincerely like these burrows amazing. It's because at
(19:03):
the end of the day, but we may individually wrap
our own burrows we wrought for each other. When you
make it in New York, especially I'm not from New York,
Like you come New York and make it in New
York respect much respect, and and and and it's one
of the hardest places to make it from as as
much opportunity and exposure that we have in New York.
(19:24):
It's also extremely difficult to finding niche right and like
develop that and find your tribe and be with them
and we all rise together. You know, it's extremely hard.
But when you do make it out of here right,
when you do make it to a certain level, it's
like man like people know, like you're like you're cut
from a certain cloth to make it from New York
(19:46):
And I credit New York and I mean all of
New York City, um to so much of my success
because it gave me so much. It gave me exposure,
right like riding a bicycle around New York and a
different neighborhoo. You ride through what are different cultures, You're
exposed to different food, You're gonna eat, different people, You're
gonna connect with the sounds, the sites. Is so much
(20:08):
that happens within these burrows of of New York City. Um,
I wouldn't want to be from anywhere else, Like I
love the city. Yeah, Brooklyn basketball, I'm a neat fan.
I'm the indre in the host. I'm like, I've definitely
bought in since season one, being from Miami Gramma, growing
up as a Heat fan. I think, a dancer for
the New York Knicks for three season and then moving
(20:28):
over to Brooklyn. Best fans in the NBA, love art organization,
love the people that work at Barclay Center. But um,
but the basketball, like I love that we are. We're
building legacy. It's gonna take some time the next have
been around forever, like it's gonna take some time, it's
gonna take, But I think what we've accomplished in ten
(20:50):
years is quite special. Basketball Is that a sport? How hard?
How close to your heart? Is it? Right? So when
I think about basketball as a kid, I had a
best friend and it's still one of my best friends.
His name is Jordan's and he grew up in Queens,
in Laurelton, and he had a basketball court in his
backyard and that was like the epic center for basketball
(21:11):
in Laurelton, Queens. Like everyone would come play ball in
his yard. And I remember us playing like twenty games,
like a date during the summertime, like just getting beat
up in the yard, like doing everything right, and like
it was like one of those basketball courts in his
yard where like the houses on one side and the
grasses on the other side, like we were playing defense
(21:34):
and like get pinned up against the wall and your
arms all white because the house is painted white, and
like that would like rub up in your arm. But
we will play ball for hours and then we will
play football or tag where the cases. But we grew
up playing basketball, and one of those things that I
loved you know. Um, of course we had who dreams
like everybody, right, and I couldn't played one game in
(21:58):
school and I was like I'm tall, right, be a
basketball player all you know. Um. And but it was
something about the bicycle that I just love. Like I
would ride my bicycle from my house to his crib
and ride the bicycle back. And within those moments is
when I was like, man, this bicycle things to me.
But I mean, I love playing ball. It was the thing,
and like I still love watching it. I'll come to
(22:19):
Barclays see the games, like I got my favorite players,
like rooting for the Nets, always hometown team, you know. Um.
But yeah, I got nothing. I got nothing but love,
um for the basketball scene that's growing here and in
Brooklyn and to see how the community is galvanizing around
and that's it's also incredible. You know. There's like that
(22:41):
one section in the Barclays that the fans gold crazy white,
what's the name, that the block is hot, Like it's
always how you appreciate the block Corlas, Like time it
comes to again, I look up and there they're going crazy. Um.
So it's awesome, you know, it's it's awesome to see
what the Barclays has done in the Brooklyn community, everything
(23:01):
from the games, to the concerts to the other events
that take place here. You know. So yeah, like keep
like keep doing a damn thing. All right, let's roll
into the fourth quarter before we close out this game.
You have something on the table and you've added something
to your title. It's called author and this is a
book um Go quite special. How did this become? And
(23:22):
I'm gonna show the camera how did this become a thing?
How did you know this is what you were adding?
I didn't know at first. Um Go started off as
a film series that documented my journey around the world.
I was like, man, I want to ride my bicycle
around the world. Cool, like that happen? Make that happen, right?
(23:42):
I believe like nothing is impossible, Like we can do
whatever we put our minds too. And as we started
to do the film series, my creative partner hires some voice.
We shot all the photos in the book um He
was shooting images like NonStop, and we got to a
certain point within the film series, I think episode like
five or six, and I was like, man, we got
(24:04):
a lot of images. We didn't do something with use
images and as the universe would have it. We put
it out there and we happened to get in touch
with the team at Resolti and they were like, okay,
what you guys have and we put together this dropbox
folder of all these images. It was like, this is
what we got and they were like a hundred percent,
let's do a book. And the process started out at
(24:28):
the end of twenty eighteen. Actually we were we were
in Miami filming the filming the Go Miami video and
I remember having a conversation while I was there UM
and we started the process then, and it took us
a minute, went through the pandemic and that was the
whole thing for everyone. UM. But when we came out
(24:50):
of the pandemic, we were working on the layout of
the book. Like the process happened, we were in the
actual layout process and at the top of this ship
we actually finished the lay up. Smithed the book and
we put it out two weeks ago on our Top
eleven and it's doing extremely well and it documents the
(25:10):
entire Ghost series to date, the brand, everything we've been
doing with it. UM. We've we've been around the world
or l a Tokyo Dubai Paris, London, Miami, Las Vegas,
like a complete loop around around the world, which was
which was what I originally set out to do, to
ride my bicycle around the globe. Um and this and
(25:33):
this kind of bookmarks the first chapter of the Ghost
series and also kind of like the first seven years
of the Gold Brand. And we continue to what the
plan is, to continue to push it, continue to build
a brand. But I wanted to share the some people.
We wanted to make sure people had this in their
hands and their homes and see what we've done so far.
(25:54):
You know, that's quite beautiful. Cop and go right, since
worls now everything on god dot com, Amazon, Bronze and Nobles.
All right, I'm gonna take it back to close this out.
Just like you said in your head when you're about
to do you know, one of those tricks, those stunts,
like you're in the competition, maybe you felt maybe you're
(26:15):
doing it again. Loads of people watch you. Maybe here
in Brooklyn two minutes left in the fourth quarter, right right,
that's what you say, And you got the ball in
possession For those folks that are listening that could use motivation, inspiration,
drop them some knowledge. M that's a go on, man, Um,
(26:38):
I think it starts off with visualizing exactly what it
is that you see for yourself and what you want
to do. And from there it's it's all those things
you mentioned earlier, like dedicating yourself, working hard, working smart,
you know, like not taking no for an answer, pushing
(27:00):
through those rough patches again, like being resilient. It is
super important, um, being aware, right, being aware of what's
going on around you. And at the end of the day, man,
like dreaming big and I feel it's it's so easy
to be like, oh yeah, dream big, but applying yourself
(27:22):
to that dream as well. You don't mean a dream
without action, just an I did. It's actually applying yourself.
It's super important. Um. So many of the success stories
and people that we look up to, right and whatever
whatever industry, it maybe like they had an idea that
how to dream and how to go and they applied
(27:42):
themselves and pushed through. Like it's that part actually doing
the work. Yes, it is doing the work. Well, thank
you for literally sitting courtside with me having this conversation
in Barclay Center. I mean makes you all check out
and grab your copy of Go Eyes Words. Great content.
(28:03):
Incredible conversation and I do think you amazing