Episode 130 | "Bong Bong" w/ Bobbito Garcia

@THEKIDMERO

@LIZBELORTIZ

@RAINEYOVALLE

@KOOKBOBLOVE

 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You always up your college. You know what it is,
Man and Supper to Kid Merrill and this.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Is Victory Light. You know what I'm saying. That the
more one podcasts on the planet. We got on two
shooters with us today, of course, Randy and Liz and
a very very special guest in the building, Cool Bob
Love aka Bob Beito Garcia aka Bob from Stretching Bob.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
We talk about New York City basketball culture, his new book,
Babitu's Book of b Ball Bang Bong. You know what
i mean, hip hop, the evolution of the game, the
evolution of the music, and what you should do before
you go to college. Stay right there. Of lictory like
like like of lictory like y'ao, what's good? You know

(00:51):
what there is Man's Victory Light, swet a kid marat
the Human Duract flat. Of course in the building we
have the one the only Lizabeth or this lem not
that DNA, this super bitch of New York City. You
know what I'm saying. And on this side of me,
you know what I'm saying. I got the Yap God, Yappoholics,
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Or real yeah, shit, real, yap shit. You know what
I'm saying. He might have tattooed some cherries on your
tet's back. You know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Back in the day, that's true, he really did.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
You know what I'm saying. It's not a rumor.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
And today, you know what I'm saying, it's very special
because we back in the studio. God dammit, we feeling good.
The lighting is sexy because we got a very sexy guess.
This guy is a legend in two games. I'm not
even gonna say like Peope correctly, because he might be
even more popping than Peewee.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
If you a man like me or a woman or
are they of that.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Whoever you are, If you were introduced to Mount Rushmore
of hip hop, this is the guy that did the introducing.
He made them freestyle on the radio for you. You
know what I'm saying, and then he had Low C
make fun of them. You know what I'm saying. He's
the voice of New York City street ball.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
You know what I'm saying. From documentaries to your console
at your crib. You know what I'm saying. Even if
you're a suburban little you know what I'm saying. Chat.
You've heard this man's voice. You know what I mean.
This is the five borrow body Qua.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
You know what I'm saying, Old City King Cool Bob
Love better known as by Beat those gotta see ya.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
You know what I'm saying, Thank you, motherfucking New York legend. Baby.

Speaker 4 (02:17):
You know what I'm saying, Welcome to my brother pe
Wee kirkling Man. That's a that's a true legend. In
two games, I might have to thank you for, you know,
throwing me in the in the announcing sort of you know, hierarchy.
But I think in the sneaker world, I might I
might just be a little bit of the historic cat
in that in that level too.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
So we're gonna get into that because you've got whole
books and documentaries and pieces of of You're a historian, bro,
like you know, I am you Like you know, people
be like yo, yo, this person is the culture bro.
They repped the culture. I'm like, bro, y'all use the
word culture too much. I don't know if you're talking
about pro bid or yogurt hip hop talking about but

(02:59):
when motherfuckers talk about culture, yeah, you are the culture man.
When it comes to like sneakers, hip hop, just New
York City, bro. Like, if you can put New York
City in the Patriot dish cool Bye Blove cool, the
cool Bye blood virus will be released into the world.

Speaker 5 (03:17):
You know what I'm saying, Thank you for thank you
for being with us today. We appreciate no doubt spell
Thank you yo, thank you for the book is beautiful.
I got to tell you that the book is gorgeous.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
I appreciate that. For those who don't know, it's by
beat those books of Bebo Bong Bong. Yes, it's a memoir.
It features thirty years of my thirty five millimeter photography.
I've been shooting on the courts, you know for decades now,
and not a lot of people know me for that.

Speaker 6 (03:44):
But this book is not only my.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
Memoir, but it's also like an art book, you know,
showing like two page spreads of my photography fall on
Brooklyn Bronx and uh. And then also it's kind of
like a statement of New York City playground basketball history
from the sixties to the present. So it's like a
you know, Merlol. You mentioned triple threat. That's what my
book is.

Speaker 6 (04:07):
Passed you and dribble from the position of holding it
like that.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
You know, yeah, you bringing that up is very interesting too,
because some sections of it read like a textbook. It's
like a history of basketball from like a teaching perspective,
Like especially in the chapter about Harlem plays the best
ball in the world, you break down like the origins
of like oh, these guys went eighty eight games straight

(04:30):
in the thirty three season. There's sort of an academic
appreciation for basketball as well as like just your overall
passion and like love of the game.

Speaker 4 (04:39):
Fam you you spot on and I'm proud for you
to say something like that. Because all of my books
I've written three right, one was fiction that was for
kids called Ame High, Little Giant, Ame High. Well, my
first title was Where'd you get Those Sneaker Culture nineteen
sixty to nineteen eighty seven? This one is bab Beato's
Book of Bee Bull Bong Bong. But in each of
those two, I wanted people to look at them as textbooks,

(05:04):
but I wanted to write them in my natural New
York voice. You know, Latino Boriqua raised on hip hop,
so that a cat like yourself or anybody in a
BX whatever, they can read it and be like, nah,
I don't feel like them in the classroom right now.
I feel like somebody's talking to me. And so I

(05:25):
got a big up edge of sports slash of kashik
because the publishers they gave me that creative license. I mean,
it was really a negotiation point for me. I was like, y'all,
I can't I can't rock with y'all unless you allow
me give me that rope to just be like to
say yo, or to say they help like out, it's
just Spanish comes in, slang comes in. But if you're

(05:49):
not from any of these worlds, you can still read
the book in crazy understanding. Because as a writer, I
was very strategic in terms of providing a context or
the people because if I say, oh, he yung did on,
like you still understand what that means from the context.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, that's and that's super important because like we there
is three Dominicans over here, you know what I'm saying,
And a lot of times we get we go into
like these riffs and runs of like oh your looko,
that's how right? And I sweart the airs, you know
what I mean, and then being cognizant of like yo,
hold on, not everybody that's listening to this ship is
going to understand what we're saying. So we go back
and hit him with the Spanish once another day, Like,

(06:26):
you know what I'm saying, A lambong is somebody that
shows up with a Dutch and no money for the
eighth You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (06:34):
Yo, you want to hear some of the funniest that
that reminds me.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
So.

Speaker 4 (06:37):
I was a host sash creative producer on a on
a TV show called It's the Shoes back in two
thousand and five on ESPN first series in media history
about the culture.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Right.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
I'm not talking about probiotic culture. Culture speak of culture right.
I would, you know, be interviewing Fat Joe or Caamelo
Anthony or you know whoever, and I would just be
in my my.

Speaker 6 (07:00):
Lane talking to them, yo.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
Letter and so the producer he was like, yo, Bob,
like this is going to eighty million households. You know,
we gotta make it. And this is what he said,
he got it. We gotta make it dummy proof so
that anybody it can't be inside baseball. It's like anybody
could understand it.

Speaker 6 (07:17):
I said, cool. He just said it once and then
from now I was like, Okay, cool.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
If I'm going to say, you know, la la la,
I'm going to make it them understand la la la
means this.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, So you got into a little bit about like
how you decided to keep your voice in throughout the text,
and I just wanted to talk to you a little
bit more about that, like you kept a lot of
slang in the text. But did you and your editors
ever butt heads? Like were there ever moments of tension
like how did you decide what to keep specifically versus

(07:50):
like what to sort of clean up and present more?

Speaker 6 (07:54):
Yeah, no doubt, no, no butting heads.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
You know.

Speaker 4 (07:57):
Dave's Iron is the head of of sports. That's the
imprint on a Kashik Books, which is a publisher. He's
an author, you know, he's written over ten books about sports, time,
social justice. But he's from Queen's played against Kenny Anderson
as a kid, you know, and he was a columnist
for Slam magazine as well for years. Legendary, you know

(08:19):
what I'm saying. His college was crazy, so he understood
where I was coming from. And the publisher, Johnny Temple,
we went to Wesleyan University together. I know you went
to Williams. You know, but I know, dude since the eighties,
I know, for forty years. So I didn't walk into
that space with any resistance that you know, like anticipating like, oh,

(08:43):
they're going to have pushback.

Speaker 6 (08:44):
Now.

Speaker 4 (08:45):
The original manuscript was eighty five thousand words, and they
were like, yo, like you got to peel this back. Yeah, wow,
you got to peel this back, you know. And it
was one It wasn't pushback. But there was one chapter
where I'm talking about my my struggle with my college
coach at Wesleyan, right, and they were like, yo, we
want to cut this all together. I said, naw, you

(09:06):
can't cut that because you got to you gotta understand
the mud that I was in quick sand for you
to understand, for you to appreciate when I'm at the
top of the game and I'm now traveling and I'm
you know, I'm on television and all this other stuff.
So it's part of the journey, right, ain't nothing and
it ain't nothing cute, So you know, they were like,

(09:28):
all right, cool. So I was like, I'll cut it.
I was my own editor, Like twenty two thousand words
out of the out of the manuscript, for us to
get it to like that pristine, you know, level of
like Okay, here's here's the strong you know, if you're
making a like a soup. You know what I'm saying,
like this, take the best vegetables.

Speaker 6 (09:46):
When you chop and you yo, this, this looks a
little moldy. Here, let me put this in the garbage.
So that's what I did.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
I just just cleaned it up, got it tight for them,
and then they did the copy of it. Make sure
the grammar was right and I didn't miss any eyes
and misspell anything, and then boom and then.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
We bro That's how I know you for the hood,
because you said, yo, when you get a vegetable that
starts to get moldy, chop the moldy part.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
But I just throw the whole thing in the garden. Yeah,
this is a this one. I mean, what's an ear
of corn? A dollar fifty? Who gives a trap?

Speaker 3 (10:16):
Oh this, this piece of this squash looks weird. Let's
get this out.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's a little soft.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yes, we don't need that.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Yeah, no, come on, I don't want to.

Speaker 4 (10:25):
Because the other day I was about to eat a mango,
right and it had a big brown spot, right, by
the you know, the part that that it hangs from. Yeah,
And I was like, yo, man, I don't want to
throw out this man, mango dumb expensive, So I just
chopped off that part and then the rest of it
was juicy.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
I was good, Yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, I
mean speaking of the hood.

Speaker 5 (10:43):
Like all of us here are from New York, so
obviously I read in the book. I wanted to ask
you about this that on nine to eleven you woke
up to like a bunch of miscalls. I would love
for you to tell us about that day.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
That's emotional for me to talk about, you know, for
any of us. And you know, it's interesting. I was
talking about co parents this week. In fact, you know
she's from DC, right, and you know, she was telling
me about how New York is kind of like claimed
down to eleven, whereas like, you know, the things that
they went through with the pentsagon and then the plane
crash in Pennsylvania, like it's not wasn't just us, but

(11:19):
you know, New York is the media capital of the world,
so everybody's like, oh my god.

Speaker 6 (11:23):
Anyway, you know, basketball for me, right, my entire.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
Existence with it has always been a place of healing.
And I say that in so many different ways throughout
the book, because you know, I'm going through my quandaries
as a high school student and then I'm going my
struggles as an adult, and you know, it's like always
basketball comes back in as that sort of like spiritual

(11:50):
guide to help me feel like liberated and calm. So
I had DJ that apt legendary.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
You.

Speaker 6 (12:00):
I had a residency there for nine years.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Right.

Speaker 4 (12:03):
I was there Monday nights. Richmondina was there Wednesday nights.
You know, we put that club on smash. You know,
anybody who was anybody in the dance world was at
our spot, you know.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
So I was there Monday, September tenth, spinning this two
thousand and one. And you know, as I would often,
you know, going to four am, coming home, eat my
chocolate chip cookies, my rice milk, taking a shower, and
now I'm going to bed at like five am.

Speaker 6 (12:35):
So yo, the next morning, I'm like, yeah, I'm toast.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, So my phone.

Speaker 4 (12:39):
Is ringing, My phone is ringing, I'm not hearing it.
And then finally I'm starting to hear it, and I
finally answer it, and I'm like, yo, what's gone?

Speaker 6 (12:47):
What's going on?

Speaker 4 (12:48):
Like yo, yo, bob, I like, why, like, what's going on?
Go outside, look at your windows. I lived on fourteenth Street.
I lived on the precipice of the border right fourteenth
Street below south.

Speaker 6 (13:02):
They had shut it all off.

Speaker 4 (13:07):
Now across the street on the south side between first
and second was a fourteenth Street y and me and
Ramond Rodriguez, who you may well know. He's a star
actor now with Will Trent. But he's been in Battle
of La Transformers. He's been doing it. He was in
a wire.

Speaker 6 (13:22):
That's my man.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
I know him, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (13:25):
I know him for thirty years. That's my man. It's
like my little brother.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
So I didn't know he was going to go to
the gym, but that was our regular go to the gym,
you know, to play ball. He was trying to he
was trying out for n YU at the time.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
So it's like a regular, like scheduled kind of like thing.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
Me we were just there every day. Like he worked.
He worked at the fourteenth Sheet why before he became
an actor, he was. I mean it is way you know,
he was in high school, he worked at the fourteen Street.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
Why.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
He was a ball player and me, that's just my
regular like, Yo, I need to play ball. So it's
nine to eleven and I'm you know, I'm seeing the
thousands of people on my street. They can't go south
of fourteenth. The police got to barricaded off, and Yo,
it's wild for the night. My phone is going off
the hook. People just like yo, you all right, bob

(14:12):
dah dah blah.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
You know.

Speaker 4 (14:14):
So it's twelve o'clock comes along, like, Yo, I'm gonna
do what I always do, cause this is this is
Mayhem right now across the street.

Speaker 6 (14:23):
Go to fourteenth Street.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
Why who's in there? Ramon Rodriguez, you know. And then
another cat that's an l E. S legend named Joe
Ski played at the Rucker, played at Saint John's, he
worked at the Towers. Wow, And he walks in and
the three of us are there just like bugging.

Speaker 6 (14:43):
But we just shooting jump shots. We even play No.
Three on three, playing No. Twenty one, you know nothing.

Speaker 4 (14:47):
We just shot around, shot around for like an hour,
hour and a half. Went back to the crib and
it was like, okay, cool. That's like you know how
people like be meditating taking deep breaths. That was my meditation,
And I'm a storyteller. I've been hired by Nike wider
than Kennedy e a Sports for NBA Street Volume two.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (15:07):
If you see the Showtime film and why I see
point Guards, if you see NBA TV Point Guards of
pr like, I'm in all that. I'm a storyteller, you know.
So I have all these experiences for my life, yeah,
playing ball and it, and I try to take all
those and just infuse them into the pages of this
memoir by Beato's Book of be Ball Bang Bong, And

(15:29):
some of them are heavy and some of them are
victory light.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
That's right, That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (15:41):
Yo, mashed potato, come on, apple sauce.

Speaker 5 (15:46):
I think that I think that that's one of the
most New York things ever of Like, Yo, this is
happening around me, but I gotta go to the why.
But I thought that it was so beautiful that you
had a place of peace, you know, like a place
where you could go. It's like this is where I'm
going to kind of like get my mind off of
the problems.

Speaker 4 (16:02):
My true sanctuary would not have been the why. I
would have gone to Thompsons Square Park, to the outdoor park,
to the outdoor court. That's to me, that's the freest
space ever. Like the why I have to pay a
membership there? You know, I'm always advocating for people to
you know, play ball outdoors, you know. And so my
home court when I was at Las was either Pitt Street,

(16:26):
Hamdfish or the Thompson Square Park. It was on my
two favorite places to play when I live down there.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
What do you think?

Speaker 4 (16:32):
But anyway I could have go, I could have got
blow for teen Street. So that's why I just went
to the y right.

Speaker 7 (16:36):
I was literary, like like I was literary, like like like.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
As a as A as A as A I go,
I was gonna say, as a ball nowhere. You know
what I'm saying Like this, I tell my kids all
the time. I'm like, yo, when they like they shoot around,
they practice, and like my driveway and the asphalt is
all uneven, it's all fucked up, the rim is mad tight.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
I'm like, bro, this is where you should be practicing.
You know what I'm saying, Like Michael Jordan practice on dirt.
You know what I'm saying, Like literally, like all these
motherfuckers that y'all are playing against are playing in egg
condition gyms with beautiful park floors, with brand new John
Moran stinkers like bro here to put on these hand
me thouns and go hoop.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
What is the.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
Difference between like that that you know, we're playing in
the gym and we're playing outside, because you, like you
obviously are an advocate for like street ball being outside.
What does that give a hooper that you don't get
playing in the gym and doing your dress drills and
drills and drills.

Speaker 6 (17:35):
Yeah, no, no doubt, no doubt. I mean, you know,
I think.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
There's nothing wrong with playing in the gym because if
you are gonna, you know, go to organized route, you
are going to play in gyms, right. But for me,
you know, there's a paywall. If if you want to
go to Rebot Club or l A club, you know,
you got to be a student to play at NYU
or Columbia for theam or City College or Hunter College.
You can't just walk up in there, right But with

(17:59):
the ark, anybody could be there, you know from the
moment that you know, the city says, you know, we
have granted you access to you know, the gate if
it's a school yard, you know, it's not during the
hours where the kids are in class because you don't
want no predators out there, you know, so the gates
open up. Okay, cool, Now anybody can come out here.
And that's you know, when you play ball outdoors, you're

(18:22):
you're getting a grit and you're getting an element of
it's like surprise, but also the ability to to to surf,
you know, like if you surf it like you know,
the waves are not flat waves like and that's how

(18:43):
when you're playing ball, like all the courts are not
always level flat. So if you could dribble on a
on a joint that got a little concave, you know,
and still and still got your whippop, Oh okay boom.
Now you're going to flat and make it masks easy.
You're going to rim and it's like ten ten feet
in like three inches on one side from the corner
because there's a dip. The Parks of Recreation, they deliberately

(19:07):
build courts to be unlevel set at the water. When
it rains, it can go down to dream. A lot
of people don't know that. So you shoot from the
corner and the rim is like wow, hi, but you
still why now you go to the gym, and it's like, oh,
this is easy, this is type easy, like you know.

Speaker 6 (19:26):
So it's all those things.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
And also you know, in the in the realm of pickup,
like if you go to Harrison, you know, on the
on the West Side Highway, or you go to you know,
the course by Yankee Stadium, you don't know who's showing up.
You ain't got no scotting report on them. You know,
you never you may never seen Homeboy, you may never
seen Homegirl. So how do you decide how I'm gonna

(19:51):
guard this person and how are they gonna guard me?
So you're just it's it's the spontaneity. That's what I
was looking for. It's the spontaneity that's allowed outdoors that
doesn't happen indoors, but just to a different degree, you know,
I just I just let it be.

Speaker 6 (20:07):
I love.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
I wrote about this in my book, you know. And
I used to play at Tomas Square Park in the
l e S. You know, at the time in the nineties, prejetrification,
you know, Avenue A and Second Street was like that
was the hottest corner in the Five Boroughs for Heroin.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
I was that was Hamsterdam before Hamsterdam.

Speaker 6 (20:25):
Indeed, and and and you had a.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Whole bring it down for because they don't know this.

Speaker 4 (20:31):
You got a whole community of people who were unhoused
in the l e s as well, and they used
to play ball. I used to be at Towns Square
Park and be five on five and you know, we
you know, it might be two dudes who didn't even
have a crib. It was you know, squatters maybe, or
maybe it was unhoused. And you know, uh, it's it's
that element.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
You know.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
I've been I've been playing with a priest on one
squad and a corporate yuppie on the other side.

Speaker 6 (20:55):
Like, yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
Man.

Speaker 6 (20:57):
The park is so Flyby Park is so.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
Fly it's a it's a it's a melting pot in
that way, right. And it's almost like like you were
talking about elements, right, it's almost like the elements that
you can't control improve the elements that you can. So uh,
I wanted to ask you speaking of an element you
can't control. Uh, you talk about going to play basketball
on semen and cumming street crazy crazy, which is which

(21:21):
also happens to be an element that you can't control.
So I just wanted to talk to you about that
and how I just want to get into Bobbido's sort
of head. Yeah what that sounds like? What that sounds like?
And how hard was it to get your to get
your Thompson Square Park friends, to get your wife friends
to be like, yo, come hooping me over here. Man,

(21:42):
it's a you know what I mean, I'm gonna go practice.
I'm gonna practice with my man. Oh we over there,
we over there on Seamen and coming, baby, come on, yo,
hold on?

Speaker 1 (21:50):
What the what? No?

Speaker 3 (21:52):
Not, that's just the street.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
That's just what you said, we're gonna bowl or semen
and coming. What you're trying? Like what you mean by that?

Speaker 8 (22:00):
So far?

Speaker 7 (22:01):
Man?

Speaker 3 (22:01):
I just wanted to get your perspective of like what
was there like a seventies or eighties version of like
hey yo, hold on or like.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
Nah no, let me put it. Let me put this
in context for you. I mean, when I'm playing ball
up there, that's that's that's north of dykeman, so I
think it's.

Speaker 6 (22:17):
Called Inwood Park there. That's dope. I got jumped out.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
Well, you know it's like right before you get to
the to the BX over the bridge, right on two fifteen.
I mean, you know I was. I was eleven twelve
going into play ball. I ain't no, I didn't even
know what some of that stuff meant. So like it
wasn't no joke to be had. It was like as
I got older, I was like, oh, dad, Like I
used to play ball over there and look at these

(22:42):
names like that's kind of wild. You know, as a
twelve year old, I wasn't like, you know, oh my god,
see I'm playing on seamen Like nah, you know, like
I didn't know you.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Had good parents then.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
Bro, because I would have been like yo yo yo
Jose came, he slipped where he slipped, he slipped, don't
see me?

Speaker 1 (23:02):
Oh sh crazy?

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Now he got.

Speaker 6 (23:09):
Going to that corner.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
I mean, I hope they haven't changed the names, but
literally you can go to that corner right now.

Speaker 6 (23:13):
It's still there. Still should have the street signs.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
What does live over there? Twisteen and bro right by
the twin donut? You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (23:21):
So that's my childhood.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
You know.

Speaker 6 (23:24):
That's your funny.

Speaker 4 (23:25):
Ain't nobody I've just I've been doing it with press
campaign for like two three weeks.

Speaker 6 (23:29):
Ain't nobody asked that.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
You know what I'm saying that's right because here at victory,
like we asked the hard hitting question.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
It's like, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
So you had said in the book, like you know, basketball,
your upbringing kind of made you who you are, like
your your your geography. You know what I'm saying. And uh,
I just want to ask you what does each Burrow
Bob look like? You know what I'm saying, Like you
came up when you came up, But what is what
is this a bot Beto come like? What is bout

(24:01):
Beito coming looking like coming out of Soundview? What is
Boto looking like coming out of Spanish Harlem? What's about
Beeto coming looking like out of Corona Queens? You know
what I'm saying, Like, who's that guy? Is it the
same bib or is it like you got a little
different sauce?

Speaker 6 (24:16):
Yeah, I don't know. That's a tough question.

Speaker 4 (24:18):
I mean, Uh, rest in peace to the young brother
who got shot in Sound of You a few days ago.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
I believe.

Speaker 4 (24:27):
That was unfortunate, but uh, you know what I mean.
I spent time in the b X as a kid.
You know my I have family up there. Uh by
Taff High School and Sheridan Avenue.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
Oh nice, that's where I went to building Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
Okay, cool, tell them what TAP stand for? Bro?

Speaker 3 (24:43):
Oh no, no, you gotta tell him that's that's after
my time.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
Bro.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
This is crazy because this is what is being told
to me by Goddess counselors days.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
Like, Yo, you don't want to go to taff bro.
I'm like, why not? Yo? It stands for training animals
for the future, like both they had balls in the windows.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
That was the school where they threw a teacher out
the window, bro, because they was it was was getting staticky.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
In the Yeah right, yeah, oh my god. Yeah I
went there. I went there after the Mayhem. That's where
I go Yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
Yeah yeah.

Speaker 4 (25:16):
And I spent time at at Orchard Beach as a kid.
And but had I grown up in in Soundview, I
don't know, I think, you know, and I expressed this
in my memoir I beat those Book of people bunk bong.
You know, the Upper West Side was very particular and
that you know, we had a strong writers community. You know,

(25:39):
we had a a very deep Jewish community. You know,
we had a ton of Haitians, uh, you know coming
into the city, a ton of Dominicans eventually, like towards
the late eighties, but I'm talking about sixties and seventies.
It's heavy duty with Boriquas and and you know, in

(26:01):
my building alone, like we had people from Thailand, from Vietnam.

Speaker 6 (26:06):
They had businesses and.

Speaker 4 (26:08):
I had, I had, I had an interesting childhood and
that I was able to get a view of you know,
low income, middle income, and upper income just from my building,
just being in the elevator going up and down. Because
it was a Mitchell Llama, we had a it was
a literal Mitchell Lama management, and so they had like

(26:29):
you know, they had they had to have a certain
amount of residents who couldn't afford you know, public assistance.
So it was like living in the projects, were living
in a in a in a co op at the
same time.

Speaker 6 (26:38):
Like it was just truly bugged out. But you know,
I loved it.

Speaker 4 (26:42):
So, you know, I don't know how my life perspective
would have been different had I grown up in Corona
or growing up in Soundview, but I like to think that,
you know, because of my parents giving me so much freedom.
You know, I didn't know the term latch key kid
as a as a child, you know I still kind
of don't fully understand it, but yo, I was left

(27:04):
alone in my in my crib, like at four years old,
you know, like just I think about my son, I'm like, yo, Like,
I mean, that's not a knock against my parents. You know,
my pops rest in peace, and my mom did phenomenal
you know, justice to to our family, holding us down
all she could.

Speaker 6 (27:22):
But you know I was, I was, you know.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
Holding down.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
He was outside.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
I was, Yo.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
I wrote about this in my book, Like when I
went to Brooklyn Tech, I failed like seven classes my
freshman year because I was just cutting classes left right,
and my parents had no idea. I was just going
to play ball. I wasn't going out to be reckless.
I was just literally just I just I wanted to
and needed to play ball. So I didn't have that like.

Speaker 6 (27:47):
Like they did. Wasn't like hovering over me, you know. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
And and had I had I been the sound for you,
had I been in Corona, I don't know, maybe, but
I feel like I was already in my lane, like
I had real folks on who I want to be
as a person, you know, as a student, as a
ball player, and I would have stuck with that, I
think no matter what neighborhood, I would have landed it.
Now you know about el Bachrio, Like, I spent heavy

(28:12):
time there because my mother was cutting head in a
salon since nineteen fifty seven. They just closed it last year.
Oh wow, So that's sixty.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Years generational run right there.

Speaker 6 (28:25):
Yeah, just yeo.

Speaker 4 (28:26):
She had a crazy run right next to the White
Park one hundred and six between Lex and Third. So
I'm spending time at the White Park as a four
years old. I'm just going out there, and I didn't
have a babysitter. It was like the dudes in the
park to come in to get haircuts or their wife
would come in to get haircuts. They looked that out
after me. So I'm in the White Park being raised

(28:47):
by the community.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
You know.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
I was just running around and playing you know, whipple
ball and watching handball and hearing the Gonga players and
so I loved I loved my experiences eating gnatpies, you know,
on a block, and you know, I got fond memories
of growing up. My first pair of sneakers I ever bought,
I mean my moms bought me was a Tom ticking
Harry's on Third Avenue in El Barrio.

Speaker 6 (29:10):
Yeah, you know my sneaker.

Speaker 4 (29:11):
Book, I write about that, So I got I'm planted,
and I mean I'm upper west Side, true and true
and tried and true. But I have a lot of
childhood upbringing in Elbacra as well, you know, so you
you could kind of say I'm part I'm east Side
and west Side at the same exact same.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yeah, Barbido, you're like the living example of like it
takes a village, right cause, like you you are, you
are raised by your community through and through and there's
so much of that pepper throughout this book and that's
part of why it was so interesting and so like engaging.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
An important thing too on this show is like that
we we we make sure we get everything right.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
You know what I'm saying. We fact check everything.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
So when you were just saying, you were just saying
before you were like, yoa, I was just chilling the
park in Kanapas.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Bro. They're not call King Nepas. They'll calls, oh, no,
here we go doing this. We're not.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
No, No, I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to go see
this one.

Speaker 6 (30:16):
I saw hilarious.

Speaker 4 (30:17):
I g real where they were saying you're doing saying
the differences, you know, of the different names, and you know,
I think that's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
You know.

Speaker 4 (30:23):
I think, you know, every community should should should speak
their own language and should determine how they identify.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
For sure.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
Case in point, something that's huge in my book that
no one has talked to me about that I want
to bring up is the word street ball. I detested.
I've never used it. I don't like it. It's something
that the corporate and the media world put on us,

(30:54):
and then eventually everybody was like drilled in ahead and
now you know, a sixteen year old and the projects
is like, yo, like street ball. But you know, up
until like you know, prior to you know, two thousand,
basically like nobody said that in the hood. Nobody would
have dead say that, like just go play ball, yo,

(31:14):
we're playing ball, and.

Speaker 6 (31:16):
Say you don't have to put the street in front
of it. It was like, yo, playing.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
Ball, you think b ball, basketball, Like that's just what
it is. So you know, it's interesting to me. But
I mean, you know, I always say, like we as
a people should determine.

Speaker 6 (31:29):
You know. It's the same way with graffiti.

Speaker 4 (31:31):
I was just reading, I was just watching somebody the
other day, my man Kyo from the X Man, that's
my man, right, he was like, yo, man, you know,
we didn't call ourselves graffiti writers, were just writers. It
was when they did the book The Art of the
Faith of Graffiti that you know, the the the people.

Speaker 6 (31:50):
Wouldn't understand what we were doing. They put the word
on us.

Speaker 4 (31:53):
Same thing with breaking, you know, B boying front the Bronx,
you know, went downtown and then people would they were like, oh, breakdancing, Like, nah,
it's not we don't call it that. But now even
like an old g like legend you know, has been
beaten in the head like oh yeah, like breakdancing like nah,
but you don't.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
Call it that. I'm a b boy.

Speaker 6 (32:13):
Yeah, so if you want to call it lemon. See
you're like, that's that's good.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
Now. It's crazy because before you said by my group
of my friends that were writers, I immediately went to like, oh, graffiti,
like yeah, that's a graffiti right.

Speaker 6 (32:29):
That's because where you're from, where we're from, you know,
we don't.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (32:32):
I was legitary like like like I was legitary like like.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
Like so listen, man, ball is life, clearly, you know
what I'm saying, I beat this book of Basketball Baseball.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
That's the Dominican coming out bag By, you know what
I'm saying. And the baseball always baller's life.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
Man.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
And you talk about this impact on you, you know
what I'm saying, How this hit me? Because this was
This is a real thing, bro. And if you're not
from New York, you might not know about this. But
if you are a hooper from New York, you know
that you had the old eyes under the jeans all
the time, ready for any a game of twenty one, Bro,
at any point could break out.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
You know what I'm saying. You was always ready.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
So I want to talk to you a little bit
about like the evolutions that you've seen because you've been
in it, like you said, sixties seventies, like historian of
hooping in New York, Like what have you seen man
like over the years, Like the evolution of the game
in New York, like the good, the bad, the ugly,
all of it. Because I got a whole little bullet
list of like other questions.

Speaker 4 (33:36):
Well, yeah, no, I mean that's that's a loaded that's
a loaded question.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
And I think.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
I feel confident that I was able to display the
evolution of what I witnessed, you know, as a as
a young and you know, just watching and then becoming
a ballplayer, and then my eighty three, I'll started becoming
an announcer.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
You know.

Speaker 4 (33:59):
So I haven't just played against dudes who played with
I've watched and I've done play by place. I've seen
like the steps, you know, and and certainly like in
the last twenty five years, we've seen like the curtains
just be opened up and now the rest of the
world knows what we're doing here. But prior to that,

(34:21):
it was like this clandestine movement, you know. So you know,
with the with the aving and social media, which has
been beautiful. You know, cat like Isaiah from Harlem, you know,
he got the jelly. Okay, now you got people in
Japan doing the jelly you know, but prior to that,
they may not know what that is, or they might
have done it, but they didn't know what it was called,

(34:44):
you know. And meanwhile, like you know, prior to it
be called jelly, was it was the jelly roll. Prior
to that, it was the butter roll. Prior to that,
it was the dip. You know, Oh, we dipped it
on you. Oh, it's a whole there's a whole derivation
of know, there's a whole legacy of that of that move,
you know, dating back to the seventies. It might even

(35:05):
be even before that, I know it from the seventies
put the ball back here like you're gonna dunk.

Speaker 6 (35:12):
And then the last second go poof. You know.

Speaker 4 (35:15):
So that's the evolution is that, you know, we are
exposed and now it's we welcome you know, anybody from
any part of the world looking like us, assuming our creativity.
And further again, you know, there's a dope documentary, uh
called Handled with Care about the Knotted Crew in Vancouver
that Chris Paul was an executive producer of. You know,

(35:38):
it's it's on, it's online and everything. I'm I'm interviewing
in it. And uh but you know, they in Vancouver
and they doing wow ass moves, you know. But they
inspired by the by the by the esthetic of New York,
you know, And so New York is like the foundation.
I said this a long time ago, and it actually
became a clothing line. But basketball was born in Springfield,

(36:02):
but it was raised in New York City, right, And
that's that's the evolution, right, the culture expands and and
and and you know keeps on pushing the plateau of
what it could be in New York and globally now too,
you know. And it wasn't just New York, but New
York is like where it was super concentrated, you know.

Speaker 6 (36:22):
You know, you buy like.

Speaker 4 (36:23):
Like detergent and sometimes you got water to it because
it's so that's what that's what New York is. New
York is like the the you know, the pre concentrate. Yeah,
the concentrate you know.

Speaker 6 (36:38):
Yeah, min it made.

Speaker 4 (36:39):
The orange juice that frozen that you would never drink
now because there's so much other choices that are way better.

Speaker 3 (36:46):
It's like twenty four dollars. You can't let it sit
in water overnight. New York City is like when you
keep adding water to the dawn. So we just just
drop a little water, just shake.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
Down extent it.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
It's funny that you bring up, you know, like the
evolution of the of the game and everything, because one
of the one of the most powerful quotes to me
in the book is on Frankfurter's on the beatbox when
you say the live recording of flashes on the beatbox
was a litmus test to know who was down and
who wasn't. And like threes the body rock, uh did
the same thing for when you played somewhere else. So

(37:22):
in the book, the quote ends with you saying you
had to be inside the culture, living the culture to
be up on it. So how you know, it's just
interesting to get your perspective now live, you know, versus
like written in the book, because now you see it
on your face, written all over your face that like yo,
this like it's it's pieces of the culture have survived

(37:45):
the times, but like you said, with the advent of
social media, so much of that has changed. And I
think it's just a beautiful thing to have, you know,
this text, you know, like detailing the history of the culture,
and like the fact that like there are people in
it that work from it, that are still putting time in,
putting effort in to make sure that now this.

Speaker 6 (38:06):
Is who we are now no doubt.

Speaker 4 (38:08):
I mean, listen, you know y'all do a podcast, right,
you got your audience, you got your followers. You know,
we as public figures, we have a duty, right, you know.
And and if you know, Professor David Holland from n Yu.
He's an author as well. He teaches a class. He
wrote a book called How Basketball Can Say the World,
and he wants he's He said, you're Bob Man.

Speaker 6 (38:28):
You like the poet laureate. How he said that word laureate? Yeah, yeah,
Lai the time?

Speaker 1 (38:35):
On purpose? I'd be like, yo, I said it wrong,
on purpose?

Speaker 6 (38:39):
You like the poet?

Speaker 4 (38:41):
He said, you like the poet Laurei laureate of playground basketball.
And I really appreciated him saying that because of, you know,
the stature that he's in, you know, but ultimately, like
if I'm going to write a book, I gotta represent correct.
I mean, that's that's you know, that's just all we
been my lane, like whether it was sneakers or you know,

(39:02):
hip hop, me and stretch on the radio, like, yo,
we're gonna do a radio show, we gotta do it correct.
That's that's the conditioning that I had as a kid
growing up in New York playing balls, like yo, you
don't come to the park half ass. Don't half stuff.
You know, Kine said, ain't no half set of eighty eight.
But that was the that was the model way before that, Like, yo,

(39:22):
don't he just put it on the beat either either
do it right or don't do it at all, you know,
So that's yeah, I appreciate what you're saying that beat.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
And not and it's it's ill because that's rare. Bro,
Like a lot of motherfuckers just go out there and
just do something, just to do it and see what happens.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
But like the.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Reading the book, seeing your career, like your longevity, how
you're still relevant in the space people still come. You're
like the the like the the og of like this shit, you.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Know what I mean. Like when people like you said,
like you're in so many.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
Documentaries, You're getting tapped for interviews so much because your
knowledge is so deep, you know what I mean. The
game and like as somebody that like you know, loves basketball,
you know what I'm saying, Like I look at somebody
like you as like a professor X, Like Yo, this
motherfucker knows everything, you know, So every time I want
to ask a question, I'm like yo. I was like,

(40:15):
like I got a whole like because I told the
kids that I coach, Like, Yo, if you want to
see basketball the way it's supposed to be played, watch
the w You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
Watch the women's game because they like that.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
Like they're really like this, like the sets are there,
everything's clean. It's motion ball movement, you know what I mean.
Like all this stuff is going on.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
And they still got ISO as well. It's like it's
mixed in with mixed in with the team works.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
It's a lot less hero ball.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
It's a lot less like yo, fuck it, Like I'm
just bigger than you, a much exam it on you.
It's more like strategic and game like the bags are deeper,
you know what I'm saying in my opinion, you know
what I mean, Like like from coming from where you're
coming from and seeing like the occasional like Shorty out
on the park hooping to now it's like these are megastars,

(41:09):
bro Like like what from your POV? What has that
been like? Seeing that like evolve and come up.

Speaker 4 (41:17):
I love the fact that you know, in twenty twenty
five we have cast of the ball and you know
where YouTube followers like in the three hundred thousand, four
hundred thousand and half a million million, and they're not
trying to play in the NBA eighty or they're not
trying to play college. They just doing one v one, yep,

(41:38):
and living off of that, sustaining you know, feeding their
family off of just playing one on one in the park.
So that's beautiful man, And that couldn't have existed prior
to social media, right, So there might be people who
will say, like, you know, the advent of the highlight
kind of fed up basketball, right because you know, all

(42:00):
the networks were like, oh, you know, instead of you know,
forty eight minute games, just taking like you know, the
three top plays, right, making them like bigger than life.
And then the people who are like coming up are like, yo,
I want to I want to dunk, Like yo, be
you you haven't even learned how to how to lay
the ball up birse yet. Yeah, so you know, I mean,

(42:24):
but that's just what it is, because everybody loves the highlight, right,
and you know, ultimately, I think, uh, you know, we
we seek the guidance of elders and cultures, coaches and
trainers or we you know, if you're just self educated, right,
you watch and you decide for yourself like, oh, like yo,

(42:45):
that I like the way she plays, like yeah, let
me set a pick, let me move without the ball,
let me let me play. Lock up defense is going
to give me opportunities for for for offense. And you
learn those things, you know, through through playing, through experiencing.
So I think there's there's there's multiple ways to look
at this, and to me, like ultimately, the bottom lines
that more people playing ball right now than at any

(43:08):
moment in the history of the sport. And the crazy
thing is hasn't even reached its potential.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
Oh now, it's just like Iceberg right now.

Speaker 6 (43:19):
Check this out.

Speaker 4 (43:20):
Be basketball right now is the number one participatory sport
in the world. Hasn't even reached its potential. That's that's
mind blowing. Bro. There's mind more people play ball than
any other sport, and imagine how much more can grow.

(43:42):
That's why New York is so important, right because everybody
looks at what we're doing. You know Zone six and
Gersh and Breatheword and Dykeman and Rucca and Kingdome and
by tournament twenty one all world are doing in thirty
international locations.

Speaker 6 (43:56):
You got Who's in the Sun, You got west Ford,
Joe Cruz who.

Speaker 4 (44:01):
Anniversary. You know that Fall was a friend of mine.
May he rest in peace. Get discuss the empos. But
you know it's like we're doing all these things in
New York that's resonating, and the rest of the world
is like, wow, like we want to do a summer
tournament too, Like oh, yo, we want to play pick
up two or you know, and and it's growing, it's growing,
it's growing, keeps on getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
So you know, I.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
Love the evolution that that you sort of like are
like considering here, Like we're all like, we're intellectualizing things
that are just naturally happening outdoors.

Speaker 8 (44:36):
You know.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
That's fire.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
So as a hooper, do you prefer to play five
on five, full court, three on three or he's just
one of those dudes that say, Yo, roll the ball out, bro,
let's play twenty one. I don't give a fuck what
we're playing.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
Ah.

Speaker 4 (44:50):
Well, in twenty thirteen, I started a tournament called Full
Call twenty one. Originally now it's called FC twenty one
for the very reason of my goal of inclusivity, right,
because if you roll up to the park and there's
a five on five, three on three, you'd be like, yo,
who got next? Right, And it might be like three
dudes who say I got next? So now I had next,

(45:11):
And then you're waiting, and they may not put you
down if they don't know you.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
You know, so you gotta wait.

Speaker 4 (45:17):
But when you playing, when Cats is playing twenty one,
you roll up. You don't have to say who got next?

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Yo?

Speaker 6 (45:21):
Who got to hide? Ten y'a.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
I'm jumping in and you just jump in. That's an
inclusive moment. And it's not like it's a five on five.
Y'all played in twenty ones in Harlem, but.

Speaker 6 (45:33):
Like fourteen fifteen dudes.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
You know what I'm saying, we all play in twenty
one and get double tree.

Speaker 6 (45:40):
Is mad fun.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
So me personally, I love the freedom and the liberty
that that twenty one gave me.

Speaker 6 (45:48):
Because there's no coaches, no teams, no teammates.

Speaker 4 (45:50):
You ain't got to be mad at your man for
not for not you know, getting back and boxing out
like nah, it's just it's all on you. So anyway,
I came up with this concept in twenty thirteen. Shout
out to my man manim mouthed now or he runs
a chosen and y see tournament, but he's the one
to introduce me to full court twenty one. We was
in a boys club in Harlem.

Speaker 6 (46:08):
What and yo, b full court one, check.

Speaker 4 (46:12):
It out, check it out. So he was like, Yo,
were about to play five or five? We want to
do a warm up, play full court twenty one. I said, word,
I never thought about that, but Yo, every change of
possession went to opposite direction. Yo, that was a workout.
Be that was a workout. And I was getting double
teams in the back court. I'm breaking that back court. Okay,
now I'm driven the half court. Now I'm going back down.
There's two more dudes down like, Yo, the game is dope.

(46:35):
Thank you, Manny, And that's always a shit. Got a
shot him out. Because that sent like a light bulb
in my head. I said, y'all going to do a tournament.
No one's ever done a tournament organized context of twenty one.

Speaker 6 (46:48):
Whoever has the ball, everybody.

Speaker 4 (46:49):
Else is on the court. It's guarding up no one
in the history of the sport until me twenty thirteen.
I did it in New York for two summers. By
twenty fifteen, organizers in Japan, Canada. You know, La, they
hit me, Philly.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
They hit me. Yo.

Speaker 6 (47:05):
We want to bring it out there.

Speaker 4 (47:06):
We're cool, like you're building with them. You'll here's the
rules that I devise no outs, you know. You know
my tournament. It's the only tournament with no outs and
no three pointers. They in a tournament alive in the
world that don't have a three point line. I don't
want people to shoot from deep. I want you to
take it to the Baja. The double team. There's three

(47:26):
more good defenders there, you know, show show what you
made of. So I've done it in thirty international locations
in the last few summers, but I've done it in
over forty cities at this point globally, including Africa, Asia, Europe,
Latin America. Like it's my tournament, and again like it
hasn't even reached his potential, you know. So every summer,

(47:50):
all the winners from around the world, they come to
New York and I do the All War Final at
the legendary.

Speaker 6 (47:56):
Goat a Rock Seudy Park, which is spoken.

Speaker 4 (47:59):
About written about heavily in my memoir because that's where
I grew up, you know, and it was it's my
way of paying homage to the legend Earl Manigo, which
the park is named after. And so that's my favorite.
Twenty one is by far my favorite, you know, five
on five and the park becomes a track meet. People
ain't getting back on defense. Half to half the squad
is not even in shape. They arguing because because they

(48:20):
don't want to, they stopped trying to stop the game.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
That's you mean, yeah, you're switching fuck that man.

Speaker 4 (48:28):
Yeah yeah, but but twenty one that's let's arguing because
it's like, yo, like if you if you're tight that
just sit down, you know, take it, take a squad.
You want to call your girl? I was playing a
three on three. This is like when cell phone started.
I was playing the three. I forgot where I was.
But this dude stopped the game to take to call
his I mean, to take a phone call.

Speaker 6 (48:47):
I was like, Yo, that's sack religious.

Speaker 1 (48:48):
What are you doing?

Speaker 6 (48:49):
Be like we're playing three on three?

Speaker 4 (48:51):
Like it wasn't an emergency, like yo, my kid is
in the hospital. It was just like and he's just
there talking like Yo, how you doing that. I'm like
looking at him like, yo, like.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
You just just we walked.

Speaker 6 (49:01):
You just disrespected the game. Be like you know, but
I mean that's just what it is.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
Now.

Speaker 8 (49:05):
So of ligity like life, of ligity like life.

Speaker 5 (49:13):
I saw you mentioned Africa and you've done a lot
of charity work in your life just in general. But
one of my favorite parts of the book was you
had taken a trip and an eleven year old girl
had written you a letter about a pair of shoes
that you had gifted her, you had donated, and she
was in the position that she was, you know, she
had lost both parents and she never thought that she

(49:34):
would own sneakers, and that like transformed your mind. One
of my favorite quotes was when you came back home,
someone interviewed you and they asked you, what is the like,
what is your favorite pair of sneakers ever? And you
said it's been the ones that you've donated, which to
me was absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 6 (49:52):
Thank you.

Speaker 5 (49:53):
Yeah, And I wanted to ask you, like, I know,
grow growing up for me at least because I'm a
ninety three baby, But growing up, I remember like the
sneaker culture was so it was so in your face.
It was very uh, it was like people would buy
things just to kind of stunt on you.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
You know.

Speaker 5 (50:09):
It was like a very egoistic, egotistical kind of place.
So to see you kind of grow up in that
world and then say, actually, I've seen enough to know
what's kind of important in this world.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's.

Speaker 4 (50:26):
I mean, it's it's definitely uh, you know for those
who have been to uh depressed areas or you know,
communities with lack of resources or you know, kids living
in poverty. And I mean, listen, I've been to d
r you know, I've been to I've been to the
Faiveellas in Brazil.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
You know.

Speaker 4 (50:45):
I've been to the shanty towns in South Africa. You know,
I've seen it all the places that that people will
be like, yo, don't go there. I've been, you know,
and it's it's it's incredible to see people playing ball
outdoors and in their badfoot their scoutal you know. And
the Philippines the kids do it sometimes a flip flops,

(51:08):
you know, or they play badfooted. But not everybody in
the world could afford the pair sneakers, you know. I
remember being in Senegal. I was brought out there by
the US State Department to do a tour where we
gave basketball clinics for free in six different cities, you know,
and you know, I brought a bag of joints, you know,
fly shit, you know, and people are like, yo, like

(51:29):
how you giving away them?

Speaker 1 (51:31):
You know?

Speaker 6 (51:31):
The Air Force ones.

Speaker 4 (51:32):
Is only like one of five, and I'm like, yo,
somebody's gonna use these way more than me, you know,
keeping them in my closet collecting dust, right, and so,
but I remember being like, Dad, I don't even even
see sneaker stores out here. I don't even see sporting
goods stores out here in some of the cities. I

(51:52):
was in sow where they're gonna buy sneakers, you know,
and it's stuff that we don't even think about, you know,
commerce distribution, and so, you know, traveling definitely allows one
to open up their mind, change their perspective, you know,
if you want to be mindful. You know, it's there's
no judgment on people who don't, you know. But that's
just not where my head was at coming out of

(52:14):
out of out of those trips, you know, coming back,
and you know, I had always had a I always
lean towards nonprofit work and you know, social justice anyway,
So when I was learning about Hoops for Hope and
UH Soul for Souls and Samaritan's Feet, you know, and
and UH people you know visionaries like that who were like, yo,

(52:36):
like there was just a hurricane, We're going to bring
three thousand pairs of sneakers out to you know, such
and such cool man, Yo, here's a box. And just
you know, as I got old and older, and then
once I had a kid, like you know, being in
a park with him, and and you know, can't keep
you sneaking fresh. You know, it's hard, Like you're in

(52:59):
a playground, you know, in the sand castle and the
sand line and running around in the dirt, and.

Speaker 6 (53:05):
Just you know, you got to pick up your kid
and now you got.

Speaker 4 (53:07):
Saying on your sneakers, and you know, so it was
just became less and less important to me as I
got older, and I was saying, like it's no judgment,
this is just me. That's just my narrative, right. But
I just got to the point where like, all right, cool,
I own four or five pairs of sneakers right now too.
I really play ball, harden the other's other one. I'm

(53:30):
running the other two. I just got on ice just
a case if I need to be on camera for
something where like people gonna see my feet.

Speaker 6 (53:36):
But but other than that, like I let go all.

Speaker 4 (53:39):
My sneakers, all my one of one samples I desire
for Nike, Adidas, Puma, Piola prokeads. Okay, when I did,
I did six different brands.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
Now they all gone. I let them go.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Yeah, yeah, and yeah, I know I love what you
said about I love what you said about getting use
out of them. That's for everybody in the comments that
be getting on me from my Fried Forces. You heard
it from Bob Bido's Bobido himself saying you gotta get
use out of your ship. You know what I'm saying
the way that's right. So I want to hear nothing
else about Rainy's Fried Forces.

Speaker 4 (54:17):
Okay, let me I mean, let me say that that.

Speaker 6 (54:22):
You know, I don't I'm not.

Speaker 4 (54:25):
I mean, people look at me as an icon as sneakers,
right because I was the first. I invented sneaker journalism, right,
I invent sneaker shows, like I mean, not I invent,
but like I'm the first on the face of that,
the first ever, right yeah, And I'm so so up
front that people look at me as like my word

(54:46):
is bond. But that doesn't mean like just because I
decide that it's not important for me to be fresh
every day, that doesn't mean like if someone decides to
do that and they can afford that or if they
want to collect sneakers just the same way they would
stamps or comic books or coins or art, because they

(55:07):
are they are taking out of the context of performance,
Like there's so much design.

Speaker 6 (55:12):
That goes into a sneak at this point, you.

Speaker 4 (55:15):
Know, and then the class were leaking you on as
and the class with Haze and the collabs with you know,
all these amazing artists and writers and you know, and
like it's I.

Speaker 6 (55:25):
Could I understand it. That's not me.

Speaker 4 (55:27):
But if someone wants to put a photo on it
on a gram and just keep the sneakers in a
box so they don't get dusts.

Speaker 6 (55:34):
On them, then cool.

Speaker 4 (55:36):
If you want to resell them, I ain't got no
I'm not mad at you either. That's not my lane.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
You know.

Speaker 4 (55:41):
I was never in hip hop for the commerce. I
was never in hip hop, I mean in sneaker world
to resell. But if that's what people want to do,
then yo, bless it. If you're having fun with it
and you're making money, I ain't got no problems with you.
Is the Yeah, I'm not kno going to hustle, but
don't tell me that these sneakers are the greatest sneakers
that ever came out when the ugliest because you know

(56:05):
you you resold them for a thousand dollars Like that
don't make the sneaker hot, make the sneaker. You know,
it's out there, low supply, high demand. You know, it's
like saying, like you know, certain drugs was you know,
high demand, low supply, and then they jacked up the prices.

Speaker 6 (56:23):
But that don't make them make the drug good for
you to consume.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
You know, you're paying one hundred and fifty dollars for
his crack. Yeah, yeah, that means a guy vitamins.

Speaker 4 (56:34):
So is that just think about that? You know, again
we intellectualize it right here. I appreciate the conversation, but
you know, I don't want to come across as like
the old curmudgeon dude.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
You know, yeah, of course, but you got listen.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Sometimes you got to say what needs to be said
though you know what I'm saying, but going off for that, like,
is there you like you said, you have so many
one on ones, so many collabs, so many.

Speaker 6 (56:55):
Had had had right right?

Speaker 1 (56:57):
Had? Uh?

Speaker 2 (56:59):
Is there one that you that like stands out to you.
It's like, Yo, this was really important to me. You
know what I'm saying, could be it for the cause,
the design, the person, the team you were working with.

Speaker 4 (57:11):
Noah, Well, at least these belt answered that. You know,
like the section in the book where you know it's
like the most important sneaker was Like when I was
in South Africa or was it Zimbabwe?

Speaker 6 (57:20):
No Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe and I had I had these Adidas that.

Speaker 4 (57:27):
A collab with the NBA where they were doing like,
uh shelters for each team, and they sent me to
San Antonio Spurs ones and it was cool. I water
them in a couple of photo shoots whatever, but you know,
I wasn't going to balling them, so I just I
donated them to hoops for hope. They sent them to
Zimbabwe and this was like years later, like I'm out
there and one of the coaches had some fly joints

(57:56):
on them, like yo. In my head, I'm like yo,
just sid And then I'm.

Speaker 6 (57:59):
Like, oh, those are the ones that I gave five
years ago. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (58:05):
He got them on and Hurrah raised him by way,
my dude, you know, and he's just there joyfully like
coaching kids and half the kids don't even have sneakers
or socks, you know, and it's like I was like, yo,
like those are my favorite sneakers right there. And it
could have been any brand in any models. You know,
it just happened to be Adidas. But you know what
I'm saying, those it's more of the concept that I

(58:28):
was able to give to the world and and then
and then witness it myself, because a lot of times
I've given out sneakers and I've never seen them afterwards.
It's like, now I'm on the other side of the world,
you know, and I'm seeing the joints that I gave.
Like I was like, Yo, that was that was trippy?

Speaker 2 (58:46):
Yeah, bro, And like you said, like it wasn't about
the actual tangible thing. It was about the story behind
it and and what happened after that. Listen, man, street ball,
I mean, you know.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
We've said it's been it's been.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
Called that it's just basketball that we play outside, you
know what I'm saying. And you know, I feel like
there's New York City is known for and like I'm
sure you get to speak on this at length. New
York City is known for playground hoopers like Kenny Anderson's
point Guards. New York City Point guards Rod Strickland. You

(59:25):
know what I'm saying, Like, the listen is.

Speaker 6 (59:28):
Listen is banana, listens is endless, endless.

Speaker 1 (59:31):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
What do you think it is about New York City
that produces guys like that? You know what I'm saying,
dogs that guys like Lane Stevenson. We've seen Lane Stevenson
one v one Mike Besy or whatever. But that was dope,
you know what I'm saying. And I was like, you said,
like that was dope for the culture of basketball, But like,
what is it about New York City that creates these
types of players?

Speaker 1 (59:52):
Man? Like that?

Speaker 2 (59:54):
Now on social media they're doing like they're doing memes
about it. They're like, Yo, this is what a New York.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
Point guard plays, Like this is what the Chicago.

Speaker 6 (01:00:01):
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:00:02):
I mean I don't pay no mind to that, because
you know, our game has been globalized, you know, so
it's you know, you could see, uh, I mean even
people when I was coming up, they'd be like, oh,
you're a Brooklyn ball player, you know, rocks like this,
but somebody from the Bronx, right, and it's it's none
of that is has ever been true? You know, people
used to think Brooklyn is you know, hardcore ball, but

(01:00:23):
then you got Dwayne Washington, you know, pac Man, a
pearl Washington, like he was as fancy as it came.
You know, five Williams as fancy as it came. They
both from Brooklyn. Browns will at that. So I don't
pay no mind to that, you know, that geographical sort
of like you know, uh, putting someone in a box.
But I will say that New York has this folklore,

(01:00:46):
it's got this history, it's.

Speaker 6 (01:00:48):
Got the crowd. You know.

Speaker 4 (01:00:51):
That's that's really that's one of the biggest determinants of
how people play, you know, because you got people on
the sideline that are as knowledge as your top you know,
ESPN analysts when it comes to the breaking down the
nuance of the game right so much so that a

(01:01:11):
player could be up top by the hash go ha
ha hah hah, go to baja and miss the layup
and across like, oh we started that, we started appreciating
just okay, I don't We don't care if you if

(01:01:31):
you missed or not. We just care about the game.
We care about the style, we care about the culture,
we care about the esthetic. And so you know, New
York is hugely responsible for that, for that, for that
sort of mindset being pushed forward.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:01:48):
I mean, of course it's better when the person finishes
their homework. You want to see the person, you know,
get the bucket. But it's like, Yo, it's we appreciate
ball handling regardless. We're pre shape creativity regardless. You know,
we appreciate the clap down defense regardless.

Speaker 6 (01:02:06):
You know that the past. You know, everybody.

Speaker 4 (01:02:10):
Talks about, you know, all these phenomenal ball players out
New York to make the NBA or you know, the legends.
You know, a lot of people don't mention Master Robb
and all that. Robert Hockett from.

Speaker 1 (01:02:21):
The b X.

Speaker 4 (01:02:23):
Played for the Hall Gold Trotters play D one. This
dude was like a mega legend at fifty fifth. Like
if they announced that he was going to play, they
was the next day they show up by the hundreds.
Master Robb is playing like and Yo, his IQ was
just ridiculous, Yo, ridiculous. I mentioned him in my book too.

(01:02:45):
You know, I try to mention as many people that
were influential in the book. They either I played against
or play with, or watched or announced so all that
is in the book I Beat Those Book of b
Ball Bang available at any bookshop that knows of time
it y.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
Yeah, So listen, man, this is we this is about
We like to make motherfuckers laugh on this show.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
You know what I'm saying, and you get the game
in the world. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
But we're gonna ended on a little bit of a
lighter note. You know what I'm saying, because it's a
part of your your book that talks about when young Babito.

Speaker 3 (01:03:24):
Becomes becomes the man Babit you know bite. So so
let me let's let's let's uh, let's jog your memory
a little bit. So what happened to Babito the same
year that he got into Wesleyan What happened or what
happened around that time, maybe not the exact same year.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
Look at his smile.

Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
I already know he knows. Yeah, because this is this
is a direct quote. Don't come on, you know what,
Come on?

Speaker 4 (01:03:56):
Come on, yeah, y'all did your homework, man, three of
you man for real, real, I've done Listen, I've done
a lot of interviews, you know, top level TV stations,
you know radio y'all, did your homework?

Speaker 1 (01:04:09):
Man, bro we read the book. They read it. The
other motherfuckers read the jacket. We read the book.

Speaker 6 (01:04:15):
Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, I appreciate that. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:04:17):
I lost my virginity when I was seventeen, Yes, sir,
And that was the same That was the same year
I got accepted into wesley University. So you all corrected.

Speaker 1 (01:04:25):
What got you more hype? Right?

Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
What got you more height being able to ball at
Wesleyan or.

Speaker 6 (01:04:30):
Noah, losing my virginity.

Speaker 4 (01:04:31):
I said it in the book, like, no, no, no,
I mean no, no, no, I'm saying I said it
in the book when I lost my virginity literally after
I bus t.

Speaker 6 (01:04:43):
My son is in the other line.

Speaker 4 (01:04:44):
Yeah, after you know, after I released Yo, I was like,
why is everybody so bananas about going to be playing ball?

Speaker 1 (01:04:56):
Yeah? Man, right right now?

Speaker 4 (01:05:00):
You know, I know, I don't want the person who
I had that experience with to read that and be
like be like, oh dag, Like you know, why is
he whack? You know, why is he trying to degrade me?
It's not, you know, it's just it's just how much
I love bored. I mean, now, you know, moving forward,
as I learned what to do a little bit better

(01:05:21):
became more enjoyable. But first, the first time it was whack.
I was like, you know, I could have been playing
ball right now, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:05:30):
How? You know, look, you love the game.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
Fuck this man, Yo, congratulations. You the first interview to
make me sweat in my forehead.

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
Like that's what we do, baby, let's go.

Speaker 6 (01:05:42):
You know if my son wasn't in the other room
and it would be different.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
Hey, look at it. He knows how, he knows how
you got here. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (01:05:52):
No, that's not how you got here. I mean that
was in nineteen eighty eighty three. You know he's only eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Years later.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
You got plenty of practice since then, you know what
I'm saying, decades of practice before he came. Yeah, oh,
man playing twenty one Bro. Just the Sperman that playing
twenty one bro with one.

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
Egg yup, full court, full court, full court.

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
Uterus pressed, you know what I'm saying, Yo, you know
what the fuck it is?

Speaker 8 (01:06:24):
Man?

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
It's like, babe, though, I see, like I said, Man,
the God, you know what I'm saying. And New York
City legend and hippop and hoops, everything that starts with
h man hispanic health. You know what I'm saying, his holiness,
you know what I mean. They thought he bod iqua.

(01:06:44):
They lost burrows. You know what I'm saying. That's what
we're gonna call y'all. Yea, you know what I mean, Yo,
thank you for coming on the show.

Speaker 1 (01:06:49):
You know what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
Man's victulated buddy, Kim Maryll Lizbelow tease the super bitch
of New York City DNA. She's on the rise, baby,
She's hotter than lover. And we on this side. We
got Rainy of A. Yeah, the god.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
He's outed in fish grease on the fucking July afternoon.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
Goddamnit. He's popping apoholics trapoholics.

Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
Of course, Ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna sign off with
the legend Babo. I see anything you want to tell
the people, my man.

Speaker 4 (01:07:15):
Before we did, yo, just uh, I got to express
gratitude to the fullest uh to the three of you,
to Patricia as well to to ming and and your
Hassan on your on you know, on the on the
kind of cameras and everything the production, but also people,
my uh my handle is cool.

Speaker 6 (01:07:33):
Bob love k O O l b O b l
o v E.

Speaker 4 (01:07:36):
That's Blue Sky, Twitch, Patreon, I G Facebook, you know,
just across the board, and my My website is cool
Bob Love k O l B O b l v
e dot com. You can find where to purchase the
book online. Support your your your black and brown Asian

(01:07:57):
owned brick and mortar mom and pop stores. You know,
I've been blessed to have some incredible support from them.
I also have a street team selling my book at
West Fourth at Doudo Bias.

Speaker 6 (01:08:11):
In the Bronx.

Speaker 4 (01:08:12):
You know, I got sneaker resellers pushing my book to
you know, the cats that know who I am in
that space like I'm pulled out. I got record stores
Poison Best Styed Moods Music in Atlanta, Los Angeles and
Lucky in Miami. You know, I ain't waiting for nobody
to get my book out there. So that's why I'm

(01:08:33):
so grateful because it's an indie publisher. You know, I'm
a I'm a cat that's been India's f you know
for decades. So being on the podcast with y'all to
express myself, to get my story out there is a
blessing and too everybody out there in the audience, be safe,
be knowledgeable, and think about how we affect the rest
of the world.

Speaker 2 (01:08:52):
All right, peace, yes, sir, cool Bob Love, all socials
follow that man because he is a wealth of knowledge man.
And and and I'm sure he is your d M.
You know what I'm saying, If you're respectful.

Speaker 3 (01:09:05):
Yeah, that's right. And and speaking of and speaking of
health in the culture. And make sure you eat your
mashed potatoes, your apple sauce, your buttery biscuits, y'all, cool
Bob Love Baby, Yes, sir, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
Victory like you heard, shot the men training the freaky man.
God damn it, victors in the building.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
But he's signed the lights and he did you know
what I'm saying, shot the p.

Speaker 1 (01:09:31):
Whizzy quiz in the house. And of course I sn insane,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 8 (01:09:38):
Legitary like like like legity like like like