Abraham Lincoln once said, “A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.” Elbert Hubbert gave it to us like this, “A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.” Then the great Maya Angelou shut the buildin’ when she said, “All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us that we are all more alike than we are unalike.”
And on that note playboy, every rapper wants to be a ball playa and every ball playa wants to be a rapper. It’s been that way since 1983 when Run DMC released their first album “Rock Box. Now keep in mind the Sugarhill Gang, Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five and a few other cats had previously released records starting in 1980. However, Run DMC was the first that stepped on stage without the costumes. They looked like they were right off the block and represented the hood to the fullest.
They wore jeans, sneakers and the famous fedoras. It was the hood’s uniform and the two cultures have pretty much been inseparable ever since. You can really thank Jam Master Jay for that my he Rest in Peace.
Every rapper or should I say most rappers are from somebody’s hood and most ball playas are from those same streets.
The two cultures fell in love because they’re typically the same age and run in the same circles. They like the same type of women, cars, jewelry and clothes. It was a perfect match right from the beginning. There was no breaking them up once Addidas signed Run DMC to a sneaker deal in 1986. From that point on the lines have been blurred like Robin Thicke or should I say Marvin Gaye. Catch that one on the way home.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! “My Adidas” became the ballers anthem and the rest is history. It’s not surprising to see hip hop’s elite with professional sports royalty just hangin’ out at the club or at one another’s jobs. I can vividly remember seeing Tupac with Mike Tyson as “Iron Mike” prepared to enter the MGM to fight the night Pac was shot. Again we ask the question why? They pretty much are the same dude that grew up in the same hood with the same problems. They both discovered at a very early age that they had a gift that would get them out of the hood so they put in the work to get out.
The hood protected them both from the distractions that hid around every corner like land mines. The understanding was that if you make it, we all make it bruh. That’s the anthem because boyz just wanna to say that you’re from around my way. “Represent the hood and make us look good when you get there playa. “Put us on the map son”, is what they’ll say. If it wasn’t for rappers and athlete’s we’d never take an interest in places like Brooklyn, St. Louis, New Orleans, Atlanta or Akron.
However, because some kid gave a shout to their hood people want to know what goes on in Miami. Not on South Beach but in Liberty City or Overtown just because some cat mentioned it in a record or boy repped it after a game.
Being from the ghetto is the best place in the world to be FROM. Key word they is “from.” If you can survive there you can survive anywhere. Athletes and Rappers give those that are interested, a glimpse into a world that many find intriguing without having to visit.
Yeah they’re the same dude and I’m happy they represent me and my old hood too. Now once you leave, your ghetto pass is always good but you might not want to use it recklessly once the landscape changes. So the young “Athletes and Rappers” allow boyz to take a virtual tour as well. Mad love to the next generation of ball playas and rappers on the come up even though they’ll still be the same dude! Stop me when I start lyin’!
