Most know, however for these of you who don’t: SLAM was based in 1994 as a publication that intertwines the sport and hip-hop tradition. As a ‘94 child myself, I used to be raised on SLAM. I’m from the period of hoop that coined the phrase, “ball is life” and I used to be that child coming house from college, turning on the pc and getting in a rabbit gap on YouTube wanting up highlights and mixtapes. Not simply basketball mixtapes although, however hip-hop mixtapes, too—I’m a DatPiff and Weblog Period child. If I wasn’t exterior hoopin’ or in someone’s health club, I used to be consuming basketball another sort of method and most likely listening to rap on the identical time.
Hoops and rap turned the lenses during which I see the world by. And naturally, these lenses are filtered with my Blackness, one thing I take delight in and by no means draw back from.
Hoops, Rap and Every part Black is a weekly column that zeroes in on the 2 basic elements of SLAM—hoops and rap—whereas threading in different elements of the colourful tapestry of Black tradition. You, readers, can count on dynamic storytelling, options, interviews, private essays, pictures, temper boards and movies. I’ve additionally put collectively a 22-playlist (impressed by the No. 22, which I wore for many of my hoop profession) referred to as Hoops, Rap and Every part Black playlist that may go together with every column.
Only for enjoyable, right here’s the temper board I created when conceptualizing what I would like Hoops Rap and Every part Black to replicate; this could provide you with a glimpse of what to anticipate.
Slightly bit extra about me: Modestly, I developed to be a fairly first rate hooper and performed DI ball at Longwood College in Virginia. I nonetheless hoop each likelihood I get, and God keen I’ll hoop for the remainder of my life. I grew up within the DMV, and over the course of my profession performed for notable applications like Hoop Sales space and Underneath Armour’s DC Assault (now DC Premier), and colleges like Fredericksburg Christian Faculty and Middleburg Academy. I performed with and in opposition to professionals and high-level hoopers at each flip. I bought my Grasp’s in Sports activities Trade Administration from Georgetown College and am at present wrapping up my second Grasp’s in Journalism at NYU.
Now that we bought all that out of the way in which, let’s get to it. I respect you for being right here, and hope you be a part of me each week on this journey. You may learn the primary column right here.