Ja Lives in the City Where Their Most Beloved Emcee was Murdered Buying Cookies.
Ja is an All-Star and one of the most exciting players in the NBA. To have him on the Nike roster, after Nike incorrectly stepped away from Kyrie, is beneficial to Nike’s ability to retain a share of the sneakers bought by fans of guard play and hoopers looking for an affordable sneaker.
season ticket holders perceived issues which plague NBA players who made it to the league. He doesn’t have the LeBron single mother narrative. Ja is from a two-parent household. Ja didn’t go to Duke or North Carolina. He wasn’t heavily recruited. He wasn’t a one and done who made it to the money right away. Ja remained in college long enough to understand the problems that face a mid-major program competing against blue bloods with more money. He wasn’t picked number one with all of the pressure on Zion Williamson. He came into an NBA team built on a blue-collar mentality, in a small market. Cameras and media aren’t all over the place in Memphis. The most important part of playing for the Grizzlies is the strong history of supporting children’s hospitals in the city. Ja was allowed to slowly replace a Grit and Grind team of the four core players without any pushback from the city. In Z-Bo he had the greatest transformation of an NBA persona to look towards. Ja and Memphis is a match made in basketball heaven.
Unfortunate for Ja he also arrived in the city with the rise of Tik-Tok and what many see as an issue for NBA athletes, retired and active, social media. Although Paul Pierce was fired from ESPN for “going live” while enjoying the entertainment of strippers, the reality is there are very few missteps by NBA players on social media. Kevin Durant and his burner accounts are really the sum total of NBA players making poor public decisions. Even Kyrie Irving’s “flat-earth, conspiracy theories and sharing of a video with antisemitic overtones,” was overblown. As a matter of fact, I think Nike dropped Kyrie because he was barely playing, and his sneaker sales had flatlined because he was becoming more known for his decision to share his opinions than for his game.
While Nike is always looking like it’s behind its athletes, the truth is Nike’s own controversies are much more problematic than Kyrie’s positions or Ja’s gun issues. Nike is the lucky beneficiary of an apathetic customer base disinterested in morality. Nike fans are so willing to overlook Nike’s transgressions it’s insane. Nike’s mistreatment of women athletes led to zero drop off in fandom by women. As a matter of fact, women have become bigger Nikeheads in the wake of Nike’s abuse of Mary Cain and Allyson Felix and other women athletes. Nike has an ongoing lawsuit by women at the company. Sneaker media loves Nike although there are consistent issues with Nike and the Xinjiang Cotton Controversy. You can count on both hands the number of Black-owned sneaker stores when Black folks are ridiculously loyal to the brand. Nike has no right to cancel anyone.
Nike is Bulletproof for this Reason Although Allyson Felix and Mary Cain Have Horrifying Stories
Ja and I live in Memphis. As a sneaker guy it would seem that me or my team wouldn’t have to walk around with guns. The truth is when I was carrying $20-40,000 dollars in cash, my man carried, and people knew. We didn’t go live, and we stayed undercover, but we are older guys with nothing to prove. Ja is living in a city where the most popular entertainers, those in his class have faced attempted robberies and murders. Young Dolph was murdered while picking up some damn cookies. Run down the list of entertainers who are Ja’s peers (some older and some younger). Go ahead and Google these names with the keyword “arrested”: Yo Gotti, Moneybagg, Blocboy JB, Pooh Shiesty.
Ja and his guys are carrying and will carry because they are young dudes living one of the most amazing lives anyone could ask. They want to be near the people to show them what success looks like, but they also understand that being near is being in danger. Ja is showing his guns as a preventative measure. However, with the amount of money and opportunities he has he could have easily removed the element so carrying wasn’t necessary. I no longer carry cash because I don’t buy at stores where I could be targeted. The most important thing I did was to remove the corpse from my world who would require me to have guns present. I spend most of my time working on my projects and spending time with my family. I don’t wear anything too flashy. I don’t expect Ja to do the same because his peers flash and he has new money. He is allowed to be “new” with it, but Ja has to understand what’s at stake. The people around him must understand what’s at stake.
The NBA is a privately-owned business catering to family entertainment. If this isn’t clear think about New Balance and the decision by White Supremacists to wear the sneaker as a part of their uniform when carrying Tiki Torches. New Balance completely changed how the brand operates after they became associated with racism. The brand began signing athletes, developed partnerships with Black designers like Joe Freshgoods, and in a string of endorsements gave Coco Gauff a signature sneaker making her the only woman tennis athlete with her own sneaker. Nike gave Serena a design division, but never her own signature sneaker. New Balance wanted to be seen as an ally, so they shifted hard to make that happen. New Balance is a 5-billion-dollar business. According to most research each team in the NBA is worth between 1-2 billion dollars. The NBA brand is possibly worth 10 billion by itself. New Balance is 5 billion, the NBA is probably 40-50 billion. What do you think it will do to protect its brand?
The NBA has the most culturally diverse fanbase, but as viewership is shifting and changing the league is losing momentum. It’s gaining globally which opens more doors and allows for more growth. David Stern implemented a dress code as Hip-Hop became interwoven with the league because he understood the league’s base, season ticket holders, “Statistical analyses revealed that 80% of season ticket holders were Statistical analyses revealed that 80% of season ticket holders were, over 75% were males, over 60% had $75,000 or greater annual income, 85% were Caucasians, and over 50% had an occupation in management, professional, technical, or sales.” 85% Caucasian supporting a Black sport. It hurts me to say this, know your masters.
Ja wants to be seen in the same way as his peers in Memphis, but what he has to understand is that less than a month ago people were murdered at Yo Gotti’s “Prive” restaurant. Memphis is a tough town, and the entertainers here are often affiliated in some way with their neighborhoods. Ja is lost between discovering himself and becoming something more important. Shakespeare wrote of men and their second childhood. Ja, unlike most men who go through mid-life crisis, has been accelerated into this stage of his life. He has become the breadwinner and provider, but he longs to hold on to his youth. He lives in a city that requires protection, but he doesn’t have to live in this way. Should Nike drop him? Nike doesn’t have a right to drop anyone, but could I see it happening? Yes, but not for the reason you may be thinking. Nike is finally facing real difficulties in their business. Slowing down on the production of signature sneakers could save the brand considerable money. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nike pulled the plug, but ultimately it wouldn’t matter. Ja has to reconcile with becoming a part of the NBA machine in a city that thrives on getting it out of the mud. He has to be a father and provider at 23. Most men become the provider in their 40s and 50s. No excuses for Ja. He has a father, a mother, a college coach and a mentor readily available in Memphis Grizzlies legend Z-Bo, but he’s caught. It’s extremely hard to get out of a mental prison of your own design with walls created by a billion-dollar corporation. Dude doesn’t have an excuse though… he’s let the city turn him out.
Nas
2nd Childhood – second verse
Trap Fusion Restaurant Memphis inspired Caribbean Cuisine
Ex-convict, was paroled there after his long bid
Junior high school dropout, teachers never cared
They break his moms furniture, watchin Comicview
Got babies by different ladies high smokin L’s
In the same spot he stood since, eighty-five well
When his stash slow, he be crazy
Say he by his moms, hit her on her payday
Its sad but its fun to him right? He never grew up
They was paid just to show up and leave, no one succeeds
When his stash slow, he be crazy
Sittin on, different benches like it’s musical chairs
All his peoples moved on in life, he’s on the corners at night
With young dudes it’s them he wanna be like
It’s sad but it’s fun to him right? He never grew up
31 and can’t give his youth up, he’s in his second childhood