Michael Jordan: "What is a Rakim? Is that hard rap?"

[Whitty Hutton]

Yupp 100% agree. Jordan was born in 1963. He was about 23-24 when Hip Hop became big
I think people born in the early to mid 60s could go either way with Hip Hop. Either they just don't relate to it at all, or they are just casual fans of it
I see people born at that time like Kenan Ivory Wayans, Eddie Murphy, Magic Johnson, etc look like they aren't part of the Hip Hop era at all

Hell, I bet even Kool DJ Herc (born 1955) can't relate 100% to the genre that he helped create

Yupp 100% agree. Jordan was born in 1963. He was about 23-24 when Hip Hop became big
I think people born in the early to mid 60s could go either way with Hip Hop. Either they just don't relate to it at all, or they are just casual fans of it
I see people born at that time like Kenan Ivory Wayans, Eddie Murphy, Magic Johnson, etc look like they aren't part of the Hip Hop era at all

Hell, I bet even Kool DJ Herc (born 1955) can't relate 100% to the genre that he helped create

Funny I was just listening to the Juan Epstein podcast with Questlove and Chris Rock, and Rock was saying how he would do shows with Eddie and Keenan and others but not hang with them like that after because he was the only one that was into going to rap shows and hiphop clubs

 

[Clayton Endicott]

Jordan said he listened to smooth R&B to get prepped for games and his fav artist was Anita Baker

at MJ bumping Jeffrey Osborne's "On The Wings Of Love" then going out and smooth dropping 50 on a muthafukka like it ain't shyt.

 

[KG1]

Wtf

 

[Clayton Endicott]

Didn't Bobbito do that shyt with samples too? He'd play a cut, then they'd have to guess the original song and artist? Damn, I'm getting old brehs

 

[IllmaticDelta]

It's no secret alot of Afram's of that time who were older, more middle class etc..looked at HipHop with the

 

[KG1]

 

[Taadow]

Oh NO...

 

[Mac Casper]

@ having to listen to Rakim a couple times to understand him

I swear some people have snail IQ's

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Yupp. Kenny the Jet Smith, who was his North Carolina teammate in college, is HUGE fan of rap

Kenny is from the hood...Reggie and Barkley are in the same age range and even they can't relate to his story

 

[Heelish]

This interview probably was done in the early part of the mid 90's. Ra was still considered the Zenith of rapping at that point. Rap excellence.

And he still is

Spoiler

 

[BiggWebb79]

He probably listened to Heavy D, Hammer, Kurtis Blow, Run DMC, LL, Kid and Play, Kwame, Father Mc, and The Fresh Prince.

 

[Rocket Scientist]

He knows who he is,they were probably playing it in the locker rooms.Jordan didn't wanna portray that image

 

[Jimi Swagger]

Thanks you kinda shut it down with that. Just because dude wasn't familiar with Rakim doesn't mean he was a straight Springsteen listener. My parents are around Jordan's age. Dude is just old school, Rakim is after little after his time and may not be his cup of tea. Hiphop started out more uptempo and party music with DJs sampling James Brown and reggae music before lyrics started getting grimier and more serious in the mid-80s as Reaganomics, rock cocaine, and the residual effects of job offshoring of the 70s were felt. Jordan grew up in a house with a yard, had he not played ball would have worked in a bank or been a supervisor at some company, like his parents. Not one of those Rucker Park street ballers scouted since AAU and came into NCAA braided up and tatted with a goon squad. My parents don't care for hip-hop music which is probably why I gravitated towards it. Mom thinks its just a bunch of ninjas complaining about their circumstances and not changing their situation. My dad schools me on how disco music was the original hiphop in terms of origin, influence, and marketability, like every other genre of music in the Americas, until whites infiltrated so he's not that impressed with it and think most of it contains too much profanity and no instruments. I played Illadelph Halflife and Aquemini and he


MJ seems like he's chill with a cup of 'yack with Earth Wind and Fire or cut a rug to Ohio Players. The O'jays You know how many marching bands still play Backstabbers or artists sampled that beat? MC Lyte looks good. Very careful with her words and always positive, even when interviewed about Iggy or Nicki Minaj.

 

[Bawon Samedi]

This is why I only but Lebrons...

 

[Birnin Zana]

For all the talk about MJ's age...he was only:

-5 years older than rakim

-2 years older than KRS-1

-2 years older than Dr. Dre

-born the same year as Eazy E

And so on.

He's old, but not that old.