22 By Any Means Necessary
They Do It for the Culture Nyeusi Jami
In the beginning of 2019, Anthony Davis, one of the top five best basketball players in the world, approached his employer, the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans, and demanded to be traded. His preferred destination was to be with Lebron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Much of the media coverage of that story revolved around the fact Anthony Davis and Lebron James share the same sports agent, Rich Paul. Reports were that owners of teams around the NBA demanded that the Pelicans not acquiesce and trade Davis to the Lakers. Rich Paul and Lebron were becoming too powerful and needed to be put in their place. On June 15, Anthony Davis was, indeed, traded to the Lakers. This is just one anecdote which shows the considerable influence that Lebron James has gained in the world of sports and entertainment, along with his crew of childhood friends who run his business. Lebron, Randy Mims, Maverick Carter, and Rich Paul formed a sports marketing company in 2005, called LRMR. That was the beginning of what would eventually become SpringHill Entertainment which produces film and TV projects, the digital media platform UNINTERRUPTED, and the Klutch Sports agency. LRMR was formed at Maverick Carter’s mother’s kitchen table in Akron, shortly after Lebron fired his well-established sports agents, Aaron and Eric Goodwin. Lebron said at the time, “I don’t want to have guys around me who are just along for the ride. I want guys around me to actually put rides in the amusement park.” Around the same time, a columnist for America Online wrote, “a few years from now, when Lebron needs knee surgery, he’ll have his plumber do the job.” In 2016, legendary basketball coach Phil Jackson was the president of the New York Knicks franchise. When asked about Lebron in an interview, Phil Jackson had this to say: "When LeBron was playing with the Heat, they went to Cleveland, and he wanted to spend the night. They don't do overnights. Teams just don't. So now [coach Erik] Spoelstra has to text [president Pat] Riley and say, 'What do I do in this situation?' And Pat, who has iron-fist rules, answers, 'You are on the plane. You are with this team.' You can't hold up the whole team because you and your mom and your posse want to spend an extra night in Cleveland. . . I do know LeBron likes special treatment. He needs things his way." “You and your mom and your ‘posse’” – Lebron James and Maverick Carter took exception to those words. But this quote from Jackson illustrates how many of the powers-that-be in basketball felt about Lebron and his assembled circle of friends. How dare the best (and most profitable) basketball player in the world try to get special treatment?? Who does he think he is? Uppity, I believe, is the word they used to use for that. In the 1960s, Harold Cruse published The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual and Amiri Baraka published Blues People. Both of these books explored a crucial point about the development of the music industry and its relationship to Black people. We are a nation of Afrikans, lost in North America, robbed of our land and our wealth. However, we have tremendous human capital. Our physical prowess and our artistic genius are immense natural resources. Hollywood, the music industry, and the sports world have exploited this natural resource of ours for almost 100 years. We are the source of everything that is culture in this U.S. Empire.