I thought this was common knowledge

I wasn't mad at him for it, but there's a reason he
was a pretty clean cut dude at Georgetown and then got
progressively more thuggish (Big John too, but not entirely)

He did it to sell sneakers....and it worked

The "NBA Fanbase (if you catch my drift)" was much more
enamored with him acting the way he did

Its why Kyrie Irving's game is just as urban/hood as Iverson's,
but Irving won't ever sell as many sneakers...not appealing
enough of a personality to hipsters

Its not authentic like Artest who started cooning a bit
after the Malice in the Palace, but not before...Artest was
just a bread and butter feisty nigga on the court prior to
the Malice....waaay more authentic a hood nigga than AI in
reality though

So Iverson's whole thing was mostly fake

That wasn't him "expressing himself" or "representing his culture,"
no shit like that

Other niggas from the Hampton Roads area (The Vicks,
Meangelo, Ronald Curry, etc) weren't really acting like that
(Vick rocked the braids, but was never really thugging like
that)

Most of them are on some strong black man shit, but not really
on that thuggish type shit

AI is actually a well spoken, intelligent dude who knew better

Just thought I'd drop that marketing gem on y'all


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Especially pre-college.

>Especially pre-college.

By just about every account

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

That you guys are using a crime that he didn't commit to
support his thug image precisely proves my point.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Iverson didn't do that.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2482&dat=19931231&id=wVhSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ATcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5816,5592677




----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

i dont give a fuck what the "decision" in court was..

>i dont give a fuck what the "decision" in court was..

result of the times. The Post Jodeci and Post Pac era did make thugs a whole lot more appealing than "Pretty boys" who owned the world and all the girls before hand.

One thing I always say is that Iverson MADE corn rows. Like, he invented them. Before him, you only saw hood dudes in supporting-the-supporting-actor type roles rocking them. And then he started getting designs, which was a typically 90's way of making something thug that used to be seen as feminine.

But his whole vibe and personality was for sure more "thug" than a Kyrie. Even with Kobe being arrogant or whatever, he didn't seem to have AI's edge, and AI's edge didn't seem to be fake to me. He felt like he could have grown up anywhere Black, whether it was Baldwin Hills, Yonkers, Cabrini Green, or PG County....he would have either been seen as the rough dude with edge in a nice area, or the smart sharp dude who grew up in the hood.

It was actually a nudge-nudge/wink-wink deal between AI, Reebok & Governor Wilder in which they hoodwinked Tom Brokaw to lay the groundwork for a years-in-the-making-street-cred campaign featuring Jadakiss in the late 90s/early-aughts.

True Story: Ann Iverson behind closed doors actually speaks more like the first Aunt Viv from Fresh Prince when she's doing Shakespeare In The Park.

Good catch.

kinda went at it that one time, but did Iverson ever come close to getting in in fight in his career? I know he and Kobe "had words" during the Finals but that was just woofing...

The thug tattoos and sold sneakers.

Note how all of the white posters in this discussion
didn't even know he was granted clemency, have been thinking
he actually did that crime all these years

Hilarious

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

and forever in full-on guerrilla mode ... as small as he was is it not surprising that NOT ONCE in his career was he ever really disrespected???

Its no secret that 'dem boys would protect him and that they gave no flucks about consequences or television or celebrity.

AI was their friend, their bank and damn near father figure ... he had NO worries from his peers.

BTW, they also ran game on dimes in attendance ... got #s for him as he picked them out from the court, true story and I don't need confirmation ...

"Thats all I have to say about that" (c) Forrest Gump

Challenger-

>and forever in full-on guerrilla mode ... as small as he was
>is it not surprising that NOT ONCE in his career was he ever
>really disrespected???
>
>Its no secret that 'dem boys would protect him and that they
>gave no flucks about consequences or television or celebrity.
>
>AI was their friend, their bank and damn near father figure
>... he had NO worries from his peers.
>
>BTW, they also ran game on dimes in attendance ... got #s for
>him as he picked them out from the court, true story and I
>don't need confirmation ...
>
>"Thats all I have to say about that" (c) Forrest Gump
>
>Challenger-

But hey, Iverson never touched anybody.

it was in quest's story post in GD, said AI's crew would roam the crowd wait for you to go to the bathroom or concessions, would roll up on your girl (if she was a dime) drop her a card with a number that would send her a ride to where ever the after party was at.

A gang of dudes finding women for him to fuck?

Good lord

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

sign one of those therapeutice Iverson elbow sleeves you purchased back in the day and you've never forgiven him for it or he let your girl in one of his *pool parties* w/o you - because you're obsessed w/making us all know who the "real Iverson" really was underneath those braids and neck tattoos lol

Hipsters in 1995?

Thugging to sell sneakers?

Prison bids that never happened?












Show us on the doll where the man with the cornrows touched you...

in the country.

Supported, almost coddled

He was doing the right thing. Was a very good kid.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

and that freshman year of high school when the neighborhood mentor who kept him out of trouble was shot & killed the same year his pseudo-stepfather got locked up for drugs, Ann let him know they were just away on business but would be back someday.

The proliferation of tattoos & rows was not just a result of being a 20-year-old millionaire who could now afford tattoos & a personal traveling hairstylist, it was a David Falk/Reebok-built-sneaker ruse even if David Falk ended up fired & Stern air-brushed the All-Star-Game photos.

You have really tapped into the core of things with this post.

Appreciate you laying this all out so thoroughly and (dare I say) thugnificently.

So apparently I don't know what I'm talking about

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

the first time I saw AI play in person his freshman year at GTown (dudes were dressed in jailhouse uniforms and chanted 'Convict! Convict!' every time he touched the basketball) certainly considered him guilty.

I never bought into it from the first time I heard about the case back in high school, especially considering that he wasn't on the tape and nobody else did his level of time but he was the only 'name' present.

Back in '95 I figured those fans were just being their usual racist/oblivious/upper-crust-Main-Line/Spoiled-Villanova-Student/Asshole/Douchebag selves.

I had been witnessing variations of the 'that's alright, that's okay, you will work for us some day' smarmy student sections they had dating back to when I was in the bleachers of Nova/Temple games in the Palestra as a young kid.

These were the people that loved/elevated/helped-produce Kobe Bryant, not Allen Iverson.

As in, really not mad

I'm just highlighting a fact, and my suspicion was
confirmed by several posters: people still think he's
an actual thug

He was a super talented, hard working dude who ran into
bad luck

I'm hard on him (pause), but not because I wasn't once a
fan, nor because I think he's a bad person. If anything
the opposite is true

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Not real sure how someone raised in abject poverty with drugs/violence/imprisonment/early-death claiming every male role model he ever had in his formative years was ever 'playing thug' then or later.

By getting tatted-up, wearing cornrows or listening/participating in hardcore hip-hop music?

The first two just are fashion choices made by a dude who grew up & got money so he can now afford those things.

The latter doesn't make him any different than any number of people who enjoy that music & has a group of friends.

As far as I can tell, AI's the same dude he always was, which is part of why he was able to log 14 years in the league at an elite level despite being 5'11 & a buck-sixty-five.

Not sure what's supposedly so thuggish about him really or what acts that followed supposedly showed that change.

Now 2Pac, who you mention in this post, now *there's* a fake thug.

He was such a great actor & did it so well it ended up getting him killed while at the same time turning him into this mythic thug-angel immortal figure.

AI never chose that path despite the fact that he grew up in it much more than Pac did.

He's just a super-talented athletic-warrior who elevated family/friends with his talent, who's now just trying to live his life quietly not be bothered with being in the public eye all the time now that he no longer cashes checks for doing so.

And he's already outlived a fake-thug like Pac by 10 years going on 40/50.

if yes, you're a big dummy!!!

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/allen-iverson/dp-spt-legal-iverson-tried-as-adult-20110119,0,4798991.story

He was a nice kid, and was the victim of racism.

Three white people in this post didn't realize that
all these years, which is proving my point exactly.

You guys thought you were watching a thug. You were
actually watching a nice kid.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2482&dat=19931231&id=wVhSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ATcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5816,5592677

Good lord.

I mean, I rest my case.

I thought this was common knowledge.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

re-reading the replies in here, all references to the fight are in regards to his image, not actual thuggishness.

Even though Iverson was innocent in the brawl and was granted clemency, his image was tainted by it, as referenced by Bomb talking about the convict chants in his first college game(s).

It's difficult to reconcile the statement that his thuggish image was manufactured by him and his shoe company to sell shoes, when his thuggish image was created by the media fallout over a (false) conviction before he ever played a single college game.

Even though Iverson may have been a good kid in college, the public perception was that he was a thug, because of the brawl.

If you're making the argument that he took that public perception and exaggerated it further so as to use it for his benefit to sell shoes, that makes a little more sense as an argument.

As O_E mentioned in passing, Big John wasn't having that shit to begin with. Remember, he got in Zo's shit for being around Rayful. You think Allen stood a chance?

Post G-Town, he still wasn't thuggin' either. He did have a crew/entourage/hangers on of ne're-do-wells that definitely perpetrated that image, but I can't say Allen was fully about that life. Even embracing the clothes and hair and craptacular attitude that polarized fans and media (and drew real thugs that looked the same, and kids that wanted to imitate that same style), that really wasn't AI's lane. He did nothing to discourage it, that's for sure.

I just want to know who convinced him that 40 Barz was a good idea...

>I just want to know who convinced him that 40 Barz was a good
>idea...

Another example

Iverson did zero "gun busting."

He was reading defenses, intercepting passes, throwing
slants, and hitting mid range jumpshots.

He was a nice kid.

He faked thug to sell sneakers.
----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

If memory serves the 1st gen Iverson's were number 2 right behind Jordan's. That was based more on his play and attitude on the court (off court antics didn't really ramp up until year 2, but the bowling alley incident was still pretty fresh in mind, as was him getting in trouble for the gun in the car that was one of his boys...)

He's actually a nice, intelligent, well-spoken dude
who never picks fights

He rapped about guns and bit 2Pac's tortured soul image thing
because it was great for branding

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

In AI's case, he got paid for this alleged image, but who's paying you though??


I mean, your whole schtick around this parts is a tough typing, "militant" authority on blackness, that you hide behind a msg bord login. Can anyone here confirm your identity??

Now I expect u to ask me why I'm mad, doggie or any variant of that.. lol

allegedly.

not sure I trust this third party.

>In AI's case, he got paid for this alleged image, but who's
>paying you though??
>
>
>I mean, your whole schtick around this parts is a tough
>typing, "militant" authority on blackness, that you hide
>behind a msg bord login. Can anyone here confirm your
>identity??
>
>Now I expect u to ask me why I'm mad, doggie or any variant of
>that.. lol

Nah, I've had threats on my life from Okayplayers, back
when I was more antagonistic (not recently, thankfully)

I'm actually ashamed of just about everything in my life

I haven't met anyone

I hired a sexy black man and a hooker to watch pretentious_username's
comedy show and go up to him after, say it was me.

>
>I haven't met anyone
>
>I hired a sexy black man and a hooker to watch
>pretentious_username's
>comedy show and go up to him after, say it was me.
>
>
>

LOLLOLOLLLLLLLOL

nice save, my man, nice save.

-----------
Y'all stupid...should've tanked for Lebron/Wiggins in 2014 -Rex LongFellow

It's only funny till someone gets mad. Then it's hilarious.

and that says something. I'm very familiar with Chuck and you are way off.

He wasn't malicious, but "good kid" is a bit of a stretch. He was a regular hood nigga with a sense of entitlement, a chip on his shoulder and bad friends. This is per my wife who went to HS with him.

>He wasn't malicious, but "good kid" is a bit of a stretch. He
>was a regular hood nigga with a sense of entitlement, a chip
>on his shoulder and bad friends. This is per my wife who went
>to HS with him.

And thanks for not being mad

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

he came out of a bad place with a dope-fiend mom to become one of the 50 best and 10 most influential people to ever ply his trade. I enjoyed watching him, and will defend him against any basketball-related slander or race-based character assassination. That said, I wouldn't have been happy about him marrying into my family.

>That said, I wouldn't have been happy about him
>marrying into my family.

That said, I wouldn't have been happy about him
>marrying into my family.

Small world

how does one smile like an onion?

>how does one smile like an onion?

Don't know a single Philly-affiliated person without
onion-shit smelling breath

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Its, again, why Kyrie isn't as popular as Iverson at
the same stage, despite being far better at the same
stage

Remember that most NBA ticket buyers, the media, all that are
white

Its what they like that dictates sales, endorsements, etc

Scarves and a thin vintage peacoat on over a Brad Lohaus throwback? Is that how that looks?

it's their favorite sport.

http://tinyurl.com/lsubwkm

That's amazing

was he Sarah Silverman's neighbor on some shitty show I watched once upon a time?

the only ppl who called him a thug were the white folks who hated him. the kids (as you refer to as "hipsters" for some reason) who loved him didnt see a "thug", they saw an exciting basketball player at an obtainable height who dressed how they dressed (or wanted to), had cool hair and rapped. the "thug" label put on him by people who hated him, caused him nothing but trouble and LOST him money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXJkeoDwBrs

Good logical points, though.

You just happen to be wrong.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

http://tinyurl.com/buujnzc

-------------------------
“Floyd Mayweather should be taking fights up to 157 or 160 pounds...His frame can hold the weight..it's not even a lot of weight....Go to the gym and lift weights man..lol.”-- Warren Coolidge

>the only ppl who called him a thug were the white folks

OE over here tap dancing in front of these people


you ever see pics of some of thsee fucking posters in here?? smdh

It looks like people knew him personally

I'm willing to back off of my suspicion

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

I've not been complimentary of some of your posts of late but this is classic work. The subtleties of making folk having to defend the niggerish nature of their hero to protect agendas is just lovely stuff....just lovely work O_E!

>I've not been complimentary of some of your posts of late but
>this is classic work. The subtleties of making folk having to
>defend the niggerish nature of their hero to protect agendas
>is just lovely stuff....just lovely work O_E!

You nailed it-

I have Iverson fans literally telling me that he actually
did commit the crime in high school and actually is a destructive,
negative person, while I defend his character and good name

There's just not many in the game that can do the things
that I can do

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

>>I've not been complimentary of some of your posts of late
>but
>>this is classic work. The subtleties of making folk having
>to
>>defend the niggerish nature of their hero to protect agendas
>>is just lovely stuff....just lovely work O_E!
>
>You nailed it-
>
>I have Iverson fans literally telling me that he actually
>did commit the crime in high school and actually is a
>destructive,
>negative person, while I defend his character and good name
>

So, no, actually.

White folks love them some Iverson.

image make-over to help him leave early and be drafted #1...and it was college basketball.