All they needed was the enigmatic Shakur. By 1993, it was Wayans working with Shakur on the street basketball coming-of-age film Above the Rim, which celebrates its 25th anniversary on Saturday. About Nielsen Measurement. What Movie Should You Watch on Netflix? Rucker Park is the breeding grounds of some of the greatest professional basketball players to have ever played basketball. We had to change the shooting schedule and delay production,” Leon said. Iverson’s 1993 trial and eventual conviction remains a benchmark of racial divisiveness in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Leon is humbled and entertained by the internet’s reaction to Shep, in corduroy pants, dropping 40 second-half points in the movie’s championship climax. So let’s do this—there’s a world of adventure waiting. Quiz! Holcombe, and even legendary NBA players like Kareem, considered Earl to be the greatest player at the Rucker. He firmly believes “Cash Money Records takin’ ova for da ’99 and da 2000” is the single-most impactful statement of his generation. Above the Rim, too, entered the culture during that 1986-97 era when films such as House Party, New Jack City, Malcolm X, Boomerang, Juice, Menace II Society and others had already stitched themselves into the fabric of the ’90s black cultural explosion. He was funny too. In Above the Rim as Shep, he returns to Harlem after falling on hard times. “Having a … prominent black coach who we know would take a chance on a player [like character Kyle Lee Watson] and give him a scholarship, much the way [Thompson] did with Allen Iverson, it just made sense.”, Wayans agrees. “I would often have conversations with him about some elements around him, but I wasn’t abreast of it all because I wasn’t there every time he was getting in trouble,” said Wayans. “The jury is out on whether he’ll prove as self-destructive.”. Quiz! They made each other laugh. “They can’t erase what we were, man,” Flip says to Shep toward the beginning of the film. Quiz! In an interview with Philadelphia's "Rise and Grind Morning Show," the Chicago …, Kanye West is back with the remix. The Cleveland “Wild Boy” spit some bars while perched atop the rim of a basketball hoop in Harlem’s Rucker Park. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Yet the Washington, D.C., campus’s role in the movie is important, and seamless. After a very big renovation in the early 90s, the Rucker has become a major landmark in basketball culture. We can’t wait to meet you! But shortly before Thanksgiving, Shakur, along with two associates, was charged with sexual assault of a woman in a New York City Parker Meridien hotel room. Marlon Wayans can still smell the thick aroma of Tupac Shakur’s marathon marijuana sessions. Wizkid returns with his fourth full-length studio album Made in Lagos. ! Director Jeff Pollack was confused. Leon appreciated the spectacle. On the 14-track set, the Nigerian …, Common is breaking his silence following allegations of assault. Rucker Park is more than just an outdoor basketball court in Harlem, New York. After dominating the charts all year long, …, Pop Smoke and Quavo are living the life in the video for "Aim for the Moon." They talked about themselves as young black creatives in a world that often sought their talents but not the soul behind them. In November 1993, he was charged with shooting two off-duty suburban Atlanta policemen. In a landmark 1995 VIBE prison interview, Tupac talked about hanging around with hardened street players who showed him the baller life that New York City had to offer. On Thursday (Oct. 29), the Philadelphia rapper announced that his son Jihad passed …, Ahead of his album release tonight, Busta Rhymes drops his highly-anticipated collaboration with Kendrick Lamar. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information/Your California Privacy Rights/Do Not Sell My Info/Children's Online Privacy Policy are applicable to you. His rising fame ran concurrent with controversy. “Don’t care.”, People in Hollywood knew Leon could hoop, but word-of-mouth was only a down payment on respect. While Above the Rim has risen to cult status in the quarter-century since its release, many at the time blasted the film for hackneyed dialogue and situations. He’d leave set once the day was over, go to the studio to record and come back to set the next morning primed and ready. It was really a party, and I was kind of the only … woman with lines in the movie.” And making his film debut was Wood Harris (Remember The Titans, The Wire, Paid In Full, Creed and Creed II) as Motaw — Wee-Bey to Birdie’s Avon Barksdale. Above the Rim marks a transitional period in Shakur’s life. Quiz! Above the Rim was part of a 1994 Hollywood basketball renaissance. … Everyone had all-everything in their city credentials,” Leon said. It was strictly about hoops, wasn’t nothing about acting. Machine Gun Kelly Freestyles Above the Rim at Rucker Park. Leon is biased about the film’s cult status, and proud of it. If you … Wayans can still hear his own mother warning him. “We didn’t apologize for who we were. Tupac in trouble, Georgetown hoops on the rise, a sports film rises to cult classic. Wayans and Shakur, both performing arts high school products, had become quick friends while Shakur was filming 1992’s Juice alongside Wayans’ friends Omar Epps and Mitch Marchand. Many of the film’s ballplayers were just that: ballplayers. That team … it made us go, ‘Yo, I wanna wear that blue and gray.’ … For kids that grew up … in the ’hood … it became cool to be smart and educated.”. All rights reserved. But Earl dropped out of school after being caught using drugs. Shakur was the sinister and charming drug dealer Birdie, who was trying to monopolize a local streetball tournament. Following their "Shake the Room" …, Busta Rhymes is enlisting some major star power for his new album. At the time the tournament was arguably more prestigious than the professional league, and almost all the greatest names to play basketball, have played at the Rucker. Quiz! But also in 1993, Shakur was charged with felonious assault at a concert at Michigan State University. When you get on the court, it’s like either you could go or you can’t.”. Blue Chips focuses on the lucrative and slimy underbelly of big-business college athletics (and art imitates life a quarter-century later). That was the fall of 1991. Roger Ebert felt similarly but praised the film’s ingenuity in character development. Duane Martin and Leon Robinson were two of the stars in this film that was part of a 1994 Hollywood basketball renaissance. The Atlanta rapper has had a tremendous year. All rights reserved. In its opening weekend in March 1994, the film recouped that sum, amassing $3.7 million — and $16.1 million overall. The TDE rapper returned to social media to give his fans …, The Weeknd and Roddy Ricch lead the nominations for the 2020 American Music Awards. Maybe it was because Georgetown had a successful black coach manning its sidelines in John Thompson. “It was … without a doubt a story of the inner city,” said Leon, who at the time was fresh off his powerhouse role as J.T. But you be careful of the elements around him.”. He fought director Allen Hughes on the set of Spice 1’s “Trigga Gots No Heart” video and was later sentenced on battery charges. Julius Erving, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are three of the greatest players of all time and they all competed at the Rucker. ©Copyright 2020 Rap-Up.com. "What would swag be without me?" “There’s just been so many memes people send me … it’s hilarious,” he said, laughing. Bodacious. “Everyone could really ball. Nor does the school make or break the plot. Later that year came Hoop Dreams, the masterful Steve James documentary. Earlier this month, DeOndra Dixon passed away at the age of …, DaBaby is not a sore loser. remains a benchmark of racial divisiveness, Shakur was charged with felonious assault, hanging around with hardened street players, filmed on a budget of approximately $3.5 million. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Justin Tinsley is a culture and sports writer for The Undefeated. Hoop Dreams is an exposé of the beautiful yet heartbreaking physical and emotional investment of the sport. The role was first offered to Leon’s friend (and fellow heartthrob) Denzel Washington, who had just starred as Malcolm X in the iconic Spike Lee biopic. He was a first-team All-Association selection in 1988-89 and was the Howard Cann Award recipient that same season as MVP. “Then there was the rap explosion, and people started wearing Georgetown-style gear because they were so moved. To one segment of America, Iverson was a goon, a two-sport local superstar who deserved to have his future stripped away after a 1993 bowling alley brawl. Through the 1960s and 70s, drugs became a very dangerous influence to young children, and they prevented some of the great young basketball players from ever doing anything with their lives. “The cast was phenomenal. L. Douglas Wilder, was an unspoken factor in Above the Rim’s authenticity. This was Tupac’s. Except for Michigan’s Fab Five, no team held the gritty cultural cool that Georgetown (seen here with Allen Iverson and coach John Thompson in 1994) did in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Above the Rim was different, though. Martin (White Men Can’t Jump, Scream 2, Any Given Sunday) portrays Kyle Lee Watson, a high school basketball star hellbent on attending Georgetown. He was a larger-than-life counterculture rebel who remained true to himself at all costs — in tats, do-rags and baggy jeans. It was while playing professional basketball in Rome and filming 1993’s Cliffhanger with Sylvester Stallone and John Lithgow (in Rome as well) that Leon was approached about starring in Above the Rim. Iverson’s role in basketball lore is one-of-one, and by 1994, his image was, in many ways, as controversial as Shakur’s. “That’s my movie.”. Now Rucker Park holds many tournaments with the main focus to help raise money for less fortunate children go to college. Set and filmed mostly in Harlem, the film was written by Barry Michael Cooper and directed by Pollack and also features Leon (Colors, The Five Heartbeats, Cool Runnings, Waiting to Exhale) as Tommy “Shep” Shepard, Shakur’s older brother and former basketball star. “Real n—as don’t have doors on Range Rovers!” Shakur wanted the doors off so he could just jump out and directly into his lines. “Allen Iverson represents the concrete and the hardwood. “Kick the doors off the Range Rover!” Shakur yelled as he emerged. “I’d just say, ‘Yo, you have the power to make different decisions, watch out for this, watch out for that … You have to dodge traps.
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