The warm weather was approaching; somewhat of a negative for me at the time. You see, I had a secret. I was 9 years old, but looked 14 and I didn't tell her until afterward. Kidding.
My Achilles Heel, was, in fact, that I could not ride a bike.
Before my mom and I moved in to our new house in Spring of 1994, we drove around the streets to just observe what we were getting ourselves into. I was excited for all of two minutes. EVERYONE was on a bike. There were 20, no, 25, little tiny kids, no more than an average of six years old, riding around the neighborhood. But that wasn't the worst of it. I made eye contact with one kid donning a sweater vest and he proceeded to take his hands off the handles and ride "no hands" while staring me down through the passenger window. I was frightened he was attempting such a feat, something he could see deep inside of me. He not only knew I couldn't go no hands, he knew I couldn't even ride.
I had two months to learn and I had put it off most of my childhood due largely to the fear of tearing up my knees. I had really bad balance. Even so, I had to learn. I promised I would continue to try to learn and I wasn't about to disappoint, though there were several obstacles in my attainment of my goal.
I was already 5'9'', very tall for third grade, and it had to look funny watching a huge man-boy getting help on a bike as he is near tears and the wetting of his pants. I had to be more discreet or this wasn't happening. Any of it. F' a bike. I didn't have to ride a bike or wear jeans to fit into civilization! To make matters worse, there was a group of huge douchebags in the neighborhood I lived in before the move. These kids thought they were real tough picking on someone five years younger than them. Funny they played the "bigger man" tag when I was in high school.
I knew I had to learn away from the neighborhood. My grandfather would scoop me in the coup to look for a discreet neighborhood for some low-stress practice to no avail. Time had flown by and unfortunately it was time to move in to the new house. I was still very uncomfortable on the bike. I tried, I really did; I felt unprepared, a feeling I have always despised.
Around the the new neighbors, I wouldn't quite ride the bike, but I'd kind of walk it out to where everyone was standing. Luckily the children didn't go far, they got on bikes but would only go to where they could still be cow-belled in for dinner time. Really good kids, kind of boring though.
I then got comfortable enough to ride the bike down a large hill, which I would follow up by walking it up that same hill, riding it back down, cycle repeat. They'd ask me why I was doing that and I provided no logical response. I could maintain balance going down a hill, but it was the balance while peddling I couldn't quite master! I began losing some weight from this exercise but followed it up with numerous Little Debbie snack cakes. I ran Debbie's gamut: Oatmeal Cream Pies, Swiss Rolls, Cosmic Brownies, Zebra Cakes, Honey Buns, Pecan Spinwheels, Donut Sticks, Star Crunch, Raisin Cream Pies, there is no way to point as one or even five of these as favorites; they all had their place.
It took months, but eventually I learned how to ride a bike; it just happened one day. That Saturday evening I needed to celebrate. I was watching some TV and landed on the pay-per-view channels. I had no idea these existed. There were two movies that night that I really, really wanted to watch, so I asked my mom, and she was feeling generous and approved both! One of the best moments of my life.
"Blue Chips" was the first movie I ordered that night; a doozy which included my two favorite NBA players - Shaq and Penny. At the same time, I was becoming more more involved with basketball. I loved to play since I was very young with the Larry Bird goal my father gave me, but when rec league started in kindergarten I was pretty green. After probably two years of playing, I started to get much more serious, which in turn made me a better player; further strengthening my love for the game I had also loved to watch from a young age. My favorite two players in the league at the time were Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway. I was a huge Magic fan. Outside of the Knicks I have never had a team I really always root for; just players. I have always been a fan of the players.
The movie was, in actuality, a very bad movie, but I did enjoy the story line. Nolte is a super average actor and to be honest annoys the hell out of me in the movie. I didn't understand the concept of "point shaving" until years later (speaking of corruption and pressures in college athletics, do any of you remember "The Program" with James Caan, Omar Epps, and HALLE?). I liked this movie and saw it hundreds of times throughout my childhood, but love is too strong of a word.
The second movie I ordered that evening was "Above the Rim." Shep (played by Leon) was the ultimate protagonist. He had his faults, but that made his character that much more believable. It was a well-known fact that Shep's life fell short of what he and others from his borough had expected, but it didn't blame anyone but himself. Birdie (played by Tupac), on the other hand, was the perfect antagonist. Originally, he came off to be loyal to those he allowed in his circle, but it became apparent that he would do anything and everything he could to get on top. Kyle (played by Duane Martin) was the inner city high school basketball stud with aspirations of playing at Georgetown, being pulled in both directions. By all accounts, this is probably an "average, at best" movie, but I'm not afraid to tell you it's one of my favorites of all-time.
The second movie I ordered that evening was "Above the Rim." Shep (played by Leon) was the ultimate protagonist. He had his faults, but that made his character that much more believable. It was a well-known fact that Shep's life fell short of what he and others from his borough had expected, but it didn't blame anyone but himself. Birdie (played by Tupac), on the other hand, was the perfect antagonist. Originally, he came off to be loyal to those he allowed in his circle, but it became apparent that he would do anything and everything he could to get on top. Kyle (played by Duane Martin) was the inner city high school basketball stud with aspirations of playing at Georgetown, being pulled in both directions. By all accounts, this is probably an "average, at best" movie, but I'm not afraid to tell you it's one of my favorites of all-time.
The movie opens with Shep waking up after a bad dream where his best friend, Nutzo, takes a tragic fall from the top of a building while the two were playing one-on-one and the backboard gave out. He's crushed by it, and I felt his emotion. The backdrop for this powerful scene is Tupac's own, "Pain":
The craziest thing about this classic track is that it wasn't even on the CD soundtrack, only on the cassette tape! I had both. I hadn't heard Tupac before this song, but he immediately become one of "my guys" after this one, another factor that kept me exploring West Coast hip-hop.
He had another ferocious track on the soundtrack, "Pour Out a Little Liquor", easily a top ten Pac song in my book:
He had another ferocious track on the soundtrack, "Pour Out a Little Liquor", easily a top ten Pac song in my book:
I've always been a huge R&B fan, and there were a couple absolute bangers on this album from some of the genre's best groups.
H-Town - "Part Time Lover" (Prod. by DeVante Swing) (R.I.P. Dino!):
SWV - "Anything" (Prod. by Brian Morgan):
I miss the sound of SWV, Mary J. Blige, En Vogue, Janet, Monica, Xscape, TLC, and the late great Aaliyah. Feels like it was just yesterday when she died. This sub-genre ("feel") of R&B is not dead though. Look no further than North Carolina's own Heather Victoria with "Crush":
Another gem on the soundtrack was "Afro Puffs" by Lady of Rage feat. Snoop Dogg and produced by none other than Dr. Dre:
But the main course of this soundtrack is not debatable. One of the best duo cuts ever witnessed (THIS would be a great list to compile): Warren G and Nate Dogg - "Regulators" (Prod. by Warren G):
This song owned 1994 for me, it really did. How can you go wrong with the Michael McDonald sample? Answer: you can't! The way the story of the song unfolds is nuts, and yet again from this soundtrack I felt the emotion of the music so powerfully it was too much for me to ignore.
The elements of basketball, dope hip-hop and R&B, and a deeper look in to the urban culture made this one of my favorite movies growing up and without question, my favorite soundtrack to this day.
MOUNT UP!
No comments:
Post a Comment