"The Original Studio Gangsta"

"If I hear anything else from my bench! I coming over to your bench bruh!"

In 1987, NWA,  a rap group that was raw as a baby's butt with diaper rash took the music scene by storm. They basically told the untold story of ghetto gangsta life that few in suburban America ever knew existed. It was an opportunity to step into the world of gang bangin', drug dealing and the attitude that goes along with it without having to put themselves in any danger. Before that, rap music was about story telling, battling on the mic and throwing block parties. Of course Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five had released the ultimate tale of ghetto life in the powerfully strong joint entitled " The Message" in '83.  However, because of the success of the concept of gangsta rap a new phenomenon was born, "The studio gangsta!"

This was a cat that really wasn't a gangsta at all but he told the stories of a gangster that had everybody in the streets fooled and the rest of world the begging for more. He was able to make a fortune off of the concept of gangsta living because people became fascinated by it. Tupac Shakur was probably the most famous of them all. People hung on his every word but in reality he wasn't even close to being a gangsta. He knew a lot of them and even ran with some notorious killa's. However, just because you're the man sitting next to the man sitting next to the man doesn't make you a gangsta bruh. 

Now we've got Juwan Howard trying to be the O. G. Bobby Johnson of the NBA! On Sunday, before Game 4 of the Heat's 101-93 win over the Pacers. Howard came over to the Pacers side of the court as the guys were shooting around and confronted Pacers rookie guard Lance Stephenson about the choke sign that he made to LeBron after he missed free throws during Game 3. The two players had to be separated by Pacers guard AJ Price before it escalated. Now on Saturday Howard showed up at the Pacers locker room looking for Stephenson.

First of all, why are these cats even warming up? Let me explain to you just how much of a non-factor these guys are to this series. The equipment managers aren't even packing these guys jocks bruh! They're out there in their underwear (free ballin') under their uniforms! Juwan has the best seat in the house and was trying to sell that joint on StubHub for $20G's before the game. It comes with complete access to the locker room and all timeout strategy look-ins as well as all of the Gatorade you can drink. Bonus: you get to talk to LeBron and D Wade when they come off of the floor. As an extra incentive he'll throw in a couple of groupies at no additional charge.

C'mon bruh! Where you from? Boyz have been talking trash since the beginning of time! Juwan is from the south side Chicago and I know he's not trying to catch feelings because some young cat is talking trash from the bench! Are you serious? You're upset because he called your boy out? Now I realize that these two have been beefin' for months dating back to March 26 when they got into it and Howard was ejected from the game after getting into Stephenson's face after several physical altercations during play. 

Juwan (39) is 18 years older than Stephenson and he's trippin' like that? First of all, he's too old to even care that a boy is talking trash from the bench. Secondly, he's darn near old enough to be his dad and lastly he looks like a fool chasing him around the building trying to get his lick back. If your boy is cool with him talking then you should be too. That's like the old timer at work that's been around way too long that's milking the company dry of a pay check, getting into a fight with the file clerk over staples. Neither one of these dudes are playing and they're woofin'? That's like the girlfriend's homegirl wrestling with the boyfriend's homeboy over an argument that the couple had last week and they're over it at this point. 

Juwan and his agent have been gangsta's for years because they've been robbing teams of massive amounts of money since his days in Washington. Remember when as a rookie he signed a 12 year $58 million deal but never really earned it? That's $58 million in '94 bruh! He may as well be sitting on the Heat bench with a ski mask on for all of the money he's taken from teams over the years. Queen Latifah and her girls should have allowed him to consult them before filming "Set It Off" because ole Juwan would have told them how to get away with all of that bread instead of getting down the street only to die with it.

I personally told Lance in the locker room before the game that the "Brotherhood" didn't except his apology because he had nothing to apologize for. He's playing the game the way it's meant to be played! That's with passion and a cat on the sideline talking trash. It's not a game unless there is some random dude on the sideline frustrating the "Man!" We would even do that playing in the cages over in the projects as a kid. It's not a game until somebody gets mad enough to fight bruh. So I had told Lance to keep up the good work regardless of what these politically correct new school cats tell him. If he keeps it up Juwan is going to be the O.G. that some young cat will establish his rep off of. One of these young boyz in the league is gonna toss his salad if he keeps looking for dinner! In the famous words of my cousin Lovell & all of his boyz, "He's gonna get tapped up out here trying to be tuff!"  Trust me on that bruh!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport