Ride or Die (The REAL reason the hood is all in with Lance Stephenson)

"I'm all in EVERY night playboy!"

In order to stay grounded I make sure that I at least touch the ghetto and keep my ear to the streets once a week. So as I’m coming out of the barber shop deep in the hood these cats are discussing loyalty. Richard Grant, the British writer, said, “I place an enormous premium on loyalty. If someone betrays me, I can forgive them rationally, but emotionally I have found it impossible to do so.” David Mamet, the famous playwright and screenwriter, pulled up in a hot whip sittin’ on 24’s and said, “What I value most in my friends is loyalty.” Then Joyce Maynard, the famous writer, jumped out of the passenger side and shut the building down with, “A person who deserves my loyalty receives it.”

That’s Hood 101 playboy but they don’t call it loyalty in the ghetto it’s called “Ride or Die!”

Lance Stephenson got ejected on Wednesday night against the Heat on a terrible call by the refs and these ole fake duns in Indianapolis wanna act like they’re done with him. All day Thursday everywhere I went except for the ghetto boyz were talking about how he needs to go. Then I turn on the radio and it’s the same thing! They should get rid of him, he’s immature, he’s gonna cost us in an important game in the playoffs etc.

Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1^st! Lance the Don Dada Mr. #BornReady himself is the most important player on that team playboy! He’s not the best player but the most important! Why? Because he brings all of the freakin’ energy to the building. He’s the reason why the joint is sold out more often than not. He’s the entertainment that boyz wanna see! He’s the attitude that the Pacers play with and he’s the dun in the car that won’t back down when it’s time to scrap. You always have to have a cat like that in the ride because you never know when it's gonna pop off!

You can say what you want to about the ghetto playboy but one thing that will never change about it is the loyalty that lives there. When you’ve proven that you are one of the family boyz will take the good and the bad that comes with you. Since I’ve grown up, gone to college, moved to the suburbs and worked in Corporate America for more than 24 years I’ve learned that people outside of the ghetto don’t “Ride or Die!” They only love you on condition and when the conditions change they’ll back the bus over you and keep it movin'.

Boyz that are on your team (block) in the ghetto love you because you represent the block even if you make a mistake every now and then.

Lance shows up EVERY night bruh not just from time to time! That dun is gonna give you 12-15 points a night and 8 or 9 rebounds and throw a hand full of dimes just puttin’ his shoes on! He leads the freakin’ NBA in triple doubles for crying out loud! Sure, every now and then he’ll hit the freakin’ guy at the scores table in the face with an errant pass. The beer man might get hit in the back of the head with a behind the back joint that made no sense to throw but when he connects on those joints, more often than not, the crowd goes crazy.

Let me put it where the goats can get it playboy! The boyz in the barber shop love that dun because he represents the ghetto and the attitude that you need to have to make it out of the hood. Lance has the ghetto for the first time watchin’ the Pacers! And whether you realize it or not, folks in the ghetto are your biggest consumers of products. They're spending every dime they've got on whatever intrigues them. That's why they can't get out of the ghetto playa! So it's a good thing for you as an organization to have Lance on the team ballin'! Why? Because they'll buy jerseys if nothing else pimpin'.

Boyz in the hood have never been that interested in the Pacers before. Why? Because they were always trying to satisfy the local fan base and keep a few "Great White Hopes" on the team. How did that work out for you pimp? I say play the best players regardless of color! Why? Because talent has no color! But Tyler Hansbrough was a complete waste of a first round draft pick just to satisfy the fan base. And will somebody please explain to me how his brother even made it through security?

Now don't get it twisted bruh, just because you've got black players on the team doesn't mean that the hood will ride with them. You gotta have a dun that the hood identifies with and that's Lance!

Now boyz were dialed in when Reggie and Co. went to the Finals but now they can identify with the team because of cats like Lance!

Sure, George Hill is from Indy and the hood has tall love for him too but Lance is that cat that everybody knows whether they know him or not!

Boyz all over country are not only watchin’ the Pacers because of the relevance of the them to Miami and this Eastern Conference race but they like the edge that ole boy brings to the floor.

So you gotta take the good with the bad on a boy if you’re gonna be true to the game. Nobody wants to kick it with a boy that isn’t “Ride or Die!” The fact that cats were even sayin’ that Lance has to go tells me that they either grew up in the rural America or the suburbs because you only push a boy out of your camp in the hood when he betrays the code of the hood and that code it trust!

Can you trust Lance to show up EVERY night? Absolutely! Can you trust him to give you everything that he has? Absolutely! Will he Ride or Die for the team? You darn right! And that’s the edited version. If he can do all of that then you gotta tell the dun at the scores table and the beer man to put on a helmet and face mask on and keep their heads on a swivel because Mr. #BornReady is in the building. Stop me when I start lyin’!

Holla At Ya Boy!
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