Transcripts for WNPR 90.5 FM/WEDW 88.5 FM/WPKT 89.1 FM/WRLI 91.3 FM [Connecticut Public Radio] WNPR 90.5 FM/WEDW 88.5 FM/WPKT 89.1 FM/WRLI 91.3 FM [Connecticut Public Radio] 20180610 170000

It's balls i m Jesse for meto world peace the n.b.a. All star has kind of a reputation he's the sort of player who leaves it all on the court in the prime of his career he play 48 minutes he drives a lady play tough defense he get tossed from games all the time it was a double edged sword coaches loved his passion but sometimes it could get out of hand he spent hundreds of hours working on that even since he's retired to a fair a-P. Meditating taking medication but part of the struggle is he's always been like that like when I was a kid I remember I remember thrown a chair at a referee I was in 8th grade and somebody found me he didn't call that we were losing I was so mad I throw the chair to all of the oil and he was a police officer by the way and then I get kicked out to see why I can never play again I've been suspended every I was a school by the way I think I said in my book I was suspended every Syria kid preschool. Nursery all the way to high school it's balls I. This week my conversation with metal world peace formally known as Ron are test going to cover a lot of ground of this one the highs and lows of his career the fights the championships plus the time he met Kobe Bryant in the n.b.a. Finals while Colby was literally taking a shower I remember. And the funny thing is and they turns around he sees me his life he almost like laughs. What are you doing here you know like how is that why you are in the shell while also talk about his childhood memories from New York he grew up in Queensbridge the biggest public housing complex in the country which was hard for a lot of reasons as you'd expect especially when you're trying to find a place to practice sometimes I will walk away from a neighborhood 45 rolled down burnable of a one on cities like to roast a bully is crazy when I was there was not real estate there were just like prostitutes and drugs and walking like maybe 5 to 6 blocks just to get down to a court just a practice I did anything to find out who I would never let a day go by where I couldn't find a who I would find one song plus producer and d.j. Cut Chemist tells us about the song that changed his life and I'll tell you about one of the bravest people I've ever known that's all coming up on both sides let's go. It's balls I'm Jesse Thorn I guess Metta World Peace has a big personality which is saying a lot for an n.b.a. Player I mean even in the finals this year you have your heroes like Le Bron James and staff Curry and your supposed villains like Raymond Green or or Le Bron James depending on where you're from Le Bron James is definitely the bad guy go dabs and if you polled n.b.a. Fans. And Metta World Peace would probably wind up in the villain category even though he's been named an all star and won an n.b.a. Championship in 2010 he's one of the most polarizing players in the history of the game he was born run our test he changed his name in 2012 he grew up in Queensbridge New York the same massive housing project that was home to players like Lamar Odom and to rappers like Nazis and the duo Mobb Deep he got drafted in the 1st round in 1909 by The Chicago Bulls. As a player he was always an elite defender but he had a reputation for losing his cool when it worked it made him passionate tough and nearly impossible to get past but when it didn't things went south. He played dirty he'd get into dustups on the court once in 2004 at a game in Detroit a hard foul between players escalated into an all out brawl between players and fans the incident now infamous was called the malice at the palace. But Metta World Peace has been on just about his regrets and life and in his years as a player and now as a coach he's become a powerful advocate for mental health care after he helped lead the Lakers to a championship in 2010 he even thanked his therapist nothing more than my doctor the doctor says you're not perfect I just know you have your let's allow feel not just told to put the blame all the feelings emotions on the play all the time you're not I think this is a much now he's written a memoir about his life no malice my life in basketball how a kid from Queens Bridge survived the streets the brawls and himself to become an n.b.a. Champion in it he recounts his triumphs and his shortcomings including of course that incident in Detroit it's a story with a lot of poignant reflective lows but also some pretty terrific highlights. The 3 would be. The. Matter of world peace Welcome to both I'm so glad to have you on the show yes thanks for having me absolutely one of the things that I found most fascinating in your book was you talking about growing up in Queens pretty much in New York. For folks who have never been there can you describe what it was like when you were a kid in the eighty's Yeah I grew up in 1979 and then an eighty's it was tough because. Although you had a kid moment you have fun you're in a part you doing different things like playing Skelly or hopscotch then you also add those moments where you know you charge transactions gun shots fights and you know nobody's motivated to become educated you know that all those things were taking place and you just become that. Always tell my kids you always got to watch you around because you will start to act like the most of those people you know and it's not that they're bad people but if you try not to be innovator and progressive you know it's going to be hard to do that I know environments I grew up we grew up with a lot of family in your house right yes how big was your family the family was big I want point we had 17 people in our 3 bedroom we did have about 13 people in a one bedroom. So yeah I always when I want to I mean it's an m.b.a. I didn't think twice about buying a house for me and my 2 kids and my wife it was about my 2 kids wife my mom my sisters like everybody's going to have rooms you know I asked as as my thought process when I was young did you have this I mean like I grew up mostly I don't need child my wife grew up in a big Catholic family and when we got together when we were teenagers I was always anxious being at her house Yeah because there was just always people around it was very normal for her yeah and for me I was just like I just want to go sit and read a book somewhere quiet you know I mean like just just to have some Yeah peace and everyone was like being nice to me you know right but I think for her it was sometimes it was the opposite you know it was like if there wasn't that clamor then she wasn't at home right and it is true and that's how you grow up you get used to it as like deaf anybody any situation any any demographic any color your skin when you grow up in a certain environment. And a certain way is going to affect you so even if you grow up rich or your parents is not home was a lie maybe you have nannies and the nanny was just doing their job to get you anything you want to set you up even to grow up like an entitled kid you know or maybe you're like Stephan Cary you know his dad grew up pretty well the was dad made it and he grew up pretty wealthy but he's still a German kid so something's happened in that household and you can see their parents on t.v. Together you know and not everybody is fast fortunate. And got a globe around Jan you know really see it fall in the picture but you see his mom very supportive you know and so is amazing like what shapes a person. What do you think it was that shaped you for me I mean definitely definitely my mom my dad but you know they were they were together when you were very young and separated but they were both part of your life for me there was a major part of my life so I got That's a lot of people see 2 sides around Tessa lies not one side because I experienced our mother and father laughing tackling each other the love scene and then like the next week you will see the fighting and stuff so then you see that but then you're still together so now that becomes normal that's unknown like Ok mom and dad for today no problem is still there I'm happy I don't care you know but they were in a separate That's a problem you know when I need my mom and I need a hug when I go to school and my dad tiny Dad I need to sit on his lap and you know that you know causes a lot of confusion and frustration when did you start playing basketball I started playing when I was 8 yeah my dad got me on the court I think yeah we got a call back think like he threw accurately some energy you got a better fighter right he was a he was a pocket or my dad was a varsity Yes Golden Gloves and then he had me when he had me he got a job he was supporting his family he was a hard worker really hard worker is he as big as you are how tall are you he's 62 he's why he's probably about 240 when he was in his prime at 240 my family is very like we don't look as heavy as we are. You know on my to 78 I don't look to 70 and we all like that and so you know I always wanted to box he never let us boxa never let us box it's balls I'm Jesse thorn My guest is the basketball player better world peace did you play angry when you were a kid. When I was a kid we played angry here because my neighborhood everybody was angry only when you want to call I mean you know to get on a coat it was only one coat on a block and you go to another block and sometimes you don't want to go to another block because you don't know nobody on the other block. You know and then I mentioned I started to go to the other blacks and just really that's when you know you kind of tough because you're not afraid to go on somebody else's block and then you know give them some work you know and that made me tough too because I used to be afraid to walk on the other blocks and they had one court behind the neighborhood but that's like that's where a lot of things go down you know maybe George transactions or Also my to get married in the back it's nobody back there to protect you you know right under the bridge you know and not started going back there by myself you know and I was nervous wreck you know just like shooting and just lighting wondering who's behind you you know. And then I. Started to become a little a little tough and I would walk sometimes I will walk away from the neighborhood 45 rolled down burnable of a one on cities like that roast a bully as crazy when I was there was no real estate bull it was just like prostitutes and drugs and walking like maybe 5 to 6 blocks just to get down to a court just a practice I did anything to find out who I would never let a day go by where I couldn't find a who I would find one somewhere to feel like there was a time in your life when you decided that you were not going to be involved in selling drugs oh yeah I was you know I was but the 1st time I stole just quite honestly because you know I've seen it being cooked and I was a young kid just playing basketball but it just so happens that you know my cousins was a cook in a lot of drugs you know and all served time and everything and then no molecules and it was just like him not my dad anybody my brothers but a lot a lot of my cousins and my older brother actually went to jail for 10 years for drug trafficking but. You know it was just like. I asked my cousin for some money give it to me and I walk about in chips and I know that the cousin who gave me money sells drugs and he he tells me this is how you make a cookie but only because not a cookie. Like I want to do. You know and the 1st time I did I was 13 I bag it up kind of the crack bag it up and then I gave the crackhead the money I know exactly who it is to and and I'm like I didn't take the money I didn't want a transaction I was looking outside of things only I asked off the drugs but you get freaked out and I just didn't take the payoff I couldn't take the money I'll go back in the House and Democrat leaders I raise the money and I go I can I can do it . You know but it was crazy because that's where we play Nintendo and that's where we are. All the technology was there you know and it was like a lot of things and I just came 2nd criminal activity going on but then all the fun was there you know and and there was a Christian house which is crazy because. They never put anything around the mom but it was she's super super Christian you know super insecure into guys I was like it was a weird and it was weird I'm Jesse thorn You're listening to both Hi My guest is the former basketball star Metta World Peace It seems like you were not the kind of highly touted basketball prospect when you're a young teenager. That some of the other guys who went on to have your kind of professional basketball success were. Were you just working harder. Yeah I know it wasn't good I was going up against. Another guy named Ryan Johnson who was the Maher of the model about Islam Allah Ma was always amazing his partner writing Johnson was better. Who was better than both of us by far. But he just did a lot of streets also and yeah but I knew I had uphill battle I remember seeing shake the hand of a shake. And I remember I remember hearing about a code being Tracy McGrady and I'm like Ok if I'm going to make it like I got to go in because I wasn't as good you know people can see my game I have a lot of flaws in my name now I when I played and they knew I was my go but I was tough enough where I was going to let you stop me you know and I was going to stop you know you know and I was going to be on a Pflum play a lot of minutes and and nobody knows and we all star our defense played here and possible to be candid in not going out because you know I know it was hard work it happens a lot not just me you know committal and you know a lot of these guys you know come out of nowhere who's more from the Lakers you know they just weren't working harder it seems like you had the same problems playing basketball as a teenager that you had in your n.b.a. Career especially early on or an n.b.a. Career which is. Every so often you would you know throw a white board across the room was one thing like that. Man to many of those it seems like you did in. One of the things that changes your got older was that when you were younger at least as you describe in the book you almost didn't think of that as a problem because it was I mean I imagine it was really tied into exactly the same stuff that made you work so hard. Man Yeah it was and was like when I was a kid I remember I remember thrown a chair at a referee I was in 8th grade and somebody found me he didn't call that we were losing I was so mad I throw the chair at the end he was a police officer by the way. And then I get kicked out to see why Oh Ok never play again I've been suspended every I was in school by the way I think I said in my book I was suspended every single year kid preschool nursery all the way of high school I don't think I got to spend a junior year but I did it and maybe I did I cannot. Even in college I care I'm a one year I never got suspended for something right and I just lied why where is the rage coming from and then when I was 25 I kind of know where the rage is coming from now as I look back you know and it's not it wasn't just from my environment you know it was like in the household but. You know I'm there my marriage counselor helped me alive when I was 25 he opened up loans and changed my life and things didn't happen overnight I can sense like things getting better you know things going better. When we continue with bull's eye after a break I'll talk with metal world piece about his struggle with anger on the court and how it led to one of his other most notable fights one with current m.v.p. Front runner James Hart Stay with us. For maximum fun dot org And n.p.r. Support for Connecticut Public Radio comes from Foxwoods resort casino presenting Joel McHale on Saturday June 23rd a live comedy event with comedian and actor from N.B.C.'s Community Joel McHale info at Foxwoods dot com Next time on Studio 360. That. Masterpiece that was a response to McCarthy. People who care about books and care about life and care about the truth Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 our latest installment of American icons next. Hope you can join us this afternoon at 2. And this week's live from here features music from Parker mills up on The Secret Sisters and comedy from Tom Papa tonight at 9 I'm Bruce Barbour and you're listening to Connecticut Public Radio. Hi I'm Carrie Caroline xterm relations associate here at maximum find dot org Support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Member stations and Newman's Own Foundation working to nourish the common good by donating all profits from Newman's own food products to charitable organizations that seek to make the world a better place more information is available at Newman's Own Foundation dot org And Margo and John Ernst supporting North Country Public Radio in Canton New York and N.P.R.'s environmental coverage which helps to raise awareness for issues surrounding climate change this is n.p.r. . It's Bull's-Eye I'm Jesse thorn I'm talking with Meadow world peace he spent 18 years in the n.b.a. Played for sixteen's was an all star and n.b.a. Champion his new book no malice my life in basketball is out now the book talks in great detail about conflicts in his life both on and off the court one incident in 2012 involved him driving his elbow into the face of another player James Harden then of the Oklahoma City Thunder. With it which. Was was she was she was it. Was an irritant it was a. Did you ever go on the court thinking I mean I'm talking about when you were in your late high school career when you're in college when you 1st got to the n.b.a. If you ever go on the court thinking like. I'm going to do whatever it takes today I'm going to win today and if somebody gets hurt or whatever that's the cost of doing business or were you going out there every day thinking like I'm going to keep it clean today but then something went wrong and right when I played basketball I've never hurt anyone I've never wanted to hurt anyone definitely never wanted to give up space you know and that was one thing like if you want to post I'm not letting you get to deposed and you know and you have to go around you know through me to get there so but I heard he was never an option a lot of the flagrant fouls came from the hustle it's always always extremely hostile on sometimes like if you're in the air and I don't want to get a lead I'll just grab you out there and put you down slowly you know or if you're going to really have I'm going to try to block it shut you know on hustling but I was never I never hurt no one don't know when I came close to her it was James Harden but he came he pushed me from behind and the elbow was vicious when I Elbel James Hahn it was decided this kind of a famous play for as a favor to be a plays you know a fan's but the 2 of you were running down the court after a basket you got tangled I mean it's I was I became he came to me kind of gave me a push It was a light push and you gave him what maybe you intended as a hey give me some room it was like a get the freak away from me. Get off me don't touch me. But then you know obviously James Harden is 64 I'm 66 I wasn't judging my distance and I had a marina back in the air and in him flush he sold it a little bit on the floor and then I was suspended a couple games we played him in the 1st round of a smart move by him smart move because then I came back and by the time I was in red it was already Game 7 or Game 5 he was done in the playoffs we played them in the 1st round but. But you know. That was the that was the only thing I really regret in my career because I got to really hurt somebody you know but other than that always wanted to use all my files when I go into a game I'm not using all my files I did say I can play a 5 foul I can play 5000 or 2 quarters which not many people can do it you know so coaches never felt like they had to take me out you know and. It was just like for me or I just didn't like people scoring going to people would score or I would lose you know I didn't deal with it I didn't deal with it how was I would have dealt with it. I mean I was that is losing go home eat just go home now I wish I could just lost a game and just like and still got my team is and then I I would literally sick take I take it home argue my wife you know I don't go out my kids can I want to go to the gym get better be in Indiana you know lose a game and everybody's going home I'm in a gym you know my wife is waiting for me and I just say just go home see you later don't go home at 2 am you know some like that I hate a loser you know I just can't take it I can deal with it until it after that or after that incident with Harden Did you ever talk to I did speak to him but I see no I didn't reach out to him or anything like that. But when I saw him. And then land flush that was a hard elbow if it lands flush harder when had a super not on his head he were not been able to function it in line flush and I know that I wanted to it was more like when when he when he shot me from behind a little bit wasn't tough it was it wasn't hard it was more I want to shove them I want to literally shove them I pushed him but it was his body wasn't on my body it wasn't connected so it was all air and all momentum you know arms and I can slow down. And I didn't push the I wasn't looking while I was hitting. The so. And and then I thought that was the back also because you have a list. And he was a little taller and hotter Alex that Alan Stern was kind of like that does one thing I regret like even more than a brawl you know my track record I never had nobody in the car I have nobody ever gonna hurt me I mean you might I ran into me and maybe got bruises something but I never took anybody out never know bridge nobody you know never came out on the nobody's foot time of the playoffs not none that I stuff it's balls I'm Jesse thorn in the studio with me now is Metta World Peace the former n.b.a. Champion and all star just wrote a memoir called no malice my life in basketball you know I was watching the brawl that you referred to which is commonly known as the malice at the palace. And your book is called no malice. And you know I didn't remember that much about it other than you incipient teammates had gone into the stands and that had led to monstrous suspension Yeah that was pretty much all I mean this is 15 years ago now yeah and as I was watching it and also reading about in your book the thing that I didn't remember was. You. Know you had basically gotten pushed on the court and you backed away you went and laid down on the scores announcers table almost like there was still you know kind of sports fighting going on which is to say like that kind of like pushing and shoving to get back to your band I'm with my team mates stuff happening. But you but you were laying on the table like you would just like taking yourself out of the situation I was trying to. Trying to trying to what were you thinking when you when you when it did that to remember what I remember I remember when Ben hit me pushed me after I felt him he shoved me I'm Ok it was no way would I be able to to fight the rest is in front of us fans around my hands was down if you wanted to punch me with a punch me at that point it was a shove I don't Ok cool he's about he should have been ejected you know usually a raft if you look at some of the instances just the referees he immediately called the Tech it was it was never even attacked cold in a game so I just said you know they dealt with nothing else no way to go to the bench the bench was too it wasn't a stable of me and I said Of course there as I was going to have a little bit you know when I was it you know I just try was I'm going to this is to this is and to Stephen Jackson's over there so I'm not I'm not even worried because Stephen Jackson Jimmy no nails there my team was crazy you know so when they all stood up I'm like this is and I'm not worried you know I know there's another team out at the Allen that would've been awful as safe to stay near but then you caught it unexpectedly from the crowd you know before I got that drink thrown at me. Meanwhile this point I me get you would have the same then he threw his towel at me hit me so I got a raft out and people see me but they don't shoot I don't even know it was going on here then he tells his head band members been so now at that point my blood is boiling because I'm I really don't want to relax I would love to fight you but it's too many people I don't like a full hour clean fight and then a fan hit me I was I lost. And you know what I didn't really lose it was allowing us to I hadn't even thought punch I grabbed him and what I wanted to do was say you f. In a hole and shaken though you don't ever thought anything of me I will kill you for doing that yeah I'm no sucker blah blah blah blah blah blah blah you know and that's what I did I didn't throw a punch until the guy who came up and held me and I'm thinking Ok he's grabbing me to say stop but he stopped punch me in the face that's when the 1st punch will start yeah now the next don't in a stance some would argue that was wrong you know when I would argue that. Yes I lot of people argued I was wrong some people love this thought I was like w w e o Nick praised me for it which I don't know I don't want to be praised for that and then some people see the step by step process where do you think it was wrong I don't think it was wrong no I don't think it was wrong I think I have somebody to attach or you have to protect yourself because not all the bullies out there then you see these people commit suicide as a afraid to fight a bully like Never be afraid of a bully I take one story when I was at a story a park story Queen's 1st time ever of Iraq these kids sat us down was in the pool we had a lock they sat us down and said yeah sit there don't move rivers young kids and their neighborhood and we sat there and move and I remember being humiliated that day I was 12 years old and they like Muhammad Ali going is by talking like stolen all you know this was like people saying and telling us don't move and I never been a situation like that I know what they was going to do. So it's our locks you know and then I take it take our clothes put it just take a locksmith took the money and I said I'm killing anybody to have to that's me again I remember that day and I remember somebody told me he was going to rob me I was in the n.b.a. He said he was going to rob me if I come back and I was going to money I went back to the neighborhood were no shirt on and I was ready and sucked you know so that lead you to the brawl you know like I was so I was so upset you know that somebody would do not see me so I don't feel I was wrong after I really just protecting ourselves you know back in the days of my neighborhood we lived in right then one city so it was like the drug quite frankly but then people would come from other neighborhoods and murder people in my community trying to set up shop in my community not even from my community you know and then some people in my community they look bad because you know they try to protect us but they protect an issue and people you know they protect in the blocks you understand all they don't want to try to keep Well they want to keep the judge and they will but they don't want a body else coming in and it would not only selling drugs but committing murders and crimes and killing people in the neighborhood you know so now was a type of stuff like that was invented quite frankly and it takes a long time for you to get to have you know to get to a different mind frame Is that Ok How can I help these type of people and that's why I do so much mental health work has allowed you so much work with schools as I'm so into the kids you know that is that passion because you know I don't want to buy the grow grow it's balls I'm Jesse for I'm talking with a former n.b.a. Player better world peace it seemed like in the book one of the things that you were granted most about that brawl was that. Wow you loved playing for a world championship team in Los Angeles and you love many other places you played that Indiana I mean kind of counter-intuitive way you know for a guy who thought about changing his name to Queensbridge at one point but like Indiana was your home and like you seem to have had so much of your heart invested in Indiana as a place and as a team and maybe you maybe even almost felt shame about the fact that your actions and your teammates actions had in a way to rail pass and yeah and it's not people who understand. As as a basketball player my colleagues the Hall of Fame is so not how to Reggie Miller have a championship ring it sucks and that's why I asked one of the reasons why I gave away my ring even though I wanted to win more just and feel the same I was very grateful you know and it was like Luckily I got one but like you know for that to happen h.s. You know and I don't have a big relationship with Reggie Miller on you know Doppler with him for a long time I was a very social I mean talk to a lot of people back then. And. I take the blame for that and I'm sure they don't care to live in gray lives nobody's doing well financially and family wise happy in love and you know but if there is something about the ring you know and it just kills me probably more than it kills them you know for them not to have one for Jimmy not to have one you know for for Donnie Walsh not to have one you know these are Donnie Walsh came to my wedding and you know sometimes like you think about yourself more than others and I'm still getting better at that. And David just so supportive people understand how supportive Indiana was they may shout out to my therapy sessions you know may shock you that it was hard for me to function from game to game I couldn't I was so unstable. I want to ask you something a little lighter Did you actually. Recruit yourself on to the Los Angeles Lakers while Coakley Bryant was taking a shower after the end of the n.b.a. Finals it was an interesting story it was just a kind of how it is a story guy I want to hear it from you yeah I've heard it I know how sports media yeah. And people love to make stuff up especially when it involves me so I went there with a Sacramento Kings shirt on because I wanted to sign back with the Sacramento Kings for life saw but I wanted to go to this game but I don't want to act like I'm trying to play for Boston or the Lakers like am I going to trade or no I'm not that I'm tough and not so good at what the Kings are you know and my best friend with my different I'm all in is playing and I think you know we play because we were kids saw so many win so at it again it was about 30. And I see the but the Boston wasn't a lot need to fill so I want to say battle Moss I go in the back security like they let me in the back and I see Phil Jackson ask if I Jackson great job I never want to talk to feel like that that unknown but Phil's my favorite coach ever startle bulls. You're kind of a Bulls fan and I'm your both fan and here is Phil Jackson fan b.j. Armstrong then if I remember her absolutely video is strong t.j. So then at us out of the Phil I see Brian show and I say I'm trying to find Colby and I'm sayin by see Colby I want to tell him to gang come and pick frantically even though we have wars. They finish our Brian shows it's good he's in he's right there so I call I was going to tell you know call his but you know Bass facing the other way and I say. I just wanted to tell him Hey man I'm so proud of you and good game and you're going to get him next time I wouldn't say number I'm going to be there with you I was just like saying like you know like you're going to get him next time. But we while we really wanted to play on the same team I remember him being so mad in the funny thing is he turns around and he don't want to talk to nobody Kobe's like when he's mad he's met and he turns around he sees me he's like . He'll most likely probably what are you doing here you know like how is that why you're in the shower you know just like to say I got to go I don't feel like waiting for you to gather so you know I got to go but I want to tell you you know again funny funny funny story. World Peace thank you so much for taking all this time to talk to me it was really great to have you on the show because it was great it was great that we had a chance to get these stories I love just you know it's all going to hopefully this is somebody they really like their conversation. Metta World Peace his memoir no malice my life in basketball is in bookstores now I'm not going to front I loved it more bullseye after a quick break coming up the song that changed cut chemist's life don't go anywhere that's balls for maximum fun dot org And n.p.r. Support for Connecticut Public Radio comes from the Mark Twain House and Museum take a guided tour here at Twain scholar or sign up for a writing class spent his happiest and most productive years in Hartford raising his family and publishing the books that made him an American icon Mark Twain House dot org The Lazy Days of Summer are on their way but that's no excuse desire now and while you might be taking a break this summer the news is not sufficient to allow states to permit sports betting one benchmark $77.00 a barrel this Act passes it will be one of the broadest when you listen to Morning Edition you start your day fully awake even if you're waking up and. Join us tomorrow morning from 5 to 9. And this week's episode of the inquiry looks at the devastation in Syria in the aftermath of the withdrawal of ISIS troops that's tonight at 7 You're listening to Connecticut Public Radio. Hi Alan extra. Support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Member station. Committed to supporting educating and engaging communities in the United States and globally for more than 20. Learn more and. More. Family Foundation supporting N.P.R.'s international coverage covering the trends. And movements that drive the world always with the goal of creating a more informed public one challenged and invigorated by events ideas and cultures this is n.p.r. . It's. Time now for the song to change my life a segment where we bring on people who make great music and talk to them about a song that defined who they are this time Cut Chemist born Lucas McFadden and raised right here where we make the show in Los Angeles. Is a d.j. And a producer he was instrumental in the early success of the group Ozomatli and he also co-founded the drastic 5 the iconic underground. Capitol. Also made a name for himself as a solo artist earlier this year he released his 1st album in 12 years it's called. Cut Chemist got into a pretty young age too young to actually get past the doorman at most nightclubs then he heard about a place called The Good Life café in South l.a. An all ages health food store with open mikes that in the years since have become absolutely legendary The Good Life scene was known for an uncompromising attitude bring innovations or else legendary l.a. Acts like Snoop Dog In The Black Eyed Peas and Ice Cube were known to stop by and the venue fostered its own innovative artists like abstract root and Medusa and the freestyle fellowship the fellowship was a boundary defying underground crew fronted by MCs Micah 9 and AC alone at a time when West Coast hip hop was defined in the popular consciousness by Death Row Records acts like Snoop and drag freestyle fellowship bucked the norms they fused jazz and soul samples into their beats working in lyrics about black consciousness and psychedelia and they also like their name suggests just improvised their goal was always to create something entirely new Cut Chemist was a fan after one song but. Things like got. To work there was something from their 2nd record 1903 Zinner city Griet that changed cut chemists life the song was called park bench people and it was so far afield from anything he'd heard before it changed his idea of what hip hop could be and eventually by extension his whole understanding of music 1st time I heard park bench people by Fidel fellowship while I was in the living room of my mom's house on our Kleiner. Which is where I listened to all music I had a boom box on the side of it the recliner was a rocker and so I would be rocking like literally and figuratively and somebody had sneaked out a demo tape I got it from a certain person name around we knew they got signed by 4th and Broadway which was their be our chems label we were very excited that the major music industry took an interest to our. Our heroes. Had always been known for their innovative and unusual rap styles but on this song it was something more than that what made freestyle fellowship my heroes was the fact that they weren't afraid to explore new territory in music and art this was a song that was trying to do something outside of their comfort zone. You know one of the most surprising things right from jump about park bench people was that it was completely void of samples and it was all live instrumentation I believe that's a saxophone we're hearing right now and then divides. And here's Mike night on the focal. And he's singing. And it reminded me of this girl scout Aaron Scott. Greene. And you know you can hear the naivete and it's not like he's a complete seasoned singer but he's good enough and I like the fact that there's a little. Fun season is to it I mean that's what made it approachable to me was the fact that here's somebody doing something that they know normally don't do but they're doing it anyway because it's in their heart. So park bench people is inspired by red clay by Freddie Hubbard. But it doesn't sample. Interpellation musically with live instruments. And you know he is flipping it like he didn't abandon the mike and I style like a lot of the other bit of it you know he's double time in it and flip it but you know like using like a little bit of scat in there and you can hear maybe a little bit of Leon Thomas you know a little bit of Andy Bay I don't know what Mike I was listening to or what j.m. Deal was feeding him like on the music at the time to inspire this song but you know I know he was a searcher and a digger through music culture I mean you know you listen to somebody like Mike and know that they have a large computer file of music in their brain. Is he too. Sleepy . I feel like you know I can feel the do. You know the moisture sleeping in the park at night and. You know he's very descriptive it almost seemed kind of autobiographical for him because he had painted a picture of park park as a place not sold within South Los Angeles and you know I used to go there and buy records all the time and see people playing chess and it was a very like elderly spirit of jazz you know you could go there and just experience old l.a. In a certain way that doesn't exist anywhere else and in the city you could see real jazz and I don't know you just felt it in the air there was something special about it was very pleasant. Want to. Go. I was never really a jazz fan per se before I heard free stuff and I had been listening to these guys anyway because their records were chock full of dope samples to go back and listen to the music with a different filter because of music like this that I was a fan Oh. Yeah this song changed my life. Cannister the song to change his life park bench people by freestyle fellowship Let's take a listen to one more song off die cut his new record this one is called Rhythm Method the vocals are the one and only I cannot. Record. Because when I. Prayed. Every week on balls I would like to leave you with a culture tip from me we call it the out shot so I was at the intersection of all Rado and will share in Los Angeles has a block away from my office waiting for the light to change in my car and I was stopping I don't know what reaction I expected to have when I put on that particular podcast this one episode of 99 percent Invisible that was called curb cuts I knew because a few people had said something to me about it on Twitter it was about Ed Roberts was my dad's best friend died when I was a teenager but when I heard Ed's mom Zoners voice she's 95 years old now still kicking. I just lost it within a few days he was in the hospital and within 2 days of that he was in rushed to an iron lung because he couldn't breathe anymore on his own and then there was a. They say adios different from video when somebody is talking they're talking to you on the radio like a phone call like you and me now and to hear Ed so much more than I could handle almost to interact internationally even. If you know your decisions what is in a lot of you know my dad worked for ad for a long time in the eighty's and ninety's he had actually went to college together u.c. Berkeley in the early sixty's and they lived these parallel lives of activism my dad at the time was helping to start the veterans peace movement. Was fighting for the rights of people like himself people living with disabilities Ed caught polio as a kid just before the vaccine 2 years before the vaccine and he ended up paralyzed he could move his head and his neck and he could move 2 of his fingers and I just read on make a p.d.f. Now that he can move a couple of toes cared to be in an iron lung to breathe until he taught himself this thing called Frog breathing gulping air with his mouth and neck he do that for a little bit it's this thing that divers do a wheelchair plus the frog breathing let him leave his iron lung but not for very long but Ed and his mom were perseverant Ed finished high school he'd been a teenager when he got sick and he applied to college u.c. Berkeley said they couldn't take him because they didn't have a dorm that could keep him alive but add in Zona didn't think that was good enough . Eventually they forced Berkeley to transform a wing of the on campus hospital into a dormitory that was Adam's own his rule that it had to be a dorm with health services not a hospital that he was allowed to live in and that was the start of the Independent Living Movement. There are very few people even with both. Very disability suggests they control their own life. Probably is the people around us don't expect Ed started the movement on campus he in his wheelchair bodies were called the Rolling quads they fought the city and the university for the right basically to live like people to be included in normal life to get around and have jobs and all that stuff their efforts made buildings on campus accessible then street corners in Berkeley then the state of California and then after 30 some years of fighting the United States and which are today signing of the landmark Americans for Disabilities Act every man woman and child with a disability can now pass through once closed doors into a break you are there to quality independence and freedom and this is stark and is the world's 1st comprehensive declaration and equality for people with disabilities the 1st the chief means of the movement were incredible they gave so many of us a life and protection under the law that wasn't really why I was crying I was crying because I remember ad I mean I was a kid when I knew him I remember he was scary for one thing he's a big guy seem bigger lying in his iron lung in his living room in Rockridge in Oakland his chair in and he ended up using this big motorized wheelchair which he steered with his fingers. It is Jerry he was just as intimidating he had this breathing tube that made this loud time sucking whooshing sound every 10 or 20 seconds when he clamped his mouth down onto it so he could breathe well that was a lot for a kid and also Ed took up space I mean the iron lung was huge and the chair was big and heavy but Ed just it some point in his life at some point before I knew him he just decided to be noticed he decided that if people were going to look at him they were going to look at him in think that he was grotesque or pitiable that he would just occupied their gaze be there and be big and be tough and be heard a lot of years ago I decided that. Their people were going to stare at me Ed. A lot better if I decided I was a star. There's a moment in the 99 percent Invisible episode that got me pretty good a doctor when he was younger told Ed that he was destined to be a vegetable and Ed said great I'll be an artichoke tough and sharp on the outside with a sweet heart in the middle. I mean look my dad was and is a vet and he was a vet who chose to live his life in opposition so you know there weren't a lot of folks he related to he didn't have a ton of close friends that I saw. But I remember the way that he looked at his friend had they were comrades you know they were guys who'd been through real trauma real fights. People who'd fought just to be seen and even when I was 8 or 9 years old I could see the way my dad loved and admired his friend adds I could see it when he looked at it here it talked about. You know I didn't just get to see Ed be tough I got to see Ed's heart to people used to ask him if he could have a girlfriend which I mean kind of rude and when they would ask him that he'd point to his son Louis and he'd say how do you think I got him I used to get to ride on Ed's chair write me up there me cruise around and I saw how he turned his difference into something like a superpower we used to sit in his seats at the Coliseum to watch the A's who's a big baseball fan the Coliseum was built in the in the early sixty's it's barely accessible but what that actually ended up meaning was that the wheelchair seats were really good seats that was exciting. And was funny really funny and he just. You know he was fighting for his life his whole life he just didn't have time for. He just run somebody over I mean literally if someone was standing in his way if someone was giving him baloney he would literally run them over with his Chinese wheelchair because what the hell were they going to do about it if they'd caught somebody pitying him he would tell them off he was ferocious. I mean when those folks who couldn't walk were getting out of their wheelchairs and crawling up the steps of Congress demanding the Americans With Disabilities Act. I knew that they had spirit even though Adam's self couldn't crawl just as much as he could walk. And so that's why I was crying in my car at a stoplight in Los Angeles. Thinking about my dad and his friend and those memories from childhood when I was 13 when Ed died and it was nice to hear his voice I've had people come up with a full I'd rather be dead the real like you are a minority and they wrestle so much because life is. Such a joy. There's so much to life. The salaries of the dive and. That's my shop. That's all for this week's. Recorded at maximum fund world headquarters overlooking MacArthur Park and beautiful Los Angeles California where yesterday we spotted a party bus that was clearly marked Top Dog limousines we can only assume that it was Kendrick Lamar's car show is produced by speaking into microphones our producer is Kevin Ferguson he had help from Casey O'Brien production. And Shana de Loria our senior producer at. Color interstitial music is provided to us by Dan Wally our theme song is called had information by the go team they along with their label Memphis industries records provided to us would like to hear any of our past shows. Organ you will find there and while you're at it you can check out the page on Facebook we share all of our interviews clips and highlights there too can also find them on argue to page all of our interviews just search for. Guess that's about it just remember all great radio hosts have a signature sign off. Bull's eye with Jesse thorn is a production of maximum fine got bored and is distributed by n.p.r. . This weekend live from here with Kristy Lee will be coming to you from. Musical guests Parker talked to comedy of Mr. Plus the 1st call radio players and duets with. Bit of levity from or acting company the fan favorite weekly salute to musicians birthday and Chris will compose a brand new song just for the show. Right here this weekend. Hope you can join us tonight at 9. This is Connecticut Public Radio n.p.r. And n.p.r. . At 90.5 the. H.d. 181.

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