“UGH. Na Na Na Na.” This can’t be true. Right?
That reservoir of onomatopoeia sighs as chorus, Master P, recently took This Is 50 through his No Limit offices, and let drop a pretty juicy story about the time he confronted Michael Jordan about sneakers.
Jordan’s sociopathic competitiveness is well known by now, and he takes his sneakers almost as seriously as he used to take his on-court game. Another early-aught rapper, then-Lil Bow Wow, found that out the hard way when staying over with MJ’s son in the early millennium.
But the same thing happened to Master P’s son, Lil Romeo.
“Got into it with Michael Jordan before, so you never know,” Master P — real name Percy Robert Miller — said before launching into the story.
Romeo was purportedly told by His Airness he had to wear Air Jordan kicks while he was attending Michael Jordan’s basketball camp. You see, Romeo was rocking his father’s kicks — yes, Master P had his own line of converse sneakers — and Jordan wasn’t letting that happen at his camp.
Being the entitled son-of-a-famous-rapper that Romeo was, he decided to call his father and tattle about the incident rather than just respect the GOAT’s wishes. After hearing about what happened, Master P says he flew to the camp the next day.
Instead of Lil Romeo taking his dad’s kicks off, MJ and Percy played for Romeo’s right to wear his father’s kicks at the camp.
Now, Master P isn’t a traditional rapper turned basketball player. He’s got some game and he follows the game. A little more than a year ago, he even had a plan for saving the Lakers. (No word on if Jim Buss rang him up.)
But back before the turn of the millennium, he still fancied himself a pretty good baller in his own right. In 1999, he was involved in tryouts for the Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors. He even played in five preseason games for Toronto. Unfortunately for his ego, he was eventually cut by both teams.
Not only that, but Master P reportedly mentored 2014 All-Star DeMar DeRozan since the Raptors shooting guard was in the seventh grade.
Despite his background in hoops, and his time playing at a semi-professional level, it’s hard to believe MJ played Master P in a pickup game. Especially over a pair of sneakers. Actually, that’s less hard to believe.
But Percy says the ensuing “street game” saw him team up with then-college prospects Gilbert Arenas and Ron Artest (now Metta World Peace), while MJ teamed with current NBA players.
So, who do you think P said won?
“They were like, ‘Yeah, we can beat these dudes.’ It was like a real street game. Then, at the end, we won. I turned all the way up. It was cool. Ever since then, we’ve been friends.”
So, just to rehash this totally believable story: Master P’s son didn’t want to wear Air Jordans to Michael Jordan’s camp. Lil Romeo wanted to wear his father’s Converse kicks (this might be the biggest suspension of belief). So, Romeo calls his father to complain, and his father rushes down to the camp where he challenges and wins a pickup game adjacent the greatest basketball player of the modern era so his son can wear his sneakers at Michael Jordan’s camp.
Sure.
(H/T Complex)
