The death of Kobe Bryant was and is still being met by an overbearing wave of disbelief from practically everyone. A few minutes on Twitter or video of fans outside of Staples Center stand as living proof of that. Video of Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo sharing the news with guard Cassius Winston and his response, “Kobe? Bryant??” stands as a perfect visual representation of our general reaction to his death. For Ice Cube, a California native, his reaction to the news was also disbelief.
In an interview with Rachel Nichols on ESPN’s The Jump, Ice Cube revealed that he texted Byrant as soon as he heard the news about his death to “see if he would hit me back… And when I didn’t get it back, you don’t immediately start to worry because he’s Kobe and he always gets back sooner or later.”
When @IceCube was told Kobe died, he was so sure it couldn't be true, he texted…Kobe. He of course never got an answer. Really powerful stuff on what Kobe meant to LA: "this city has a lot of fault lines, not only in the ground but with the people…Kobe brought us together." pic.twitter.com/TdNilrMtV5
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) January 28, 2020
Unfortunately, the news of his death was shockingly true and Ice Cube never received that text back, leaving him in devastation at the news. “Me personally, I don’t have too many heroes that’s younger than me, and that was one of them,” he continued. “It’s profound but I think more about his family and I hope the city wraps their arms around the family and embrace them as much as they embraced Kobe.”
To watch the interview with Ice Cube, press play on the video aboveh.
