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HHNP Bonus Ep: Kings of the Garden · Hip-Hop Now Podcast

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  What up, y'all. I am your host Vegas and this is hip Hop
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  Now podcast, a bonus episode brought to you by these supporters over at patreon
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  dot com slash hip Hop Now. And if you would like to know what
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  it's like to be a Patreon supporter and how you can contribute to the production
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  of this podcast, click the link in the description of this episode. Now,
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  today, we are doing something that's not that different if you've been hanging
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  around for a while. We are gonna review a book. I've done a
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  couple of books in the past. I have some more to come, but
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  every now and again I find some quiet time to sit back and read.
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  And this book in particular was pitched to me via email. And at first
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  I was like, well, nah, you know, I do a hip
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  hop podcast. Why would I do a review on a basketball book? But
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  then as I started to read the description and the email as it laid out,
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  you know, this was about the intersection or the coming of age,
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  if you will, right, specifically in the nineteen seventies. So the author
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  of the book is Adam Creeblay. I hope I said your last name correct.
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  He is a history professor, author and editor for Sports History series at
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  the University of Missouri Press. Shout out to him, Shout out to the
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  people getting me this book. So the title of the book is Kings of
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  the Garden, the New York Knicks and their City. Now, just to
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  get the review up front for those who don't want to hear a long explanation,
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  even though it's not going to be a long episode. I think it's
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  a good book for a couple of reasons, and I'll tell you why.
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  One of the things that attracted me to actually accepting this book and reading it
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  was the fact that I used to be a New York Knicks fan. Y'all.
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  Now, when you see hear me say it used to be, I
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  know, I know what you're thinking, and you're thinking, like, what
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  used to be? How that worked? It's a long story that I'm not
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  going to get into, but it has nothing to do with the players.
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  But this book in particular talks about the nineteen seventy three championship and the one
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  championship you know that Knicks fans have kind of held on to for years because
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  they're chasing the next one. But the time between that nineteen seventy three championship
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  and when Patrick Ewing was drafted to the New York Knicks. Now, I'm
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  only of a certain age, so my eerror of the Knicks is the Patrick
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  Ewing era next, which is the nineties and a little bit of two thousands.
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  But what attracted me was the fact that, you know, it was
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  a nice history of when they won that last championship, What was it like
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  to live in New York City, What was New York City? What was
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  it for the Knickerbockers between that time, the struggles, the struggles of the
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  city. But one thing, as it relates to hip hop, one team
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  New York team that's always been basically linked to the birth of hip hop is
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  the New York Yankees. If you read a couple of different you know,
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  books about hip hop around that time, especially when that blackout occurred and everybody
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  got the equipment in the seventies to dj, you know, via the rights,
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  you always hear about the Yankees, right with hip hop, Summer Sam
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  on that time with hip hop, right the blackout with hip hop. All
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  these things are tied to it, and I've never really heard anyone saying,
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  you know, well, it's closely linked also to well, the New York
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  Knicks around that time is also closely linked to the birth of hip hop,
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  and I think the book does a great job of explaining that connection and that
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  connection with the city because in a lot of ways, I'm not here to
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  retell the story, but you know, New York City was a very different
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  New York City than you know now, right. There was a lot of
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  poverty. There was a lot of different things going on in the city,
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  from a political landscape to you know, economical just just a lot of hardships
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  within the city, a lot of struggle and if you're a New York mis
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  fan, you know struggle. But for hip hop and a lot of ways,
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  it was born from the struggle around his time in the seventies. It
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  was something that the kids did to get their minds off of their reality if
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  they could. From the DJing to graffiti to eventually emce's and the parties,
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  it was a way for them to entertain themselves under the circumstances. And I
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  feel like with this book with the Knicks, the nineteen seventy three championship was
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  glorious, right. You know, you had Clyde Well Frasier on a team,
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  you had or Pearl, you know, those were the glory days.
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  And obviously not too long after that you had Bernard King come along, who
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  was a beast. If you don't know, YouTube highlights or whatever, find
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  what you have to find. Goolum was a beast. But it was never
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  enough for them, the New York next to turn to the glory days of
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  competing for a championship in that way, not until sometime after Patrick Ewen was
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  on the team. What they did make the finals once and a little bit
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  later when they made the finals again, But that was in the nineties,
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  right, you know. But from seventy three through most of the eighties or
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  all of the eighties, you should say it was a uphill climb. And
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  even though the New York Knicks weren't knew I think what you know of a
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  New York team as far as the grit, if you've watched the NBA playoffs,
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  the twenty twenty four NBA playoffs, you can see that that tradition of
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  grinding it out and grit and not having superstars, so to speak, but
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  having really good players who come together to try to accomplish something great. And
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  that's kind of what Knicks basketball has always been. And in a lot of
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  ways it does resemble hip hop, you know what I'm saying. So I
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  think that's what I like most about this book. Again, there's a lot
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  of history about New York City at that time and through that time. Also
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  obviously not only the music but the fashion, what the Knicks meant to New
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  York City at that time and during those years. Again, it's I think
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  this is probably for obviously Knicks fans. I think this book is a good
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  read for you, also for anybody who's just a basketball fan. Right Again,
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  a lot of times you do not hear too much about the nineteen seventy
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  three Knicks basketball team because for the longest time we've just been waiting for it
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  to happen, right, another championship. But I think this is a great
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  book if you are not only a basketball fan, but a Knicks fan,
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  and if you're curious like I was, as it relates to hip hop and
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  New York City history around that time. I think your fine. It's a
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  good read. It's not a very long read, so for most people who
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  read a lot of books, you will burn through this easily. So there
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  you have it. Obviously, I'll have some more book reviews coming along the
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  lines I still old, y'all. A book review of the Jay Diller book,
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  which I started reading a couple of years ago, fell off the wagon
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  because I got busy with work, got back on the wagon, and I'm
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  just about done, so I have a review of that. I also look
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  out for a review of the Cold Chilling Records book and a couple of other
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  ones I haven't so. If you like book reviews right here on Hip Hop
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  Now Podcasts, as you know bonus content, let me know in the comment
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  section. Wherever you get this podcast, please know it is available on Apple
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  Podcasts, on Spotify and everywhere else. Comment review this podcast, but more
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  importantly, share with people you know that would also enjoy this kind of content.
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  Until next time, y'all. Not a critic, I'm a fan. Peace