He played high school ball at Thurgood Marshall Academy in Harlem, NY, and then in college at SUNY-Canton in upstate New York. After graduating, he worked at downtown apparel boutique AllSaints in SoHo and then as an elementary school program coordinator, before turning his attention full-time to music earlier this year.

That decision coincided, perhaps serendipitously, with another decision: that of LeBron James’ free agency.

“I’ve always been a huge LeBron James fan,” Khaliente says. “So when he signed with the Lakers, my block and my friends were like, ‘Oh you gonna be a Lakers fan now,’ and I jokingly said I’ve always been a Lakers fan. I ran with it and started calling myself ‘Big Laker.’”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq3Od7sAKTm/

Two of those aforementioned friends are names any fan of hoops, rap or both will recognize: Isaiah Washington and Sheck Wes.

Washington—the most prominent face of the JellyFam movement and now a sophomore point guard at the University of Minnesota—and Khaliente (whose real name is Khalid) have known each other since the latter was 15 years old, and collaborated to curate the 2018 Jelly Day event in Harlem over the summer.

Wes, meanwhile, is another young artist from Harlem who himself rode the wave of an NBA-inspired song (“Mo Bamba”) to newfound fame in 2018. Khaliente says they’ve been friends for three years now, and lists Wes among the artists who inspire him most, along with Drake, Tupac and YG.

In fact, the inspiration for “Big Laker” the song, produced by Fly Melodies, was sparked one night backstage at a Sheck Wes concert. “Sheck is a huge Kevin Durant fan,” Khaliente explains. “He was trying to argue that Kevin Durant is better than LeBron. Him and Ballo (Sheck’s childhood friend and current assistant) both started double-teaming me, so then I told them that I’mma make a Laker song and put they names in it. I wrote it that night.”

The track itself is an all-out LakeShow anthem. If nothing else, this song deserves to ring out at Staples Center for as long as the Lakers’ season lasts in 2019. At one point, he raps: “Like Javale McGee, I go stupid on this beat. And like I’m Ron Artest, how I gave the World Peace.”

Khaliente goes on to shout out not only current Lakers like Rajon Rondo, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley and (of course) LeBron James, but also a handful of Laker legends, including Lamar Odom, Phil Jackson, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal—with the familiar “I been ballin’ like a Big Laker” refrain throughout. That the song is centered around one of the most legendary franchises in NBA history is no accident. Khaliente holds himself to the same gold standard when it comes to his music.

“I want to be one of the greats when it’s all said and done,” insists Khaliente, who promises that a full mixtape is coming Spring 2019, with more singles on the way even sooner. “But what’s most important to me is being able to give back to my community and inspire the youth.”

For more from Khaliente, follow him on SoundCloud and Instagram.

—

Abe Schwadron is the Managing Editor at numberFire and a former Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @abe_squad.

The post ‘Big Laker’: Rapper Khaliente’s New Track Is the LakeShow Anthem of 2019 🔊 appeared first on SLAM.

Brewster Academy’s starting lineup has been named the “Fab Five.” Check them out in action.

The post Jalen Lecque Shows Out for Sheck Wes, Carmelo Anthony & More! 😈 appeared first on SLAM.

“The NBA is big me for,” Sheck told SLAM before performing. “For me, being a big basketball fan, a big Mountain Dew fan, me and my friends used to like drink this all the time.”

The 20 year old used to hoop all around New York. He’s friends with Mo Bamba and he knows all of the League’s best young talents. And, as he detailed below, he’s starting to meet the rest of the NBA’s top talent.

SLAM: What are you expecting from the Knicks this year?

Sheck Wes: I ain’t gonna lie, bro, the Knicks, I’m behind them because they already have [Kristaps] Porzingis, but now you got [Mario] Hezonja? You got [Emmanuel] Mudiay and Tim Hardaway Jr. is consistent and he can get a lot of buckets, no lie. And you know, Kevin Knox. C’mon, bro like… We just need a sturdy system. It’s been a while since New York had a sturdy system.

SLAM: Who else are you looking at around the League right now?

SW: I’m not a big team guy. I’m a big player guy because teams always change. I’m a huge KD fan. I was a big fan of the OKC Finals team, so KD, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, it’s my favorite three. Giannis is a big favorite of mine. Of course, Mo Bamba. You know. You already know! I’m excited to see Mo grow, and I really want to see him dunk on people. 

I always go to NBA games but I’m on tour too. Astroworld tour coming up, make sure you pull up. But yeah, I hope I can go see more games and go crazy, because I’m a real basketball player and fan. 

SLAM: As you’ve gotten bigger, more NBA players have realized that you have the passion for hoops. So who else besides Mo have you been able to link up with so far?

SW: Man, a lot of people. I was cool with a lot of NBA guys before too. Like Gary Harris. Yeah, that was my boy from way back, when I was way younger, when I would pull up to Michigan State. I’d get to pull up to the practice. KD, that’s the homie, you know. LeBron. Kelly Oubre, Donovan Mitchell, JaVale McGee. Mad people, bro.

SLAM: You’ve got “Mo Bamba,” you’ve got “Kyrie.” What’s the next basketball song?

SW: I made a song about LeBron James, like way back, because I was like, “Why nobody ever make a song about LeBron?” You know? I was, like, 16. I got so many of these songs still tucked away.

SLAM: So there’s more to come?

SW: I don’t know, man. I just really wanted to really change the way people… I made a whole song about basketball. I feel like basketball and rap is about…

SLAM: Talk to ’em. 

SW: I mean, I feel like that. When was basketball and rap [together]? Like, it’s been a minute, since Lil’ Bow Wow was out. You feel me?

Crossing the cultures of hip-hop and basketball. The NBA kind of helped with shaping what the athlete is and how an athlete should be, to the point where the influence is so big, the art influence is so big, we can cross cultures because music, sports, and fashion are the three biggest parts of entertainment and culture. And basketball is the most interesting sport. It’s up there with soccer now to me because it’s played everywhere. That’s why I love it so much and it can help calm me down sometimes, it can help turn me up.

Related
Welcome to the Life of Sheck Wes

Photo courtesy of Mountain Dew

The post Sheck Wes Talks Knicks, Linking Up With NBA Players, New Music appeared first on SLAM.

James posted videos on his Instagram story vibing to “SICKO MODE” and “Mo Bamba.” Peep it below:

Travis Scott and Sheck Wes put on a show for Bron last night (via @KingJames) @trvisXX @sheckwes pic.twitter.com/zrg26t7siC

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) September 15, 2018

And shout out to the King and Queen:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwK9yUBhy4/?hl=en&taken-by=kingjames

What a time.

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The post Travis Scott and Sheck Wes Put on a Show for LeBron ‼️ appeared first on SLAM.

Sheck Wes, otherwise known as “Sheck Jesus,” was just featured in a new Jordan Brand advertisement. The Harlem-based rapper is seen in the “He Got Game” Air Jordan 13, which are set to drop on August 4, for $190. The basketball player turned rapper still has ties into basketball, as his hit song “Mo Bamba” refers to his longtime friend and NBA draftee Mo Bamba. Watch the new ad above and the music video below.

The post Sheck Wes Stars in Air Jordan 13 Video appeared first on SLAM.

Sheck can credit at least part of his recent success—which includes a record deal under Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack Records and Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music—to his relationship with Bamba.

“I really get inspired by certain things, and Mo would always say, Yo, you need to throw me in a song!” Sheck tells us during a visit to the SLAM office in late February. “I decided to make a song about him, but the song was really about my recruitment as an artist and comparing it to the recruitment of a player like Mo. That’s why I named my song ‘Mo Bamba.’” The song and video have taken Sheck to new heights and places—one day after our photo shoot and interview, Wes is off to Europe for club appearances and performances.

Sheck, who is rocking a super rare pair of Nike HyperAdapt 1.0s while talking to us about Lil Dicky’s shot selection and what Kanye wears when he hoops with him in L.A. (“He wears Yeezy basketball sneakers. Unreleased joints, shit is crazy”), was a skilled point guard in high school, and even led the city’s public league in assists per game during his junior year. But his life went in a different direction when he got the invite to be a part of 2015’s Yeezy Season 3 fashion show at Madison Square Garden.

“I had a Bronx Borough playoff game and I had to make a decision, like, Am I gonna be a part of this game, or be part of this fashion show? And I made the decision to go to Yeezy Season 3. That show opened up doors for me, and it opened up my mind.”

Though he can’t legally buy a drink yet, Sheck Wes is already well traveled. As a young kid, he spent his time back and forth between Harlem and Milwaukee, where his mother owned a hair salon, and he discovered a passion for sneakers at the Number One Sports store next door.

After he chose music over ball, Wes started “living this wild lifestyle” which led his mother to send Sheck to Senegal to get his mind right. Once back in the States, Sheck started getting everything he ever dreamed that he would achieve from basketball—but not in the way he originally planned.

“Everything I wanted from basketball, I get now from making music. Like a damn SLAM interview, that’s amazing.”

—

Peter Walsh is a contributor for SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @peter_m_walsh.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Welcome to the Life of Sheck Wes, the Next Star of Harlem 🔥 appeared first on SLAM.