Allen Iverson has recalled the time he went jewelry shopping with The Notorious B.I.G., who opted to buy his ice with cold, hard cash.
The NBA legend sat down for a candid and lengthy interview with GQ to reflect back on his career, and recalled the time his newfound fame caused him to cross paths with Hip Hop stars such as Jadakiss and Diddy.
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“Puff was my guy when it came to the jewelry and the flash,” he said. “I wanted to be young, rich, and fly like Puff.”
He went on to talk about his iconic style, and reflected back on the first big chain he ever owned. “I had a gold diamond chain with the diamond cross on it. That was my first one. Matter of fact, on draft night I had all that shit on,” he said, adding that he also copped a bracelet, ring and a Rolex.
“I remember my teammates [at Georgetown] were telling me, ‘When you get your league money, maybe you gone get some jewelry like [2]Pac got.’ Pac had the Rolex and all that,” he continued. “Puff was another muhfucka I admired. The swag, how cool he was, the way he is and how big he got. We was using the same jeweler, Manny the Jeweler. I went with him and Big.
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“We in there, getting whatever. But I’m using checks. I just remember Big using goddamn cash. Big-ass knots, know what I mean? He’s standing, he got on jean shorts, and you can see the big-ass muhfuckin’ knots in his goddamn pants. Pac was getting his stuff from Manny’s too.
“I actually bought the same ring that Pac had bought at Manny’s. And I remember seeing Puff one time after that, and he was like, ‘Whatchu doin’ with all my chains on?’ I’m like, ‘Now I can get in there and get busy like you can.'”
He added that his style started to emerge because of him being able to finally afford all the merch that his favorite rappers would wear, which included Method Man and Redman.
“[After I’m in the league] it’s to the point where I can get all of this stuff that I’ve seen on rappers on TV or the people that had the money” he explained. “And all the stuff that Puff wear, and all the other older dudes that I looked up to: Wu-Tang Clan, Red, and Meth. So it was like, okay, I can afford this shit now.
“But the difference was everybody in the league was wearing suits. And my mentality was, where am I going, honestly, after a game? I’m going to get something to eat, and then 9 times out of 10, I’m going to the club.”
Allen Iverson’s stature within Hip Hop, thanks in part to his Jadakiss collaborations and part-time rap career, is undeniable. In an interview with HipHopDX back in 2020, Jada spoke more in detail about his relationship with Iverson, which hit a high point after the duo recorded a pair of Reebok commercials in the early 2000s.
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“Shout out to my man [Steve Stoute],” Jada recalled. “He came to me like, ‘Yo, I got this commercial for you to do with Allen Iverson.’ A.I. was on fire … I was on fire fire, it made sense. I loved basketball … he loved rap, it was only right.”
“He was heavily into rap,” Jada continued. “Those were the golden days. “
