BlocBoy JB has come to the defense of embattled Memphis Grizzlies basketball star Ja Morant, who has just received his second suspension in just as many months for brandishing a gun on social media.
Taking to his Instagram stories on Sunday (May 14), the Memphis native adamantly excoriated the media and the basketball Powers That Be for jamming up the popular player.
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“Guns are not illegal,” he wrote. “If he turnt in his car with his gun dats in his name in his yard and somebody recorded him dat ain’t on him. Free Ja.”
BlocBoy JB, however, doesn’t have the power to sway the NBA. According to CNN, Morant was officially suspended on Monday (May 15), after the offending video appeared on a friend’s Instagram.
The Memphis Grizzlies put out an official statement on their Twitter page confirming Morant’s suspension. “We are aware of the social media video involving Ja Morant. He is suspended from all team activities pending league review. We have no further comment at this time,” they wrote.
Statement from the Memphis Grizzlies pic.twitter.com/XXLjr6QtlG
— Grizzlies PR (@GrizzliesPR) May 14, 2023
BlocBoy JB has a very personal connection to sports — especially basketball.
Long before he rose to fame in 2018 with hits such as “Shoot,” “Rover” and the Drake-assisted “Look Alive,” BlocBoy JB had aspirations of making it in sports. Those dreams were quickly cut short, however, when the Memphis, Tennessee native was shot at the tender age of 10.
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In the first episode of his new documentary series, Blocumentary, the 25-year-old rapper details the fateful shooting incident that ended up changing the course of his life. As BlocBoy explains, he was playing football in the park when two rival crews began shooting at each other from a distance, resulting in him catching a stray bullet.
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“My goals was to be a basketball player, a football player or a rapper,” he said. “I was playing football [and] I got shot when I was, like, 10 — right across the street from Ed Rice [Community Center].”
“They wasn’t shooting at me, though; they was just basically shooting at each other. I was looking at it from afar, them niggas was shooting so fucking far. It’s impossible that they shot me.”
BlocBoy says he showed promise on the hardwood and gridiron, but the gunshot wound meant he “couldn’t do no basketball or football.”
