Last weekend at the NBA’s All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, Jay-Z and LeBron James teamed with Sprite to rennovate a local gymnasium for the Boys & Girls Club of America. The two rich and famous friends spoke to MTV about the importance of getting involved with the community.
“You’ve seen LeBron James on TV,” Jay-Z said in regards to being a role model. “Just that thing that’s tangible, that they can touch him and shake his hand and know that this is a young man who comes from the same areas as they do, and look where he’s made it to. So it makes it real.”
“Could you imagine if Michael Jordan showed up to your community?” James added. “Or whoever that you just dreamed and loved and watched every day on TV and you thought that was superhuman, just showed up to a community [center]? That one moment right there could be the difference between you making a left or making a right.”
Jay-Z also stressed the importance of participating in these events rather than just posing for pictures.
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“We wanted to just have a further dialogue with the people we were doing business with,” the Marcy projects native explained. “To let them know we weren’t just paid endorsers and gonna sit there and just be smiling with a can in our hand or something. We wanted to take this [business] relationship and do some good. Take all these people, put them in a room, take their power and influence, and use them. But use them in a good way. Use them to affect good all over.”
