Ma$e has taken issue with the recently unveiled statue of Philadelphia 76ers legend Allen Iverson, noting that “they need a do over.”
Money Ma$e shared his thoughts about NBA’s latest honor on the Monday (April 15) episode of It Is What It Is, which he co-hosts with fellow rap veteran Cam’ron.
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“They better not have messed AI’s statue up,” he said, unaware that people have been clowning the installment located at the team’s practice facility for looking more like a trophy than a statue due to its size.
“If there’s anybody’s statue they can’t mess up, it’s AI, because when you doing Kobe [Bryant] and all those people, they’re so beloved but they’re so tall,” he continued. “[Iverson] is six feet, six-one, and if they don’t get it right, it look like every n-gga from the hood
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“I don’t know if there’s ever been a statue do-over, but by this picture, they need to do a statue do-over […] He shoulda been able to check that and been like, ‘Naw, that’s not the one I want.’ Like Kobe, before he died, he picked the statue he wanted and his wife said, ‘This the one that he wanted.’ I know AI won’t have approved of no statue that’s shorter than he is.”
Listen to Ma$e discuss the statue at the 52:50 mark below:
Though a lot of people have expressed their qualms about the statue, another separate tribute to Allen Iverson went much better.
In March, The Game, Quavo and many other celebrities gave the basketball legend his flowers after he had a street named after him in Hampton, Virginia.
Soon after, the retired athlete shared the news while offering up some photos from the event.
“Virginia we did it! Look how far we came!” he captioned the post. “I’m blessed to be here to see it! Thank you God and to everyone who took this journey with me! There’s no ME without YOU. I Love Yall!!”
Hip Hop’s luminaries wasted no time in saluting the All-Star hooper in the comments.
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“The greatest!!!!” wrote the Migos rapper, while The Game responded with two raised hands emojis next to a fire emoji.
In recent months, Iverson has been getting his long-overdue flowers and has seen a resurgence in his popularity.
During an episode of Complex‘s “Sneaker Shopping” series last month, Shaquille O’ Neal and AI (who have taken on the newly-created positions of president and vice president of basketball, respectively, at Reebok) shared that they would like to see rappers’ early-aughts Reebok collaborations return to stores, and that they’ll be reaching out to those concerned to try and make it happen.
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Host Joe La Puma kicked off the conversation, describing JAY-Z’s Super Bowl outfit.
“JAY-Z pulled up to the Super Bowl in the S Dots [the rapper’s 2003 S. Carter Reebok shoe], which really went crazy online. No one expected to see S Dots, and then we had a podcast talking about it. You know what a lot of the comments said? JAY-Z wore them because of his connection with Shaq and AI. Are you guys taking credit for that moment?”
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Shaq responded: “We know JAY-Z. JAY-Z if you’re watching, we wanna holler at you.”
Iverson added: “That’s right.”
