In the ghetto options are limited. Pee Wee Kirkland mastered both games. The Heroine epidemic hit the streets like the Black Plague and tore apart families one hit at a time. For young men growing up in this time, hustling was a way of life and a way to escape the poverty that surrounded them. It later becomes an obsession of sorts, and the addiction to shiny cars and flashy clothes becomes overwhelming. Photo Complex. My father knew Pee Wee personally.
They both grew up on th Street in Harlem and ran in some of the same circles. When I was young my pops would tell me stories about how Pee Wee was better than Dr. J and how he would put on a show at Rucker Park.
With a basketball in his hands Pee Wee was unstoppable. In Kirkland was drafted to the Chicago Bulls in the 13th round of the draft. Kirkland left the team while still in the preseason simply because he could make more money on the streets than playing pro basketball for the Bulls.
He understood the impact of missing out on big-time college and NBA opportunities, and aspired to make some amends. Learning those lessons while serving time as his basketball peers became professional superstars, Kirkland emerged with a poignant sense of purpose. His life vocation became connecting with at-risk young people, just like he once was; his popularity and name recognition among urban youth today is remarkable.
That's because they are completely enamored with the gangster lifestyle that I represent to them. By the time they are teenagers. Imagine that. Kirkland operates under the belief that we are witness to two very different Americas -- one of freedoms forged through the civil rights movement and one that governs urban youth today, which he argues is dictated by hip-hop. He knows he is able to reach today's youth through an understanding of hip-hop culture, and how adolescent culture reflects the music.
It's become 'follow the leader. It's a reaction. There is no contemplation with kids. They don't know how to conversate; it's all arguing and everybody carries a weapon because that's the message they take from the music. Most of today's rappers aren't living the gangster lives that they're talking about in their music, but the young people don't know that. That's the kind of thing we talk about.
As someone who actually lived the gangster life, the reformed Kirkland has a persuasive platform to preach from. For the record, Kirkland does have a master's degree in human services from Lincoln University in Pennsylvannia, with a thesis on youth violence, but no doubt most of his wisdom stems from his life of street ball and street life.
That is how he makes connections, one basketball clinic at a time. It would be like John Gotti telling all the Italian kids that the mafia is wrong and can never be right.
There is no such thing as a gangster gene; kids learn that through a process. So when someone who has been there goes into the neighborhoods and clarifies the real consequences, that is a message they hear. Kirkland's message has been heard by thousands of young people. He's gone into penitentiaries and been embraced by inmates. He is often thanked by mothers and girlfriends, and introduced to children by reverential fathers.
He is asked to sign autographs for toddlers and has the big-time endorsements from the likes of Ludacris. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Buckheit: The legend of Pee Wee Kirkland. AD rips Lakers: We're not a title team right now. Los Angeles Lakers. Sources: Probe into Heat, Bulls in advanced stage. Chicago Bulls.
Pulisic digs at Mexico's Ochoa with 'mirror' shirt. Harden drops 39 in Nets win: 'I'm getting there'. Brooklyn Nets. Las Vegas Raiders. Cyborg drubs Kavanagh in second knockout. His court vision and passing ability kept his teammates in the game as scoring threats too. His outstanding work as athlete earned him a full-ride scholarship, for the first time, at Kittrell College in North Carolina.
His first-ever accomplishments in North Carolina made headlines and this led to nationally-known schools offering new scholarships. At NSU, Kirkland continued to rise to the top in the rankings of basketball record books.
As Kirkland continued to ball out of control, what many did not know is that the young basketball icon was no broke college boy. Kirkland already drove and owned cars, which cost what the up-front cash offers from the Bulls were.
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