JerkishBehavior Ode to: "Skip To My Lou" Rafer Alston

JerkishBehavior Ode to “Skip To My Lou” Rafer Alston



This is a JerkishBehavior Ode to playground legend “Skip To My Lou” also known as Rafer Alston. Rafer Alston earned his moniker because skipped whenever he dribbled down the court. I remember when I first heard of “Skip To My Lou” was back in high school, my boy said he had this tape of never before seen basketball moves but it was so next level that he wouldn't even let his best friend borrow it (He knew that he would probably never see the tape again) but I could come over and watch it. Needless to say, my whole basketball game changed after watching the infamous “Skip tape” where directly after we was trying to copy Skip's move and figure out how did he do that. The rewind button, slow motion and vcr got a workout that night. “Skip To My Lou” had an array of moves that were so next level at the time far as playground moves that he had everybody in my school and others across the country trying to pull them off. Skip to my lou caused a phenomenon and made streetball go mainstream. Skip had everyone on the playground trying to do And 1 moves and fundamentals went out the window because he was all about embarrassing cats on the courts now. “Skip To My Lou” made And 1 (the company that distributed 50,000 copies nationwide of the Skip tape) from a fledging shoe company into a household name that spawned more mixtapes, streetball tours, television shows, video games, and numerous streetball legends. Who can forget getting up early to go to buy And 1 shorts just to get the free mixtape of the newest steetball moves to practice and try to pull off on your boys before the tape was sold out. “Skip To My Lou” and the original Skip tape was the reason for the emergence of the streetball culture and And 1 owes a lot of its success to the futuristic moves of one Rafer Alston. Skip to My Lou became an instant celebrity and his playground legend continued grows.



Skip to My Lou is considered to be one of the greatest playground legends ever because he is the only player ever to make the successful transition from the playgrounds to the NBA. Rafer Alston didn’t just make it but has had a respectable and sustained career that is a testament to his hardwork and his ability to know how to play organized and playground basketball. Rafer Alston was known as a streetball legend but shown the NBA he was more than yet with his 3-point range, playmaking ability, and surprisingly good defense. Rafer Alston is now working on a 10-year NBA career with 10 points and 5 assists per game career average that is very impressive. Rafer Alston “Skip To My Lou” is the standard-bearer and blueprint (stay out of trouble, go to school, and work on all aspects of your game) for playground players trying to make the jump from the hardtop to the league. There has been hundreds of playground legends across the globe who have tried to make to the NBA and failed along with those who continue to try and look to one player as there inspiration. This JerkishBehavior Ode is to that player whose playground legend will never be forgotten is the chosen one known as “Skip To My Lou” Rafer Alston.

Jerkishbehavior Ode to: Dajuan Wagner

JerkishBehavior Ode to Dajuan Wagner



This is a JerkishBehavior Ode to high school basketball legend Dajuan Wagner. I heard about Dajuan Wagner for the 1st time in SLAM magazine where they had an article on him being the chosen one as one of the best high school players in the country and possibly the next Allen Iverson but bigger. Dajuan Wagner was a scoring machine who had range out to 30 feet, an insane mid-range game, and could drive the lane with the best of them. The moment I became a die-hard fan is when I heard Dajuan Wagner pulled off the Holy Grail of scoring binges and scored 100 points in a high school game. The next day, I remember the story making it to the Chicago newspaper and he had on an Avirex leather jacket (which was a must have like Jordan’s back in the day) in the article that showed he was the truth off the court as well. Dajuan Wagner averaged 42.5 points a game as a senior and scored 50 or more points in 9 games while on his way to broking the New Jersey state scoring record for most points in a career with 3.462 points. Dajuan Wagner made the coveted McDonald’s All-American Game where he scored a game high 25 points and could have rode that momentum straight to the NBA but decided to go to college at Memphis University. Juanny was a scoring machine once he stepped on his college campus as well. Juanny made the transition look easy and continued unleash long-range jumpers nothing but net and get to the hole with ease. Whenever Juanny played on national television, I made sure I recorded it in order to keep it for my collection and study his moves. Dajuan Wagner averaged 21 points a game during his lone year in college year in college including scoring 20 points or more in 22 games. Juanny didn’t lead his team to the NCAA tournament and had to settle for the NIT (the tournament that is for all the teams who didn’t make the NCAA one and have a .500 record) but he most definitely made it his show. Juanny increased his scoring average to 21 points and led his Memphis Tigers to a NIT title while being named the MVP of the whole tournament. Dajuan Wagner showed he could score on the college and was ready for new challenges and left for the NBA after his freshmen year and got drafted 6th overall by the Cleveland Cavs. Juanny was seen as the potential next star of the league and even had his own ESPN “The Life” episode which showed him working out with legendary trainer Tim Grover (he was Michael Jordan’s personal trainer) in preparation for his rookie season. Dajuan Wagner was the truth to me so much so that I bought and paid full price for his authentic white #2 jersey with the Cavs (which I still have today and was unheard for me to pay full price but Juanny was the boy.) which was extra exclusive. During Juanny’s rookie campaign, he did what he does best and made scoring the basketball look easy and show that he was a natural at doing it. Juanny averaged 14 pts a game as a rookie but had a 7 game span where he averaged 25 points a game, he scored 20 points in 11 games, and had arguably his best game of his career at Madison Square Garden in New York aka “The Mecca of Basketball” with 25 points and 10 assists. Unfortunately, Juanny’s rookie season was cut short due to injuries. Dajuan Wagner’s 2nd season in the NBA was supposed to be the beginning of the Lebron & Juanny tag team duo but once again injuries struck again and this dynamic duo never materialized. Dajuan Wagner had a life threatening bladder infection and had to end up getting his entire colon removed. Juanny was seen as a health risk and hasn’t been able to get back into the league but continues to play professionally overseas and continues to try to get back to the NBA. Dajuan Wagner was a natural born scorer and could get buckets in his sleep at any level of play. So this JerkishBehavior Ode is to one of the greatest scoring machines of all time in Dajuan Wagner.

JerkishBehavior Ode: Eve "Let There Be Eve: Ruff Ryders 1st lady"

The JerkishBehavior Ode is the section where we take time out to remember classic moments, events, things, and individuals throughout history that have brought us fond memories in the past and contributed a singular moment of greatness to the masses. So here's to remembering the classic with a JerkishBehavior Ode.

JerkishBehavior Ode to Eve "Let There Be Eve: Ruff Ryder's 1st Lady"



Does anyone remember when female rappers weren’t an endangered species? Well when female rappers was in their golden era (circa ’96-01), Eve’s debut album “Let There Be Eve: Ruff Ryder’s First Lady” put the whole game on notice especially the two female heavyweights in Foxy Brown and Lil Kim. This album was a breathe of fresh air from Eve’s crazy flow with no ghostwriter, stellar top-notch Hip-Hop production, the aggressive and sensitive but untouched subject matter by a female rapper. I was totally shocked and amazed when I heard this album because it was so good and after one listen, I declared Eve the best female rapper in the game (unfortunately but neither her nor there, this Eve was never seen again after this album).

This album was classic because Eve was able to hold her own lyrically with some of the hardest dudes in the game at the time in DMX, The Lox, and Beanie Sigel while also being sensitive by touching on real issues that real females deal with such as domestic abuse, rape, and self-esteem. This album is littered with classic songs from the aggressive side was “Scenario 2000”, “We On That Shit”, “Philly,Philly” which put Philadelphia on the map and was an anthem for the city, and “Let’s Talk About” which sees Eve going bar for bar with Drag-On. The songs that really won me over was the more sensitive tracks geared toward female empowerment in “Love Is Blind”, “Gotta Man” and one of my personal favorites in “Heaven Only Knows”. My favorite song on the album is “What Ya All Want” Remix which sees Eve spitting her most memorable bars over Swizz Beats production geared towards clubbing on an exotic album. The skits was even classic who can forget the “Philly Cheese Steak” skit with the Arab and the line “No, Philly is where I From”. The illest pitbull in a skirt had a well-rounded album and was the first female rapper that didn’t use the cliché sex/materialistic songs as the main focal point of the album. Eve’s debut album will forever be a Hip-Hop classic and that’s why this JerkishBehavior Ode is to Eve’s “Let There Be Eve: Ruff Ryder’s First Lady”.


Here are 2 videos from Eve's "Let There Be Eve"

JerkishBehavior Ode: Clipse Lord Willin'

The JerkishBehavior Ode is the section where we take time out to remember classic moments, events, things, and individuals throughout history that have brought us fond memories in the past and contributed a singular moment of greatness to the masses. So here's to remembering the classic with a JerkishBehavior Ode.

JerkishBehavior Ode to Clipse Lord Willin'



This is a JerkishBehavior Ode to Clipse Lord Willin’ album which was their mainstream debut to world and put the whole rap game on notice. You can forget the “Grindin” video, the first time they saw it? It was an instant classic from the video being shot in the hood and giving it a real street feel from Pharrell doing the beat box with his mouth to The Clipse rocking exclusive throwback jersey (when the trend was at its peak) that everybody wanted to have. But more importantly, the lyrics are on-point and the beat was bananas so you most definitely took notice like who are these guys?

Background info sidebar: Clipse are two actual brothers from Virginia, one is Malice (bald head) and the other is Pusha T (braids) and they are the most lyrical and best cocaine rappers ever. They should be the only rappers to rap about drugs and the only ones, I don’t mind if that’s all they talk about because they are so clever and original with it.

Now back to the Lord Willin’, so after the hit Grindin’ what do they do for an encore to prove that they aren’t a one hit wonder? They release the club joint “When Was The Last Time” where once again the video is crazy, the beat is on some next level shit, and the lyrics are crazy like these dudes are spitting not only on a single but also on their club single. So after this video, The Clipse had the game on lock and won over fans instantly. Just like the 1st two video singles, the entire album was a classic top to bottom and was easily the album of the year when it released in 2002. The album songs told you what the Clipse was all about and where they came from like the song “Virginia” where the brothers spit about how it goes down in their town. Malice raps the classic and insightful line to close off the song of “Ironic, the same place that I’m making figures at/ That there’s the same land that they used to hang slaves at, in Virginia”, WOW who says that? Malice is the thought provoking and insightful one of the group. While Pusha T is the flashy and heavy on the sick punch lines member of the group like on my favorite song on the album “I’m Not You”, Pusha spits “Nah *itch we don't believe in air bags/ Cars turn tricks like them Ringling brother skits/Whether *itch hop out, or the glock pop out/ ya know what I'm about/Blow to ya sinus til the snot drop out.” Those are just two of my favorite songs but the whole cd is littered with classic tracks, crazy next level production, and numerous Hip-Hop quotables where you have a difficult time deciding who’s better Pusha T or Malice. And for that reason, The Clipse instantly became my favorite rap group of all time and it all started with this debut album. So if you haven’t heard Lord Willin’ before go get your mind right and check it out and if you have, then go listen to it again and relive the classic. This JerkishBehavior Ode is to the classic album that put two lyrical geniuses and Virginia on the map in The Clipse Lord Willin'.


The 3 video singles off the Clipse's Lord Willin' album..Enjoy!!!