Transcription
[Music] What's up everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Blood on the Razor Wire TV. Where we bring it to you real, and we bring it to you raw. As you can see from the thumbnail, man, I got one of Kobe Bryant's best friends on. We're gonna to talk about some things. Brother been to prison, he's out living his best life. But anyway, Kev, tell the people who you are, you're from, and let's talk about you.
Um, my name Kev Sanchez. Um, I also wrapped under the name Tanner the Beast, and I was with the Bear Gang with Freeway, Jack Frost, a lot of MC's from the city. Um, I'm from West Philadelphia. But at at one point in time, my mom had, um, got into a little bit of law trouble with the Fed. So, uh, I end up, um, moving to Narberth, which is right on the outskirts of, um, Philly, and living with my aunt. That's how I met Kobe and went to Maring.
So talk about your mom for a minute. She got jammed up with the Feds. Did she end up going to federal prison? Yes, she did. A Fed. She went to federal prison. Was she in federal prison for? I think she did three years, if I'm not mistaken. What type of case was it? Drug case? No, no. It was, um, it was some type of, uh, some type of like HUD scandal and all this type of stuff, something like that. It was some white-collar [ __ ]. It wasn't nothing like heavy, nothing like that.
Streets of Philly were, I mean, they're still dangerous, but they were definitely dangerous back then. Yeah, no doubt, man. Well, my mom is like known as like a legendary figure in the city. Like, P.E. Everybody know my mom. My mom used to get money like hustling. Well, like my mom was like intertwined with the JBM and and [ __ ] like that. Like, so a lot of people know my mom. She like one of the, uh, original women hustlers in Philadelphia. So Lisa Sanchez is her name. A lot of people in Philadelphia know my mom.
If they Google you, Kevin Sanchez and Kobe Bryant, I'm sure there'll be some stuff to read about, right? Yes. You Google, you. They Google Kevin Sanchez and Kobe Bryant, you gonna see, uh, we got an ESPN story, plus, um, the story with us. The whole thing is gonna come up. We, you know, I was on, we was on the front page of the Daily News when this alleged, when this crime that they said that I did happen. So, you know what I mean? Let's talk a little bit about that, right?
I mean, Kobe comes over. I mean, you guys started hanging out. Kind of tell us how that whole thing works out. Oh, well, um, I met him, you know, I played basketball. So I met him in Narberth in the playground playing basketball. Like he came over. You know, I was still young, back and forth from the hood because, you know, where he's from is, is, uh, it's probably like two minutes from Philadelphia. Like two, it's, it's Philadelphia, then you got City Line. You cross over City Line Avenue, just one cross over from Philly. One, not even one minute, 20 seconds, and you're in. You over in Lower Merion. So I met him over there, you know, I mean, playing basketball. Every now and then we would play. Then I end up going to Lower Merion the next year, and he was there. He was a star basketball player. So I knew him since then, and we was, we was, we was good friends then. But we became better friends like towards the end, like, you know what I mean, towards, uh, because I left the school. I actually left and then we linked back up like while he was on his way to the NBA. And that's when we got real tight then, like tighter.
Let me ask you this, right? You meet Kobe, you're hooping, he's hooping. Was he great as a kid? Yeah, he was. He was, um, he was actually like, it's crazy, but in ninth grade, he was, he was real good in ninth grade. But 10th grade, man, I, everybody who knew him knew he was going to the NBA. I knew it. You know what I mean? Like, even though to me, he's not a good, a good person like everybody think he is, he turned out to be something. You know what I mean? He's still to me the, uh, best basketball player I ever seen play besides Michael Jordan. Like, to me, I never seen nothing like it. And he was like that when he was young. Nothing was more important than basketball. So that's the way it was with him.
What was his attitude like as a kid though? Was he arrogant? Was he, you know, just like, yo, I'm just, I'm just here hooping? He, he was only arrogant when it came to like, far as, uh, rap and as far as basketball. He wasn't just an arrogant dude. People get, get this, get that, um, that whole thing that they put on him. They, they put that, that on him. He, he wasn't really like that. He was a cool, down-to-earth dude. He was a regular, a regular dude. He was regular. Like he wasn't, he wasn't, um, arrogant. He got arrogant as he got, you know, bigger and, you know, they was feeding his head and all that. He knew he was becoming the best. That's when he became like a piece of crap. He wasn't like that when we was young.
You said piece of crap. I mean, you, you can say [ __ ]. Do you feel like he was a piece of [ __ ] eventually? I, I eventually, yes, I do. I, I think he was as far as us, that was his original friends because he [ __ ] on all of us at the end of it. If you want to keep it, keep it real. He [ __ ] on every single one of us. He made all new friends when he went out there and, um, he cut everybody off, including his family members. I'm friends with his family members. So he, he was just, uh, man, it's a, it's a long story. We could get into it. You know what I mean? Even the, the whole thing, the whole thing of, of even what happened with me even going to jail. You know what I mean? I was falsely accused. When this crime happened, I was with him when they blamed this on me. So he was a, a witness to keep me out of jail. Like he didn't. And he didn't testify. And, you know, I understand why he didn't. And, um, I understand why he was on his way to the NBA. He, he, he was, uh, matter of fact, he was already drafted. He just didn't get there yet. So this happened in August when they blamed this on me, but we was all together that day. Me, him, his family members, Charlie Mack, um, we was all, my man, and a bunch of us. We was in this, in this Jewish Center playing basketball. That's where he practiced at. One of my friends worked there, opened and closed it. That was his friend too. And that was a secret little place where he came and played and practiced. We was all there.
So what happened was, um, we was all there one day and we was, uh, I was performing. I was supposed to perform for Charlie Mack so I can get a record deal through Charlie Mack or he could put me on, whatever. So we was there all day. During this time, somebody robbed the 7-Eleven. Mind you, the 7-Eleven that they robbed, it's kind of far from where we, where we was. And it's, it's very far. I don't even know how the hell they even put me on it or whatever, but it happened. It was a, it was far. It was like, um, a couple miles away, a nice amount of miles. It was all the way down. We was on 77th and City, City Avenue. That 7-Eleven, if I'm not mistaken, was on like 50th. So it was down. So somebody went in there and robbed them. And the person who robbed him, he, uh, he robbed the store. Then after he robbed the store, he carjacked two girls that went to St. Joe's and made his getaway. I was with Kobe at the time.
Now, during this time, they, um, they arrested me for. And the reason why they arrested me is because why they even put me involved in it. And, and this is what I believe. My brother and my, I got family members that was all like involved in little crime. So out of them, my brother is only a year, he's a year and some change younger than me. My brother and them, they was doing that. I was the only one that wasn't into that type of stuff. You know what I mean? I did my little hustling and [ __ ] like that, but I never, I wasn't, I wasn't into like doing the [ __ ] that they did. They was doing stuff. The name was floating around that we was, they, we was involved in crime. They thought I was the leader of my brother's whole little [ __ ] because I'm the oldest Sanchez, which I, which I wasn't. My brother is his own man. So they put my face in this lineup. And this guy, Arabian guy or whatever, he picked me. And now, mind you, that store that they even said that we robbed, I'm a frequent person in there. I grew up in that 7-Eleven. It happened to have a foreign exchange student who was working there at the time who got robbed. And they put, they put my lineup there. Mind you, they put my lineup and other things too, during this. And I got charged with other robberies that I beat because I didn't do none of it. So they, I was being charged with a bunch of robberies during this time, beating them like right? They, it wasn't me. They was just trying to get one of us. And they tried to get me. And this guy said it was me. So the guy robbed the store, they blamed it on me. We all knew about it. Kobe tried to bail me out. He, um, he tried to bail me out, but they, he didn't allow him. His mom didn't allow him to bail me out. He tried to, tried to, but they didn't. So I ended up staying in jail. And then I got, I end up getting out on, um, September 13th, 1996. That's when I got out. The day Tupac died. I remember I got out that day. And we was still always tight. But, you know what I mean, he didn't never come. He never came to court. Well, we didn't even get to that part. Yeah, he did hire me some lawyers. But the thing about it was, the lawyers made up a game plan along with Kobe's advisors for Kobe never to show. So it was on, it was on the, you know, us, the lawyers beating it. The thing about it is, I was young, I was a kid. So I didn't know nothing about that. The lawyers was, um, accident lawyers. You know what I mean? It wasn't criminal lawyers.
You get arrested for this robbery? Really? You're with Kobe Bryant, you're actually innocent, you get arrested, you go to jail, you're sitting in jail, you get ready to go to trial. He doesn't come to testify. But really, he would have been the star witness for you, saying, look, this is my friend, this man wasn't there at the robbery. And he decides, I can't jeopardize, you know, my image. I mean, he's not going to jail, obviously, if he testifies. But is that the reason why he doesn't do it? Because of his image? Because of the? It was fully because of his image. But it wasn't from his dad's point of view. His dad was, was with him testifying. His mom wasn't. So the identity, the identity of the guy who robbed the 7-Eleven was a, was 5'8", 120 pounds, dark black eyes with a mask on. I mean, my eyes is green. I wasn't, I wasn't 5'8" since I was a kid. I'm 6 feet, 6'1". And I, I, I can't even remember being 130 pounds or something like that. Like I never was. I was always a big guy. So that, it was false. It was the, the identification was, was [ __ ] up. So the lawyers, the lawyers figured, said, look, we just gonna go with identity. And, and, and I should have beat it off identity alone. Especially being as, as fact, the guy who robbed the store took his mask off when he carjacked the two girls. And, and he carjacked them to get away. The two girls couldn't pick me and said it wasn't me. The cops never even charged me with the carjacking to hide the fact. They never charged me with carjacking, never. Even though they know the person did it. They, they wanted to hide that because the girls couldn't pick me out. And I still lost the case. The reason why I lost and I beat the lineup. I took a lineup and beat the lineup. Still lost the case. The, the Indian dude in the lineup said, I think that's him. Like the guy had a bread mask wrapped around his face. A Wonder Bread. You see my face is kind of chubby. The, um, the bread mask barely wrapped around my face. So the, the idiot who robbed the store had a [ __ ] Wonder Bread mask wrapped around his face and robbed and robbed the store. So I, I got totally railroaded at the end. The, the prosecutor made a big, big, big deal about Kobe not being there. And that's, that's what swayed the jury. She want, she want full ballistic words. Kobe Bryant, MVP, at the end. And that's how, that's how I end up losing it.
So do you feel like if Kobe would have came, you would have been, you would have been acquitted? I would have clearly been acquitted. It's, that's not even up for debate. I would have definitely, clearly been acquitted. Kobe to come testifying on your behalf, would it have hurt him? No, it wouldn't have hurt him. But, you know, they were scared, you know what I mean, to damage his image in any type of way. So they didn't want to do it at all. You know what I mean? Um, I, I, I wanted him to do it. But, you know, I was young at the time. My mom was in jail. So I, um, I didn't have any guidance legally to tell me to even get it. Because if I had, I think I also would have beat it. If I had criminal lawyers, like those lawyers, they, I respect, uh, what they done because the, the lawyer was a, the firm was owned by another kid that we was around in school as his dad's. And, you know what I mean? They tried their best. Just, they was slipping. Accident lawyers. You know what I mean? It wasn't criminal lawyers.
After you blow trial, now you're going to go to prison. You, you're going to get sentenced. Does Kobe reach out while you're in jail? Is he looking out on the commissary tip? Is he doing anything for you? No, he never did anything after that. He, uh, after I went, after I went to trial and everything, he, um, and I lost it. Because all the, mind you, during this, we was, we was in negotiations and getting a record deal. Now, Kobe first, it was, we was supposed to, it was supposed to be me as a solo rapper. But then because that's what the whole thing was, Kobe was going to, you know, be my sponsor, pay for me, and would take me all. We was going to go to the top. I was one of the best rappers in the city at the time. Anybody can tell you that. So, um, he was supposed to, we were supposed to go to the top. He was going to use his influence and his money and everything. You know, we talked about this growing up, young up, when we hanging together. He was always with me. Mind you, in the hood, everywhere. I had him all, I had him everywhere with me. He was one, he, one of my best friends. We was super duper tight. So, but he figured out, oh, let's make a rap group. So we formed up a rap group called The Chaw. And, um, he got us a deal. We end up getting a record deal with, with, uh, with like Sony Columbia. We did get a deal. But during that time, you know, all the rest of the group was out in LA. I was still, I had to stay here to fight. And they all came. The ones that was at the time, they came to testify. Charlie Mack testified. Two of Kobe's cousins, blood cousins, testified. They all, every, they all testified. And I still lost because of the Kobe Bryant thing. But during this time, Kobe was kind of like, he was a, a met. I spoke to him a lot. Like everything was good until he met once he met his wife. He kind of like, um, he kind of like did erase. Like it was a rat, you know what I mean? Like I spoke up. I was speaking to him all the time. All the way up until like, I, I was convicted. Once I was convicted, he never reached out to me ever, ever again. Except one time when I was in jail when he got caught up in that, in that thing with the, uh, rape stuff. He, he wrote me then a letter explaining saying that he was going to look out for me when I got home. And I, like, waited for him and ran into him. So he never reached out. No. That's crazy. He never reaches. He never reaches out. Only when that, when the rape thing goes on.
So now, check this out. You go to prison. How much time are you sentenced to? I got sentenced to a five to 10. Five to 10 years. You get sentenced to a five to 10. We're gonna talk about when you get out of prison and you do go to see Kobe again. But let's talk about what prison's like. You get sentenced to 5 to 10. How old are you at the time? I think I was 17, about to be 18. I think I turned 18. What's it like to get a five to 10 at 18 years old for some [ __ ] that you, you know, you're saying you're innocent? I, you know, I believe you. I do believe you. Well, I mean, it was the worst thing that could ever happened to me. During that time, I just had a son. Um, it was rough, man. Like, during that time, it was some, it was some wars going down in Philadelphia. Like with, uh, South Philly and North Philly was having a big war. Even though I'm from West Philly, but I'm Muslim. And they was all Muslims. So, you know, we down there where we down there during Ramadan. It's, it's full-fledged night fights, blood baths, people getting stabbed, the Imam getting knocked out. It was, it was insane in there. You got to think, I'm a young boy going in. I never in my life been to jail except for little pick, pick. They was, pick me up, little [ __ ]. I never went to jail, jail. So now I'm in jail. And, you know, I, first went in and I had to man up. You know what I mean? During this time, my mom had ended up getting back out during the time. And, you know, my mom, I went in there, my mom, I called home. You know, all Mom, I'm in here with all these grown men. My mom like, man, the [ __ ] up. It's time to man up. Get, you know, what you got to do. So I, all right, let's go. You know what I mean? And it was on and popping. I mean, it is what it is. And so, you know, I did, I did my time. And, and I end up getting out again. And then going back. They, they, they gave me a reconsideration sentence. Like the, the judge didn't think I that I was guilty of it. She let me come home. I went home after two, after like 18 months. I went home. And then I was on house arrest for like three years. And then they appealed that appeal. And I lost that. Once I knew I was losing, I cut the house arrest ban off. I ran. I ran for a while. End up going back to jail again and doing the rest of the time.
Really? You're kind of out on like an appeal right now at this point? I was out. Well, I went back. I went to jail first for like two years, like I say, like 20 months. I went back to jail. Then they allowed me to get a, um, they, we put in because the lawyers wasn't, you know, they was slip and fall lawyers. So we put in for the ineffective counsel. So the judge, which this never happens, this is the same judge that Meek Mill was going through, Judge Janice Brinkley. That same judge, she allowed me to get out. Like she, um, gave me house arrest. They, they allowed me to go home. I went on out on house arrest. And I was on house arrest for like two years until I lost. They appealed the appeal. Once it came back around, they was going to book me. I had to turn myself back in. I wasn't trying to turn myself back in. I cut the ban off and I ran. I ran. I went to Pittsburgh for a minute. And then, um, once they got me on in Pittsburgh, I ran to, um, ran to, uh, Baltimore. And I got caught in Baltimore because they put me on America's Most Wanted. So I, I end up getting caught. Had you on America's Most Wanted. It's a crazy story, bro. There's a lot more of this story than than I, you know, going in. That's that's crazy. It's, it's, it's a whole bunch. Look, so you, you know, I'm in jail, just, you know, knowing you an innocent man. When you in jail, it was a different thing. So I, I, I actually did, did, for, I did what, five years for nothing. I'm, I'm an innocent man. I'm, I'm so innocent that when you get out of jail, you have to see the parole board. You can't leave nothing out. When you tell them your, they ask you, all right, what happened? Oh, I went into a store. You got, if you say, if you leave any detail out, you're not getting out. They bang you for being in denial. So I, I had to [ __ ] order the transcripts and study the transcripts like I was studying for an acting job in a movie. Movie. I had to read the whole thing through, remember every detail of it and not leave nothing out. So when I seen the parole board, I didn't miss a beat. It was like I was in an acting class. So I had to learn what the Gotti did, every move he done, the God done and said, because you can't leave nothing out. They don't want to let you out anyway. So if you leave something out, that's it. You're done. You're not getting out. So I, I want to studied the case, learned every move the guy shot in the ceiling, ran out, all that stuff, everything he said. So, you know what I mean? So that was bad. I had to, and just know I had to humble myself, just knowing that I'm an innocent man, that I ain't do [ __ ], I ain't do [ __ ] like I never robbed no [ __ ] store, never. I would never do it. They, they, they just railroaded me and flim-flammed me. They put another case on me too, but that I beat with as far as they tried to get me. They gave me two cases. They also gave me another case where I allegedly ran a cop off the road and dragged drug a bunch of [ __ ]. I beat that one too, but I had to go to trial and fight that also. But I beat that in trial.
Let's talk about this, right? You do finally get out of prison. Sentence is over with. You get out. Are you thinking, damn, man, Kobe's gonna look out for me, put a couple dollars in my pocket? I'm twisted. I'm, I'm [ __ ] up. Yeah. Are you thinking that? Yes, I am. You know what I mean? And I held it up. You know, people, a lot, a lot of people like when Kobe came here to like play against the city and the city was booing him, and nobody liked Kobe. See, people in this city, on the road, the world didn't start liking Kobe till he passed away. They hated Kobe here. Like nobody likes Kobe. I, we argue, people argue all day about because they don't like him. And the reason I was on the front page, a lot of people say, oh, he ain't come to court for his man. They don't even be knowing. It's me, and be saying that, man, he don't, I don't like that [ __ ], he ain't come to court for his man and [ __ ] like that. So we was on the front page of the Daily News. So it was a big thing. Anybody that's listening and looking, go and Google Kevin Sanchez, Kobe Bryant. This is 100% true story. I'm thinking he gonna look out. I'm [ __ ] up out here struggling, but got back dibbling and dabbling in the streets, trying to get my [ __ ] in order. So he, Lower Merion was opening up a gym. This is when I really found out he was a piece of [ __ ]. This, this right here is what made me be like, you know what, [ __ ] him. You know what I mean? I, I waited and the rain. They wasn't letting nobody. No more tickets. So I couldn't get in there. It was freezing outside. I waited out that [ __ ]. I waited out there the whole time, freezing. And I saw the bus, the little tour bus thing that they was in. So boom, they start coming out. I see Shannon Brown and a bunch of the players. So I'm like, bet. I see Kobe. I'm like, Bean, you see me? You're like, who that? I'm like, man, you know who it is. He like, saying, I'm like, yeah. He come over. We talking. Mind you, he was gonna, the vibe he was giving off was like a weird, weird vibe. I ain't like it. It was nothing like how we, how we were. It was a weird vibe. He had his little security team with him. I'm telling him like, what the hell is the security dude? I want to talk to you personally. So he like, all right, what's going on? I'm like, look, man, he kept, he was so, his thing was, he kept trying to reminisce to why he didn't come to court because he never explained that to me. I didn't even want to hear that. I told him, look, Co, I don't care about the court [ __ ]. It's over. I did the time. I'm home. This is what I need you to do for me. I'm like, look, man, I don't want no handouts. I don't want no money. I don't want [ __ ]. This is what I need you to do. I'm out here struggling. I got two kids. I got a family, man. All I want to do is go back with you. You get me out there, LA, somewhere, man, put me with somebody where I can make my own money. You just like, get me in, and I'm working for somebody or I'm doing something to, or business, anything to benefit myself. So, and I don't want, I don't want nothing free. I don't want to work. I don't want to do nothing but work for it. He, that's all I said. That's all I asked you to do. I don't want nothing. Just put me in position. You, he, Kobe Bryant, you could put me with anybody. But, um, or he could do it himself. Put me as a security on a security team, anything. We was super tight. There's no way he shouldn't do this for me. Me. So I said that to him. He said, oh, yeah, that'll be no problem. No problem. I'm like, yo, I need a number. I don't got no number on you. How me get back to you? He gives me a phone number. I'm happy as hell. I'm, I'm happy now. I'm, I'm like, bet. I'm bet my, my man wouldn't much. My man, I'm back with my guy. I'm about to get out of here. I'm amped up. He leave. I go back to the house. The next day, I call. It's an assistant dude's phone number. It's not even him. Assistant dude. The assistant dude not getting him on the phone. I can't never get to him. So that was basically just a cat. He just like brushed me off, treated me like, like he just. And the way he was acting was weird anyway. So, you know, I'm still holding on to the fact that man, this is, this is my guy. He gon, maybe it's just because he in the league still. And if, if he get out when he done with the league, he'll come back and get us. I held that the whole time. Like, you know what I mean? I'm still doing my thing to survive. But that's in the back of my mind. Like, man, my man might come and get me. It's like a dream type of thing, just in the back of my head. Because he one of my best friends, period. Like, but nah, that's not what happened. He, um, his, I went to his cousin. When the Lakers came when he was playing his last game. And that's when I found out. His cousin was like, look, because I was talking, you know, big about him. Yeah, yo, my man, blah, blah. His C, his cousin came to me. He said, Kev, I'm gonna tell you something about this guy. Dude is a certified piece of [ __ ]. And that's when he start running everything down. Man, ain't the man, never did nothing for nobody in his family. Like his, I mean, he's, he got a, a $500 million, a $500 million empire. His sisters was working regular jobs. You see his mom and him got to [ __ ] sell memorabilia [ __ ]. But even when he was home, remember that memorabilia [ __ ]? That's because dude, dude just a certified, he just don't care about nobody but his wife and them and the new family. And, you know, and all that comes from his wife. Once his wife, once he, he used to come back to Philly all the time. That's why I'm saying we was still tight. He came back every summer after the season. Once he met her, he never came back no more. That's when everything changed. When it, when that happened, you know what I mean? He sent everybody home. With the group, Steve Stouten, him convinced him to be a solo rapper. And that garbage ass [ __ ] that he put out, that Kobe trash. He was a way better rapper than that. He was actually a dope rapper, like real dope. People, he was nice, super nice. But they made him water it down and do that [ __ ] and it flopped. That, and he sent everybody home, told everybody, y'all just got to go the [ __ ] back home and get jobs like regular people. Cut them all off. Sent them back home. Because my cousin was out there with him. He was one member of the group. Just sent them all back home. And, and, and it was just ever since then, he just, he just terrible, man. Like, it's nothing. This is why I commend LeBron James. LeBron James, all his friends and family, he put him on. He made sure they was right, man. Kobe had a lot of us, man, that loved him, man, that was his friends. He just did us all dirty, man. He did us all, including his parents. His, his parents and him right now struggling, trying to sell [ __ ]. And his wife got control of his empire. It's no, you mean to tell me there's no tunnel or funnel where his parents get anything? They don't even get nothing. They wasn't even mentioned at his funeral. Nothing. He, he was a, he wanted a work. I'm telling you, man, he just, he's a bad guy, man. And I don't, everybody can praise him and say what they want. But we is real friends. And I challenge anybody, his friend, any of his family, the family that's going to step up and try to say I'm lying or anything like that. They the ones he, that he never was close with anyway, in the first place. Because he got family members he didn't never [ __ ] with at all. The ones he [ __ ] with won't say nothing because they know that's the truth.
So you guys feel like Vanessa kind of influenced him that it was just like she was like, yo, it's us and forget your family type of [ __ ]? Yeah, because his family, what, what it was was Kobe wanted to, uh, when Kobe met her and and was falling for it and all that, his mom and him wanted him to sign a prenup before he got into it. Because he was with another named Jocelyn, that was his girl from Philly. She didn't even know that they was broke up yet. He just, nobody ain't know that. He just like broke. He, he cut her and everybody off in the same, probably like three day span. Once he met Vanessa, and his head flew over hills with her. He cut off Jocelyn and everything. His mom and him, they wanted him to sign a prenup. He, um, Vanessa didn't want to sign a prenup. And so he didn't want to listen to his mom. That's how the whole thing fell out with his mom and him is because of the prenup situation. Whereas Vanessa told him, look, man, you, they went, she never liked the mom anyway. So, you know, if, if it's either them or me. And he chose them and cut his, he cut his mom and them off completely. Where they wasn't seeing the kids, nothing. He completely cut all of them. All he cut off everybody. His friends, his new friends is the guy who give him massage, the guy who rubs his feet. These his best friends now. All his friends is nobody. His new friends is, is [ __ ]. Just think, he said his best friend was Rob Pelinka, his agent. What about Matt Russ? What about Aunt? What about me? What about all of us that was here? That was your best friends. What are we? All of us work regular jobs out there. Nobody that was his friend got [ __ ]. We all, we're nothing.
This is crazy, man. You said to listen, man, I ain't never gonna let my best friend rub my feet, man. I might go to the, you know, the Asian man massage. But I ain't gonna be his best mean. He turned all them. He turned his whole new. He made new world for herself. Cut all us off. And you know what I mean? We all sat back and it's a bunch of us. We, and we still talk now to this day. We all get together. Like before, before he, before he died, we was all getting together and was like, yeah, we always had that hope. Like, yeah, he gonna come back and get us. Like me and Ant, which is one of his super closest friends in mine. Ant is the one, the bridge over everything. Is named Anthony Bannister. A, and he kicked, he, he threatened and everything during that time. It was a crazy situation with them all. And, and like if you like, it was crazy with them. That situation was wild. We always had the notion, he coming back to get us, man. He'll be back. So we just gonna live our lives, do what we do. And then we'll get a bon as he'll come back. Like, look, this is what we gonna do. But, you know, he never put his family on and did [ __ ] for them. So what the hell was I? I shouldn't even expected this. But it was just a thing in my mind that made me expect it. So, you know what I mean?
Let, let me interject for a second, right, Kev? Because some people are going to watch and be like, man, man ain't owe you [ __ ]. But man, it ain't really like that, man. When you, you know, when you're growing up, it's like right now, man. I came home from prison and I, I helped my best friend out, man. I mean, he was out here struggling a little bit. And he's like, yo, put a store together for me. I put a corner. I had a couple dollars to do it. I did it. I put a store together for him. He's running the store. We're 50/50 partners, whatever. That's my man. So when you're growing up as a kid in and in the in the struggle, you know, hey, when this man, like you said, got a $500 million empire, you know, does he owe you? Maybe. He doesn't necessarily owe you, but man, it's that respect thing. You know how people are like, oh man, every time you do something for someone, you throw it in their face. Nah, I just expect you to do for me what I've done for you. Give me the same respect. And I think you probably should have looked out. You were his man. He's supposed to take you with him. You were his best friend. Well, this is my thing. He don't owe me nothing. That's, that's what people don't understand. I'm not even worried about. I didn't want him to give me anything. I just wanted him to wanted me, wanted to to help us out life-wise. And he had the ability to help our life. But it don't, he don't got to give a [ __ ] for free. He could have took me and, and, and, and it could have been a guy, some type of broker or some [ __ ] out there that he knew. And he like, look, man, I want to get my, put one of my friends in your firm. Put, he could have told me, look, I need you to go to college, take this course right here. I'mma do this to better your life. It's nothing with him giving me [ __ ] for free. I ain't asked for no handouts or nothing like that. But the thing about it, he cut us completely off for nothing. Like he cut us off. So of course, we going to be sour about it. We was friends. We was kids and young boys growing up together. Like, even though he came back when he was from Italy, he came back. But you, mind you, his cousins and them lived in the hood. And that's where he used to play basketball at. Austin's up there. And, you know, that's our neighborhood. So we, we all, we know him since then. And we, I spoke to him every day. I was around him every day. Like, so, and we had dreams. We talked about stuff together. Like what we was going to do. And what he was going to do. Like as far as like everything, as far as with my rap career and everything. We had, we had [ __ ] that we had planned that all went out the door. I'm not saying he owed me nothing. So anybody watching, like, oh, he just, he want it. It ain't that. It's just, it's certain things that you do that's real. That's thorough. And it's certain [ __ ] that's not thorough. The way he acted towards us wasn't thorough. And that's period. I love him. That's one of my best friends. I cried and everything when he passed away. I was [ __ ] up when I heard that [ __ ]. It [ __ ] me over, man. I was in Walmart at the time. I never forget it, man. Blew me away. And I was [ __ ] up for a minute because I think about it now. Like, I love the guy. He's my man. Like, it ain't, I'm just keeping it a beam, man. Real people do real things. And sometimes, man, you find out, you know, the wrong way. I know I've heard, you know, people say that he was an arrogant dude and thought he was better than everybody. No, that's not, that's not, that's a false joint on him. He was arrogant basketball-wise because he, he really thought he was better than everybody. But as a person, he wasn't really arrogant, man. He had, he had assholeness in him. But if you was a friend with him, he was a thorough dude. He was, he could be a [ __ ], but he was a thorough dude. I always used to keep in the back of my mind, all right, Coop ain't from the hood like us. He ain't from the hood. So LeBron don't, I mean, Allen Iverson when Iverson got caught in the highway with his friends and he went to court for him and all that [ __ ]. That Kobe don't got that in him. Because AI is a different dude from the hood. Coop grew up in goddamn and [ __ ] overseas somewhere. So, and he came back to us. But he never was a hood guy. So Kobe don't have that gene in him. Everybody got it. But it's a, but right is right and wrong is wrong. And, and I'm, my thing with with him is he's just not what everybody think. Like all of us can attest to it. People gonna see this and be mad at me for for saying it. But I didn't even get deep. There's way more [ __ ] I can say that I'm not going to say that I know personally about him. But I'm not gonna say it. I just tell you this, he's, he's basketball-wise the greatest. As a human being, he wasn't as good as a person as these, as people are saying. And I don't care what they say. I challenge anybody, it's family, any of y'all want to challenge me, let's get busy. I'm, I'm 100% authentic on it. And I can bring receipts. His friends and all of us that know him, none of them is going to disagree with what I'm saying. None of them. He was coldhearted. He was a coldhearted person, man. Once he became who he is, he became cold.
Yes, he wasn't that way when he was, uh, when he was a kid, though, right? You said he didn't really have that hood [ __ ] in him. But I mean, he wasn't a sucker, right? I mean, he grew up around all of you guys when he came back. Put, he was, he was for one thing about him, that's what made him a great basketball player. Player, he had no fear. He'll fight somebody, anything. Like he wasn't no chump at all like that. You're not going to get that from him. He was never no chump. Even in the hood, he play, fear, he ain't had no fear. Like, you know what I mean? And I, I used to have him around me all the time. And, you know, we hung together. You know what I mean? Even over on the other side, over there where in Lower Merion and all that, and in Philly. Like, even when he was with me in Philly, and my, anybody in my neighborhood can attest and show you that, you know, I was, he was always with me. Even when he was, um, he got interviewed on Rap City and they asked him who's the best rapper he ever heard. He said my name. You know what I mean? Like, we rap together in school and battled people and all that [ __ ]. Like, he was around when I battled people. I used to go around and just battle everybody in the city and destroy them. Everybody. He was with me during that time. And so he was around all the hood stuff. So he got the hood in him. Even though he's not from the hood, but he's been around enough hood basketball players and hood people. He just know how to turn it on and off. If the cameras is off, and you don't see them, you would think this dude was born and raised in the [ __ ] slums. That's how he talk. He talk like a regular dude. And everything, that whole, that whole persona he puts on is her fake persona. He get that from Michael Jordan. He studied even Michael Jordan's talking pattern. He studied everything about him.
So now, how long you been out of prison though, Kev? Now, I've been out since 2007. I went back one time. My baby mom got me locked up for, um, she, she was mad I ain't want to be with her no more. And got me locked the hell back up. Went back. But I end up beating the case. She made up a fake name and said I robbed her and all that. You know, in Philadelphia, they is, is not, um, they don't question. They lock you up then ask questions. So they locked me right up. While when I came home, and I went back to jail in April and got back out in August. And I never been back again. So I've been home now like going on like maybe 17 years or something.
What are you doing with your life? Man, the rap career didn't work out because you went to prison. I mean, what are you doing now? Well, you know, now I wanted, um, I went and got my CDL. So, uh, I actually been driving a truck for a while now. I had my CDL since 2010. And, um, I got, I actually got my own truck right now. I'm just getting my own [ __ ] up, up and running. So, uh, I've been doing that and I've been making, making, you know what I mean, um, a good living for myself. Take care of me and my family. So that, that's basically what I've been doing. But, um, I'm, um, I'm, I'm definitely about to start a podcast. And, um, a bunch of other [ __ ], like a bunch of other ventures, especially with the podcast thing. So I'm about to, I'm about to try that, get that a run. But at the same time, I'm still doing my truck and [ __ ]. So, you know what I mean? I'mma do that's what I'm doing now.
What's up, man? I'm glad that you're free. Glad that you're living your best life. You know what, man? Sometimes, you know, when you just, just when you're sitting in jail, I mean, at least this for me, you sit in jail and you're like, damn, I just want to be free, man. I want to be normal, man. I, I remember thinking, man, I did 17 and a half years. I remember thinking, like, I want to get married. I want to have kids. I just want to be a normal dude, you know what I mean? Because that's what really matters at the end of the day, right? Yeah, that's, that's definitely what matters. And when you in there, that's really like all you think about. You just want to get out. You want to do normal [ __ ]. You want to drive a car again. You wanna, like, weird [ __ ]. Like, I want to touch a tree. It's just like, weird ass [ __ ] you think about in there. Like, when you sitting in there, so many thoughts. Like, during my time in there, I lost my brother. Got killed. So, you know what I mean? I, I, I, like, I took losses and stuff like that. A lot of my friends got killed. A lot of family members got killed. You know what I mean? So I lost, I lost a lot being in there. Lost all my [ __ ] being on a run and all of that [ __ ] and everything crammed in one. That took like 13 years out of my life that I just, that I, that I can't go back and get over again. So, you know what I mean? That's my, a lot of my youth and a lot of [ __ ] I lost by being in jail and being on a run and all of that [ __ ] because of this case. That case really [ __ ] me over, man. Especially being an innocent man who was totally railroaded by the city. And it just [ __ ] with me that I can't go back and like sue them or nothing because what can I do? Do my record is [ __ ] up now. I can't do [ __ ] because the person who did it, they not gonna come out nowhere and be like, all right, I'm the one who did it. The person who really did the [ __ ]. So that just basically my, I basically got that [ __ ] on my jacket. That's why I couldn't get a job to, we, to, you know, that I couldn't get no job. I had to go get my CDL. Because without that, what the [ __ ] would I be doing? I'm not gonna be working no job, [ __ ] mopping floors and not making no money. I got, I need, I need money. I need a night, I need a career money. Like I can't be not making no money. So I had to get my CDL. I advise anybody watching that was in the feds or anywhere and you want to get some money, go get your [ __ ] CDL, man. Get busy. You can make some nice bread out here. My son went to college and, and, um, and, and he ain't do [ __ ] with his college [ __ ]. But he got a CDL fresh out of school. He made $32 an hour. So I'm just saying, this is, this is, uh, something I advise people to go do. Go get your CDL's. Money out here all over. They need truckers to move [ __ ]. It ain't gonna be no robots. That's all [ __ ]. Go out there and get your CDL, man. You gonna make some money, man. Whether you doing a dump truck or you just buy a big commercial truck and do [ __ ] for Amazon, man. Go get, go get that money. Because if you keep thinking you gonna be working at Walmart, no disrespect to the people that do, but if, but if you ain't really got a career job, man, you gonna be out this [ __ ] living check to check, struggling. So that's my advice.
Sure. Well, listen, man, I appreciate you coming on, man. Kind of sharing your experience, your story. You know, little, little insight on Kobe and how you feel. Anything you want to say before we get ready to go? No, I just say I appreciate you bringing me on and, you know what I mean? I'mma tap back into you to talk to you about, you know, trying to like do this podcast and [ __ ] how what I, what I should do first and how, you know what I mean, just a couple, just a little bit of pointers, you know what I mean? That's, that's really about it. That's I just wanted to like get that out there and let people know like, you know what I mean, um, it's just, it's being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Just being in the hood could get you [ __ ] over. And that, that I five years for absolutely nothing. It took, and it took a chunk out my life. And it actually, it crushed me. It crushed me. But I was just able to bounce back. You know what I mean? It's all about the get back. That's all. Listen, man, I appreciate you coming out. I'm gonna tell people, if you like what we're doing, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. Blood on the Razor Wire TV. With respect. Until tomorrow, we're out.
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