Dave East had a pretty heavy co-sign from a someone who wasn’t in the industry…
Many know the tale of how East and Kevin Durant have known each other since high school, but most are not aware of how pivotal the NBA superstar was to getting his old friend put on.
“Now, looking back on it, that was epic, you know what I mean? To even do something like that at that point in my career. I wasn’t really nobody, you know what I mean? And he had enough faith in me to take the time out of his day and his schedule to say, ‘Come on let’s go get in the studio,'” East says in the final seconds of an exclusive short that Bleacher Report released on Tuesday, April 10. East was making reference to how after re-connecting, Durant began to offer up whatever time and space he had to give, towards helping the Harlemite generate the work that would eventually bring him recognition as one of the rap game’s hottest young stars.
Their chance relationship dates back to their days competing against one another in AAU ball down in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. areas. All-the-while striving for the opportunity to break into the ranks of professional basketball, Durant knew that East dabbled in crafting rhymes and vice-versa. But once Durant’s dreams came true and his life took off as a breakout star in the NBA, rap became an afterthought. For East though, it had become his life’s crutch, and the only shot he had at making it back out of the hood he reverted to when ball didn’t work out.