Days before the start of the New York Knicks’ playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks, one major New York radio station morning show has chosen not to play Atlanta hip-hop and R&B music.
Kazeem Famuyide, co-host of HOT 97’s “Mornings with Mero,” posted on social media Monday that the show would be against playing any Atlanta artists on the station until after the series concludes. The Knicks will host the Hawks Saturday evening at Madison Square Garden for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round series.
“We don’t want to hear no Atlanta artists right now,” Famuyide said on Friday, the boycott’s fourth day. “Time to show some New York solidarity.”
The boycott means no music from T.I., whose latest single “Let ’Em Know” is not only one of the biggest hits of the year but also has been heard on multiple NBA national telecasts. No OutKast, no 21 Savage, no Lil Baby, no Jeezy.
If a song by Drake features an Atlanta artist, Famuyide is fine with not playing that artist’s part of the song during the series. Usher and Chris Brown recently announced a stadium tour that has music fans buzzing, but Usher is from Atlanta so only half of the bill will be heard weekday mornings until the end of the series.
New York is the birthplace of hip-hop and has often been said to be biased against rap music from other regions. Madison Square Garden is considered “The Mecca” of basketball by some. Famuyide said the boycott is in fun, all in the spirit of sports and competition, not because of any anti-Atlanta feelings.
“When people say I have a New York bias, it’s an issue, but if I say you have an Atlanta bias, a down south bias, that’s OK,” Famuyide said. “Any time we can show love and spotlight our city, especially when we need to band tougher, why not have the same pride in New York others have (in their regions)?
“It’s not bias, it’s just pride.”
Famuyide — who is also co-host of the “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast with former Knicks All-Star and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony, as well as “The Ringer Wrestling Show” — said it hasn’t been difficult not playing Atlanta artists. But he’d be fine with the series not lasting long — and the Knicks winning — so that Atlanta music returns to the morning airwaves.
“We play an awful lot of Mariah the Scientist, and I don’t think she deserves to be caught in the crossfire,” Famuyide said of the Atlanta R&B singer.
Should the third-seeded Knicks prevail, they will face the winner of the series between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers. Boston has New Edition but doesn’t have the hip-hop legacy of Philadelphia, which has produced The Roots, Freeway, Beanie Sigel, Eve and Meek Mill, among others. A potential Eastern Conference finals matchup could be against Detroit, where Eminem was raised.
The trash talk has already started.
“We could probably go 10 years without any Boston artists,” Famuyide said. “I’d have an easier time not hearing artists from any of those cities than I would from any artists from Atlanta.”
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nytimes.com ’
