DENVER — Fresh off a 32-point performance against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night at Vivint Arena, Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell had no time to rest before hitting the hardwood again the next day in Denver's Pepsi Center.
After a slow start, Mitchell caught fire scoring 9 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter — including three clutch baskets in the final two minutes — to help the Jazz secure their third consecutive victory against the Nuggets on Thursday.
As Mitchell was lighting it up in the Mile High City on TNT, his favorite rapper Dave East was more than 2,000 miles away working privately in Miami.
The Def Jam artist wasn't there to just soak in sun under the palm trees; he was ducked off in the studio with Grammy Award-winning producer Timbaland, cooking up new music where the chances of him answering a cellphone call was far-fetched.
With Mitchell in his second NBA season and Dave East gaining steam as a respected hit-maker, the New York natives have sparked a strong friendship. Both can relate to each other's paths to success after bursting onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere.
"He kind of just came out," Mitchell said of Dave East. "I tell him all the time that I didn't know Dave East like really way, way back. It just happened. The mixtape was 'Hate Me Now' and I was like, 'This dude is tough,' and he started becoming more popular and started collabing with people and now it's pretty much all I listen to on a daily basis."
Mitchell's interest in Dave East has pushed DJ Juggy — the Jazz's official DJ — to play his music on game days at Vivint Arena. Dave East's hit song "Paranoia" is also used during the Salt Lake City Stars' pregame hype video played ahead of every home game largely because of Mitchell's influence.
During his rookie season, Mitchell approached the franchise about playing Dave East's music and the rest is history.
"Last year, I was like, 'Look we need something,'" Mitchell recalled. "No offense, but were listening to Miley Cyrus sometimes so I was like, 'Let's play some Dave East,' then we got Future going, we got Drake going and I started getting guys' input on what they wanted to hear, but I wanted to hear some Dave East for sure and I didn't think that would be too bad, especially since I shot first last year (during pregame warmups) and nobody was in the arena when they bumped it so it was pretty easy."
DJ Juggy was familiar with Dave East because at the time he was also working at the local radio station and was the first in the area to keep his music in rotation, particularly the "Westchester County" track that he was featured on with Ceez.
"Dave East was still fairly new out here and I was the first one to play him out here on the radio, so that really caught my eye because I liked him ever since he came out," DJ Juggy said. "So I just played Dave East for him."
Although both of their schedules are busy, Mitchell and Dave East maintain a strong friendship through FaceTime calls. They also connected during NBA All-Star Weekend in Charlotte at Dwyane Wade's annual spades tournament through the Stance socks company.
Dave East told the Deseret News during the spades tournament that he would love to potentially collaborate with Mitchell on something down the line like Allen Iverson did with Jadakiss through Reebok commercials in the 2000s. However, after six months of back-and-forth interaction between the Deseret News and Dave East's camp, he couldn't commit to an interview to discuss their relationship in full due to his busy schedule.
On Monday, Feb. 5, 2018, Dave East also performed a show in Utah at In the Venue, but DJ Juggy couldn't connect him and Mitchell as the Jazz were on the road the same day to face the New Orleans Pelicans. Mitchell says he will provide Dave East and his father with a ticket at Madison Square Garden on March 20 when the Jazz make their lone trip to play the New York Knicks.
"He's a guy that deserves a lot of respect because of the way he tells stories, like his song called 'Keisha' about him being robbed by a girl and it's just lessons in the stories that you hear and I think it's pretty dope in the way he tells it and how he goes through it," Mitchell said.
Dave East, born David Brewster Jr., was also a basketball player who was AAU teammates with Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley. He also played college basketball at the University of Richmond and Towson University while his father, David Sr., briefly suited up for the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association.
"It feels like Dave East is telling a lot of our stories. Just telling the world how we grew up and the obstacles we had to climb to get here and I think we all can relate to that, especially Donovan who has kind of burst on the scene out of nowhere," Durant said. "I feel like Dave East was that same type of talent, coming out of nowhere with Nas recognizing him and to have a legend like that recognize your skills, it's the same way with Donovan and him gaining and earning that respect from all the top players around the league and guys that have played in the past as well so it feels like their careers are kind of at the same trajectory."
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2NEOecF
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