Lonzo Ball Interview

[Pelicanidae]

I'm gonna do my usual transcription of important parts, key moments, interesting quotes, but for now, here's the full video in its entirety. The best part of 40 minutes here, on a wide variety of subjects.

[Pelicanidae]

Interview Transcription of Key Moments, Quotes, and Interesting Tid-bits:

The first few minutes of the interview was Lonzo talking about his daughter, who is now a year old. Talking about how much he loves her, how he's grown a lot from being a dad, how he was there at the birth, etc etc. It's actually really cool to see him be so happy and enthusiastic about it, rather than just brush it off into being something whatever. Just thought I'd throw that out first thing, before getting to the full quotes and stuff.

So, you've been traded. How did you find out about the fact that you had been traded?

Lonzo: I found out on twitter. I was in the car, we had just left my grandfather's house, on the way to Melo's Drew League game, and then Dmo told me we just got traded. And that's how I found out.

Who tweets that?

Lonzo: Well, we got it from Woj.

So there's no heads up, out of respect?

Lonzo: Well that's just how we found out, I don't know about anybody else, but that's how we found out.

And how do you feel about that? Were you ticked off at first?

Lonzo: I'm excited. You know, it's a new beginning and [inaudible]. I kind of knew I was going to get traded, I had been in the trade talks for so long and then it's Anthony Davis, and LA are gonna do what they've gotta do to get superstars, so I kinda had a feeling.

What was the best and worst part about playing for the Lakers?

Lonzo: The best was that I got to play in front of all of my people. You know, that's my home. And the worst? For me, it was just getting hurt, cause I couldn't do what I wanted to do. [How are you feeling now? What was the injury?] I'm feeling good. First year I hurt my knee, second year I hurt my ankle, on the same leg. But I'm feeling good now, for sure.

Do you take being traded personally?

Lonzo: I think you should. I mean, they got rid of you. They don't want you no more. So you gotta take that personally. [Do you feel like Lakers VS Pelicans will be a different kind of game for you, than the norm?] Definitely. For sure.

Do you feel like your dad talks a lot, or that he talks things into existence?

Lonzo: ...both.

At this point the conversation moves into being more about music than basketball. Lonzo demonstrates his awful taste in music when he says that Nas has one classic (Illmatic) and that Future has NINE. Nine classics. From Future. Nine. Future. Classics. Apparently. And claims that DS2 is one of the best albums of all time which like... no it isn't.

How tall are you now?

Lonzo: Like, 6'7. Melo's about 6'7 too, but he's 17 though, I'm 21, so... [Sidenote from me: Melo is gonna be a top 10 pick next draft, could be as high as top 3 depending on how his time in Australia goes. Crazy potential though.]

When you picture your career being finished, what do you see? Do you have a ring?

Lonzo: I never really thought about it, but for me, yeah. I would love to have a championship. That's why I play. I'm a team player. I would rather have that than an MVP, honestly.

[Wowowowow]

Interview Transcription of Key Moments, Quotes, and Interesting Tid-bits:

The first few minutes of the interview was Lonzo talking about his daughter, who is now a year old. Talking about how much he loves her, how he's grown a lot from being a dad, how he was there at the birth, etc etc. It's actually really cool to see him be so happy and enthusiastic about it, rather than just brush it off into being something whatever. Just thought I'd throw that out first thing, before getting to the full quotes and stuff.

So, you've been traded. How did you find out about the fact that you had been traded?

Lonzo: I found out on twitter. I was in the car, we had just left my grandfather's house, on the way to Melo's Drew League game, and then Dmo told me we just got traded. And that's how I found out.

Who tweets that?

Lonzo: Well, we got it from Woj.

So there's no heads up, out of respect?

Lonzo: Well that's just how we found out, I don't know about anybody else, but that's how we found out.

And how do you feel about that? Were you ticked off at first?

Lonzo: I'm excited. You know, it's a new beginning and [inaudible]. I kind of knew I was going to get traded, I had been in the trade talks for so long and then it's Anthony Davis, and LA are gonna do what they've gotta do to get superstars, so I kinda had a feeling.

What was the best and worst part about playing for the Lakers?

Lonzo: The best was that I got to play in front of all of my people. You know, that's my home. And the worst? For me, it was just getting hurt, cause I couldn't do what I wanted to do. [How are you feeling now? What was the injury?] I'm feeling good. First year I hurt my knee, second year I hurt my ankle, on the same leg. But I'm feeling good now, for sure.

Do you take being traded personally?

Lonzo: I think you should. I mean, they got rid of you. They don't want you no more. So you gotta take that personally. [Do you feel like Lakers VS Pelicans will be a different kind of game for you, than the norm?] Definitely. For sure.

Do you feel like your dad talks a lot, or that he talks things into existence?

Lonzo: ...both.

At this point the conversation moves into being more about music than basketball. Lonzo demonstrates his awful taste in music when he says that Nas has one classic (Illmatic) and that Future has NINE. Nine classics. From Future. Nine. Future. Classics. Apparently. And claims that DS2 is one of the best albums of all time which like... no it isn't.

How tall are you now?

Lonzo: Like, 6'7. Melo's about 6'7 too, but he's 17 though, I'm 21, so... [Sidenote from me: Melo is gonna be a top 10 pick next draft, could be as high as top 3 depending on how his time in Australia goes. Crazy potential though.]

When you picture your career being finished, what do you see? Do you have a ring?

Lonzo: I never really thought about it, but for me, yeah. I would love to have a championship. That's why I play. I'm a team player. I would rather have that than an MVP, honestly.

Since we are in the dog days, I’ll play.

Truthfully, Future did drop classics. Illmatic is the classic of all classics for “hip hop”, but for the new generation I get his point. Future had a ledendary run of mixtapes that you have to be apart of Lonzos generation to understand just the hype of craze of it. He basically got in a zone and 3-peated with Monster, Beast Mode, and 56 nights and then to drop DS2 and What a Time within the same era in a vacuum was technically a better “run” than Nas.

I usually put it like this...illmatic dropped in what, 92? By 1996 the rap game had already shifted and DJ Premier’s sound was outdated. In 2015 was the height of Futures run, and in 2019 Metro Boomins sound is still “the sound” with Travis Scott and Thugger. It just is what it is.

Good interview.

[6warddude]

Interview Transcription of Key Moments, Quotes, and Interesting Tid-bits:

The first few minutes of the interview was Lonzo talking about his daughter, who is now a year old. Talking about how much he loves her, how he's grown a lot from being a dad, how he was there at the birth, etc etc. It's actually really cool to see him be so happy and enthusiastic about it, rather than just brush it off into being something whatever. Just thought I'd throw that out first thing, before getting to the full quotes and stuff.

So, you've been traded. How did you find out about the fact that you had been traded?

Lonzo: I found out on twitter. I was in the car, we had just left my grandfather's house, on the way to Melo's Drew League game, and then Dmo told me we just got traded. And that's how I found out.

Who tweets that?

Lonzo: Well, we got it from Woj.

So there's no heads up, out of respect?

Lonzo: Well that's just how we found out, I don't know about anybody else, but that's how we found out.

And how do you feel about that? Were you ticked off at first?

Lonzo: I'm excited. You know, it's a new beginning and [inaudible]. I kind of knew I was going to get traded, I had been in the trade talks for so long and then it's Anthony Davis, and LA are gonna do what they've gotta do to get superstars, so I kinda had a feeling.

What was the best and worst part about playing for the Lakers?

Lonzo: The best was that I got to play in front of all of my people. You know, that's my home. And the worst? For me, it was just getting hurt, cause I couldn't do what I wanted to do. [How are you feeling now? What was the injury?] I'm feeling good. First year I hurt my knee, second year I hurt my ankle, on the same leg. But I'm feeling good now, for sure.

Do you take being traded personally?

Lonzo: I think you should. I mean, they got rid of you. They don't want you no more. So you gotta take that personally. [Do you feel like Lakers VS Pelicans will be a different kind of game for you, than the norm?] Definitely. For sure.

Do you feel like your dad talks a lot, or that he talks things into existence?

Lonzo: ...both.

At this point the conversation moves into being more about music than basketball. Lonzo demonstrates his awful taste in music when he says that Nas has one classic (Illmatic) and that Future has NINE. Nine classics. From Future. Nine. Future. Classics. Apparently. And claims that DS2 is one of the best albums of all time which like... no it isn't.

How tall are you now?

Lonzo: Like, 6'7. Melo's about 6'7 too, but he's 17 though, I'm 21, so... [Sidenote from me: Melo is gonna be a top 10 pick next draft, could be as high as top 3 depending on how his time in Australia goes. Crazy potential though.]

When you picture your career being finished, what do you see? Do you have a ring?

Lonzo: I never really thought about it, but for me, yeah. I would love to have a championship. That's why I play. I'm a team player. I would rather have that than an MVP, honestly.

god is my witness..i was going to try and post this interview video and say you were going to come on the post and do a break down for the people who dont want to watch lol......

im glad lonzo has a chip on his shoulder and want to prove people wrong....im just mad that he backtrack on his comments when ask about him dissing the lakers on his diss track....he need to stand on what he said like his dad does..forget the lakers lol...

[Pelicanidae]

Since we are in the dog days, I’ll play.

Truthfully, Future did drop classics. Illmatic is the classic of all classics for “hip hop”, but for the new generation I get his point. Future had a ledendary run of mixtapes that you have to be apart of Lonzos generation to understand just the hype of craze of it. He basically got in a zone and 3-peated with Monster, Beast Mode, and 56 nights and then to drop DS2 and What a Time within the same era in a vacuum was technically a better “run” than Nas.

I usually put it like this...illmatic dropped in what, 92? By 1996 the rap game had already shifted and DJ Premier’s sound was outdated. In 2015 was the height of Futures run, and in 2019 Metro Boomins sound is still “the sound” with Travis Scott and Thugger. It just is what it is.

Good interview.

I respect your right to hold your opinion, but I cannot agree.

Illmatic dropped in '94, and is very arguable a top 5 hip hop album of all time. It Was Written, and Stillmatic are both classics as well, and both would probably fall into a top 100 hip hop albums of all time. Future has zero albums that would fall into the top 50 of any such list, and I am part of Lonzo's generation: I am literally less than a full year older than him. I'm 22. He's 21. It's not a generational thing.

Future is not good. He has no bars, can't sing, has a mediocre-at-best flow on his best tracks. Even when you defend him here, you do so by saying that Metro's sound is still ''the sound''. You're right: Metro's sound. Not Future. Cause Future is, at best, a features artist. Future was never even the best part of his own songs: he was carried by production in a way that Nas never was, despite him also having good beats for the era. Nas is top 10 all time as a rapper. Future is maybe top 10 of the last decade as a features artist. And I'm being generous. To make the claim that an album like What A Time to Be Alive is a ''classic'' is beyond absurd. There's 3 good songs on that entire album. It's like, a 5/10 at absolute best.

And this is ignoring the fact that Future has also put out a ton of absolute garbage like Honest, Evol, Hndrxx, and his self titled album, none of which is better than a 3/10 imo.

To make the argument that Nas has one classic, and then turn around and claim Future has 9, is to admit that you have no consistent definition of classic.

[Pelicanidae]

im glad lonzo has a chip on his shoulder and want to prove people wrong....im just mad that he backtrack on his comments when ask about him dissing the lakers on his diss track....he need to stand on what he said like his dad does..forget the lakers lol...

I don't feel like he backtracked, really. In the song, he said they're gonna regret their decision. In this interview, he said he took the trade personally, that playing against LA is going to be a different kind of vibe for him. That's just a more subtle version of ''you're gonna regret this'', imo.

[6warddude]

I don't feel like he backtracked, really. In the song, he said they're gonna regret their decision. In this interview, he said he took the trade personally, that playing against LA is going to be a different kind of vibe for him. That's just a more subtle version of ''you're gonna regret this'', imo.

not in this interview.....after people heard the diss ,,he got some heat for it and responded by saying...im not dissing anybody,,i loved my time in LA..i use my music as an outlet to express things that happen in my life....

i just wish he would have told those people who gave him heat for what he said that yeah i diss the lakers,,and what...lol...

[Pelicanidae]

not in this interview.....after people heard the diss ,,he got some heat for it and responded by saying...im not dissing anybody,,i loved my time in LA..i use my music as an outlet to express things that happen in my life....

i just wish he would have told those people who gave him heat for what he said that yeah i diss the lakers,,and what...lol...

Gotcha.

I mean, I guess it would be kind of funny (especially for this point in the year where the NBA is pretty quiet) if he just went on a campaign of destruction on the Lakers, but it would probably not be a great career move, so I get why he's being careful.

[Wowowowow]

I respect your right to hold your opinion, but I cannot agree.

Illmatic dropped in '94, and is very arguable a top 5 hip hop album of all time. It Was Written, and Stillmatic are both classics as well, and both would probably fall into a top 100 hip hop albums of all time. Future has zero albums that would fall into the top 50 of any such list, and I am part of Lonzo's generation: I am literally less than a full year older than him. I'm 22. He's 21. It's not a generational thing.

Future is not good. He has no bars, can't sing, has a mediocre-at-best flow on his best tracks. Even when you defend him here, you do so by saying that Metro's sound is still ''the sound''. You're right: Metro's sound. Not Future. Cause Future is, at best, a features artist. Future was never even the best part of his own songs: he was carried by production in a way that Nas never was, despite him also having good beats for the era. Nas is top 10 all time as a rapper. Future is maybe top 10 of the last decade as a features artist. And I'm being generous. To make the claim that an album like What A Time to Be Alive is a ''classic'' is beyond absurd. There's 3 good songs on that entire album. It's like, a 5/10 at absolute best.

And this is ignoring the fact that Future has also put out a ton of absolute garbage like Honest, Evol, Hndrxx, and his self titled album, none of which is better than a 3/10 imo.

To make the argument that Nas has one classic, and then turn around and claim Future has 9, is to admit that you have no consistent definition of classic.

Let’s be honest. “Classic” curators aren’t labeling albums nor mixtapes classic from this new generation. The last person that might be able to walk into the room of a 2019 who’s who in hip hop with songs connecting to the youth may be Kendrick and claim they have a classic.

How many people will give The Carter and Carter 2 the label of classics? Or any of Drakes albums? Ross? Travis? Cudi?

It’s a 90s biased sport.

Music is music. Though Future isn’t Metro, he popularized his sound and made him a go to producer for the new generation. Then you add 808 Mafia, Southside, DJ Esco. Everyone popular whether it’s Travis, Migos, etc. are running with the producers and sounds Future popularized.

Futures talent is in melodies and his ear for beats..oddly enough, Nas’ weakness is in melodies and ear for beats. Ear for beats is a skill. Making forever memorable melodies maybe the holy grail talent of making music period and that’s where Future connects. Believe is or not, Future might have coined the most memorable melody in music period in my opinion in the last 30 years with “good kush and alcohol”. You can hum the melody like a nursery rhyme in 50 years and immediately know what that is.

As far as rapping and bars. That’s an outdated approach in hip hop. You can’t take points away from the new generation for going towards more of the basic of music with melodies and putting cohesive lyrics on the back burner.

We have different taste I suppose. But Future is far from garbage. Just google Future 3-peat. Many people out there believe he dropped classics.

[Wowowowow]

And I’ll add, Future being a feature artist isn’t a bad stigma for him. It’s like calling what Andre 3000 did for 2 decades a “feature artist”...but we know he’s supremely talented with packages under his belt with OutKast.

Future has packages under his belt with mixtapes. Mixtapes are a design promotional technique to keep brash and street artist...street artist, as that is where they connect to an audience. Hip hop became so mainstream and appropriated culturally that mixtapes just became hip hop in hip hop. A strategic rebel against the system.

[Pelicanidae]

Let’s be honest. “Classic” curators aren’t labeling albums nor mixtapes classic from this new generation. The last person that might be able to walk into the room of a 2019 who’s who in hip hop with songs connecting to the youth may be Kendrick and claim they have a classic.

How many people will give The Carter and Carter 2 the label of classics? Or any of Drakes albums? Ross? Travis? Cudi?

It’s a 90s biased sport.

This is an obvious contradiction. You can't say ''Classic curators aren't labelling albums nor mixtapes classic from this new generation'', and then in the next sentence admit that they probably call Kendrick albums classics. That literally means that they ARE labelling albums and mixtapes from today classics, but are just very choosy about who they hand that label out to. Which makes perfect sense: classics SHOULD be relatively rare. Not every album that comes out with three decent songs on it is a classic.

The problem is that, in disputing this, you've listed a bunch of not very good rappers. Drake isn't very good. Rick Ross isn't very good. Travis Scott is better (and I think there's an argument for Rodeo being a classic, actually) but still not all-time great.

If you had listed Kendrick, Pusha T, Danny Brown, Playboi Carti, for example, those are all modern rappers who are active in the scene today who most people consider to have had at least one classic (GKMC, TPAB, Daytona, Atrocity Exhibition, Die Lit). So it's not that nobody gives modern rappers the chance to make ''classics'', it's that in order to qualify as a classic, your album actually has to be more than 3 hits and 8 tracks of filler.

Futures talent is in melodies and his ear for beats..oddly enough, Nas’ weakness is in melodies and ear for beats. Ear for beats is a skill. Making forever memorable melodies maybe the holy grail talent of making music period and that’s where Future connects. Believe is or not, Future might have coined the most memorable melody in music period in my opinion in the last 30 years with “good kush and alcohol”. You can hum the melody like a nursery rhyme in 50 years and immediately know what that is.

As far as rapping and bars. That’s an outdated approach in hip hop. You can’t take points away from the new generation for going towards more of the basic of music with melodies and putting cohesive lyrics on the back burner.

We have different taste I suppose. But Future is far from garbage. Just google Future 3-peat. Many people out there believe he dropped classics.

Well, actually this brings up another aspect. Part of what makes a classic is longevity. You say that you'll be able to hum Future tracks in 50 years and people will just immediately know what it is. Obviously neither of us are psychic so we can't know for sure, but I doubt that. The reason Illmatic is considered a classic is that if you listen to it today, 25 years after its release, it still sounds good. Sure, it sounds 90s as hell, but that doesn't stop it being a gripping listen from start to finish anymore than being from the 60s makes a Beatles album sound bad today.

Future, on the other hand, already has big hits that sound dated, imo. The only song from Honest, for example, that doesn't sound suffocatingly 2014 is Move That Dope, and that's partially because Pusha T drops an absolutely murderous verse on it that saves it from Future's own mediocrity.

I'd also make the classic argument that yes, Future has made catchy songs, but catchy isn't the same as good. Herpes is catchy.


Also, lol at calling Andre 3000 a features artist. Andre 3000 has individual verses better than Future's entire discography, so just calm down on that.

[luckyman]

In order to be considered to have a classic rap album, you need to be able to rap. Future cannot rap. He's straight up awful. So that ends that.

Hell Lonzo is a better rapper than Future. Anyway, here is a song off his new album. He should get with the two best known lyricist for nola Currensy or Kidd Kidd, who is so underrated its criminal.

[luckyman]

He is also on Josh Hart's latest podcast.

[Pelicanidae]

He is also on Josh Hart's latest podcast.

He is indeed, I'll be transcribing that later tonight in the LightHarted Pod thread!

[Silverfoxx]

Since we are in the dog days, I’ll play.

Truthfully, Future did drop classics. Illmatic is the classic of all classics for “hip hop”, but for the new generation I get his point. Future had a ledendary run of mixtapes that you have to be apart of Lonzos generation to understand just the hype of craze of it. He basically got in a zone and 3-peated with Monster, Beast Mode, and 56 nights and then to drop DS2 and What a Time within the same era in a vacuum was technically a better “run” than Nas.

I usually put it like this...illmatic dropped in what, 92? By 1996 the rap game had already shifted and DJ Premier’s sound was outdated. In 2015 was the height of Futures run, and in 2019 Metro Boomins sound is still “the sound” with Travis Scott and Thugger. It just is what it is.

Good interview.

Ilmatic dropped in 94 if I'm not mistaken. And what folks don't seem to recall Nas changed and adapted his sound in 96 with my personal favorite all time album in It was Written. I Am, God Son, Distant Relatives, and Life is Good is all critically acclaimed classics which most folks don't acknowledge. People all just go to Ilmatic which is kinda lazy if you are a hip hop head like myself lol.
Future run was pretty good with his 3 peat with mixtapes and tbh DS2 is classic IMO even though I'm not a fan of mumble Atlanta trap rap. I still think DS2 is one of the best sound engineered mix projects iv ever heard as a producer.

And to be picky Metro booming sound dated at last year. I can argue right now the new sound is a mix of Pierre Borne, Travis Scott, sound cloud producer simple looped sounds with 808 and claps. Metro boomin is replaced by Wheezy ( wheezy outta here tag). Crazy how music trends in hip hop change so freaking fast.

[Silverfoxx]

Let’s be honest. “Classic” curators aren’t labeling albums nor mixtapes classic from this new generation. The last person that might be able to walk into the room of a 2019 who’s who in hip hop with songs connecting to the youth may be Kendrick and claim they have a classic.

How many people will give The Carter and Carter 2 the label of classics? Or any of Drakes albums? Ross? Travis? Cudi?

It’s a 90s biased sport.

Music is music. Though Future isn’t Metro, he popularized his sound and made him a go to producer for the new generation. Then you add 808 Mafia, Southside, DJ Esco. Everyone popular whether it’s Travis, Migos, etc. are running with the producers and sounds Future popularized.

Futures talent is in melodies and his ear for beats..oddly enough, Nas’ weakness is in melodies and ear for beats. Ear for beats is a skill. Making forever memorable melodies maybe the holy grail talent of making music period and that’s where Future connects. Believe is or not, Future might have coined the most memorable melody in music period in my opinion in the last 30 years with “good kush and alcohol”. You can hum the melody like a nursery rhyme in 50 years and immediately know what that is.

As far as rapping and bars. That’s an outdated approach in hip hop. You can’t take points away from the new generation for going towards more of the basic of music with melodies and putting cohesive lyrics on the back burner.

We have different taste I suppose. But Future is far from garbage. Just google Future 3-peat. Many people out there believe he dropped classics.

Great point. And btw Kidd Kidd flow is horrible. Future is probably the best mumble rapper tbh.

[luckyman]

Great point. And btw Kidd Kidd flow is horrible. Future is probably the best mumble rapper tbh.

I'm going to give you one mulligan since you probably never heard of him until I mentioned him. So you probably just youtubed a song or two. If not, then stop listening to rap. you're not qualified.

And mumble rap defeats the entire purpose of rap music. It's not rap so call it something else. I'll give Lonxo a mulligan too since he's too young to know better.

And this is straight bars. No hook, no chorus. NSFW.

[Ltdee2019]

I'm gonna do my usual transcription of important parts, key moments, interesting quotes, but for now, here's the full video in its entirety. The best part of 40 minutes here, on a wide variety of subjects.

His Dad raise a good Man!!