I was always the kid dribbling the ball on the sidelines, hoping someone would pick me. I'd go with my older brother to the gym or park, and when I went out there, I'd pass the ball so I could get picked again.
And like I said, I appreciate my older brothers because they would not allow me to win. They made me learn to play with them, which I think is the most important thing that I learned.
I am fortunate that I have two older brothers, and they have definitely helped me with being competitive just to keep up with them. We were always encouraged to try what we wanted to do. As long as we tried our hardest and did the best we could, it didn't matter what we did.
Our dad introduced us to all of it - to the weights, to eating healthy, all that good stuff. He introduced it, got on us every once in a while, and left it up to us if we wanted to do it. And seeing my older brothers do it right in front of me, I wanted to do it because I looked up to them.
I think I was just lucky to be brought up in a very musical family. My two older brothers were, and still are, very musical and very creative, and music was a big part of my life from a very young age, so it is quite natural for me to become involved in music in the way that I did.
I come from a close-knit family, and I have four older brothers that have inspired me in so many ways.
I found my father through other people, through my older brothers, my high school coaches, so I had men influences along the way who helped me.
A lot of my friends and guys who I have watched and grew up with and who have been at my house are Hall of Famers, and I just know them as Ozzie Smith, Eddie Murray, Kirby Puckett, Dave Winfield... I know these guys like my older brothers and uncles, the guys who took care of me.
Only younger brothers will understand me. We're following in the footsteps of older brothers. You are looking up to your brother. You want to do the same things. You want to do as good as he and do it even better.
Even my older brothers' early success 10 years ago didn't change me since there was such an age difference.
I was so upset with what was going on in the world. I just couldn't stand the idea of being people tortured and that we even had such a thing as war. I hated the older generation, who had not done anything about it. Punk was a call-to-arms for me.
Since I was younger, I've always had the same body. Older guys would always be like, 'Oh you a stallion.' I finally had to ask, like, is that a good thing? Everybody pretty much took it and ran with it, and then I put it as my main name on Twitter. Ever since then everybody's just been calling me Stallion.
When I was going to gay bars in my 20s and 30s, the older guys there explained to me that the police would occasionally raid these places and march the clients out, load them onto paddy wagons, drive them down to the station, photograph them, fingerprint them and put their names on a list. They were doing nothing wrong, and it was criminalized.
I think, from just playing street ball and stuff like that, I was always able to play up with the older guys, and I think that got me physically and mentally prepared to play on a high level of basketball.
La Cave was a great platform for me to learn and be able to listen in on conversations and just get a lot of notes and teachings from those older guys.
A good amount of the guys wanted to date me. Even older guys looking at me. It took some getting used to.
The 'Tough Man' contests were for 21-year-olds, but I weighed 150 pounds at 13, so I got a fake ID card and entered. My dad and uncles had given me an edge, so having a boxing background made it easier because a lot of the older guys didn't know how to fight.
I've always found, when I was younger, that the older guys - the guys who weren't of my generation but were 20, 30 years older than me - were the cool guys.
I remember when I was 6 years old and my brother used to go seek out guys that were 13 to come over and play football against me while he was the 'permanent quarterback.' I didn't know exactly what the age difference was, but I was already playing against older guys.
I've always been one of the youngest guys on the team. But now I'm one of the older guys, one of the more experienced guys, and I have to be more of a leader. The guys are looking up to me, asking me questions and looking at me to step up.
