Steve Francis - Must See

[Proudiddy]

For any of you that are around my age (late 20s) and really fell in love with ball around the same time I did - back when Bubba Chuck came to prominence and was everyone's favorite player after Jordan and The Franchise was having a nightly highlight reel on Sportcenter a few years later - I'm sure you've wondered what happened to Stevie?

How did he start with such promise, spark, and flare and then just disappear without a whimper? How can this happen? Almost like a one-hit wonder...

Or is it a two-hit wonder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQIJ8J5OOEY&feature=colike

Feel free to read the accompanying article, which is HILARIOUS.

http://sports.yahoo....-144322874.html

The former Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic and New York Knicks guard is now the impresario behind fledgling hip-hop label Mazerati Music, which is sort of like Maybach Music except with fewer rappers you've heard of (READ: probably no rappers you've heard of). He's even spitting some himself, as evidenced by the official video for his new cut, "Finer Things." The song itself is very perfectly Steve Francis, in that it is pretty soundly stuck in the mid-2000s.

Not only does the beat's bounce feel about 10 years old, but the highlighted bits of iconography — private jet parties (that presumably never leave the hangar), popped bottles, sandy beach frolics, diamond-studded crucifixes, the tender romancing of ladies in white tank tops, and so on — all make Francis seem like someone trying to hit a version of the sensitive thug pose less in line with today's model (e.g., Drake) than with, say, Ja Rule. It also features Francis trying to make "'RATI!" into an ad-lib drop that people will say, which I predict will be unsuccessful.

Still, I think it's nice that Francis is finding things, finer or otherwise, to occupy his time in retirement. It's hard to pick a single favorite element of this Steve Francis Presentation, but I think mine is either the very long black-and-white dinner scene, the multiple shots of Francis delivering nice, sweet sitcom smooches, or the string of "da-da-da-da"s at around the 2:10 mark. I mean, you could write another few bars of lyrics to close out the R&B breakdown before heading back to the hook, but then you wouldn't be enjoying all of those finer things. You can see the bind that'd put us in.

I completely agree with the analysis, but I went ahead and 'liked' the video because it's good to see Stevie doing something productive with his time. That being said, he does sound like a bootleg Ja Rule, the sound is vintage early 2000s, and he is getting too old to be a rapper.

[4Corners]

he will be in jail in a couple years.

[HeatCheck]

It's has a JaRule and Ashanti feel.

[Kakarot]

I saw this last week, and just shook my head. Franchise needs to quit, lol. Bootleg, a** Ja Rule haha.

The beat's kinda hot, though. It does remind me of those old Ashanti & Ja Rule summer jams back in the day. Sounds exactly like Mezmorized haha.

[ckad79]

I don't think I've ever heard a rap song about wasting money on materialistic crap before! Very original.

[Keith Moons Liver]

Dude was really fat last time I saw a pic of him, looks like he's slimmed down a bit. He was pretty good before all the injuries. IIRC he had/has bad problems with migranes. Pretty tough to be a professional athlete with that.

[CatofWar]

love stevie francis.