Recently, an ESPN story detailed Memphis Grizzles star Ja Morant’s change from a wide-eyed potential draft pick to a contentious NBA star with a trail of lawsuits and disciplinary infractions. Although he cannot play in any preseason games, the Grizzlies are hopeful that Morant will turn a new page and leave his bad habits in the past.
Morant is showing where his head is at responding to an inspirational Deion Sanders post urging the reader to know their self-worth. Morant retweeted with a message, “Right on time Prime…much needed.”
The interaction sparked Dallas Cowboys legend Michael Irvin to make comparisons to his son, a rapper named Tut Tarantino, as an example of another young person who needs boundaries with his friendships.
Tut Tarantino
“I got a son. He raps. His rap name is Tut Tarantino,” Irvin said on “Undisputed.” “If you ever listen to some of his raps. I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ Where does this come from, son? You grew up in a gated community your whole life. But he’s rapping my life. Because we romanticize and fantasize about that old thug life, ghetto life, and all of that stuff. When we used to work to get away from, now, we’ve gotten to a place somehow where we’re running back towards it. In the music, in everything.”
“He raps about some of the hardest stuff in the world,” Irvin continued. “I say to him, ‘Son, you grew up in a 20,000-square-foot gated community! Where does this stuff come from? I worked hard to get you out of this, and you’re rapping right back to it.”
In some of Tut Tarantino’s videos, he is flashing AK-47 rifles and handguns while smoking cannabis with his friends and holding big bags of cannabis. He has a penchant for creating a money fan and tosses money with abandon on the ground.
When Life Imitates Art
Morant, who gained fame unexpectedly after being under-recruited and playing with a chip on his shoulder, evolved into a famous young man who decided fun was guns, strippers, and confrontations.
Irvin’s son, who is the product of privilege from being the son of a football star, also believes fun is reminiscent of a street lifestyle, and he uses art to express that. More than putting his son on blast for performing an image that is not authentically his, Irvin sees Ja Morant in his son, and the call-out is a cry for help from a dad to his performative son.
