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The Grant Slant

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Art is a reflection of life. Life is manifested through art and sport. Rappers have always wanted to be athletes and athletes have historically had a penchant for wanting to be in the rap game. Hip-hop’s relationship with sport is a cross-polination of an inevitable marriage born in the streets and is demonstrated on stages, in arenas and stadiums. I represent this marriage on a daily basis as it embodies the essence of a good chunk of my experience as an urban youth drawn to the hip-hop culture while pursuing a pipe dream of being a professional athlete. Welcome to The Grant Slant. (An Urbanology Exclusive Column By Karim Grant)

A refreshing change to professional basketball is occurring north of the border that has seen an influx of minority hires, more specifically black men. The Canadian Elite Basketball League was founded in 2017 with just 6 teams, since then it has grown to 10 teams from 6 different provinces. 9 out of those 10 teams currently have either black coach, GM or assistant on their roster, a statistic that bullishly pushes the threshold of minority hirings in pro sports in North America.

The gripe is not with the hiring of Steve Nash. The issue is that a former white player with absolutely no real professional coaching experience has taken a head job over a more qualified Black coach, Karim Grant writes.