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Getting called into the NBA commissioner’s office is rarely a good thing. For Allen Iverson, it was one of his most embarrassing moments ever. After making waves in the hip-hop industry with his debut song, Iverson did not impress the NBA with his lyricism. Having to face the consequences of his actions, the Philadelphia 76ers legend had to meet David Stern in person, only for Stern to turn things around on the 11x All-Star.

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During a recent episode of Headliners, Allen Iverson and Rachel Nicholas talked about Iverson’s short-lived rap career as Jewelz. When his rap song ’40 Bars’ was released to the public, Commissioner David Stern was not happy with what he heard in the song.

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I did that terrible rap song… When it came out, it was the big uproar on the whole thing. And he (David Stern) called me to his office… It got worse because outta nowhere, he pulled out a piece of paper, ‘Imma read something to you’, and I was like, ‘Okay’. And he started reading the rap to me… OMG! I am hearing David Stern reading the rap that I wrote, and it was just the craziest moment. My heart was thumping so bad,” said the 2001 MVP.

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Allen Iverson was climbing the ranks of the NBA as he had just made his first all-star appearance. So the rap song made by Iverson received a lot of traction. However, the lyrics that he had on his song were not how the NBA wanted to portray itself, even though Iverson only joined in on the song to help establish his friends. This led to him having to meet David Stern.

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But Iverson was not expecting Stern to rap his lyrics back to him. This made him realize that Stern was serious about the whole incident, and Iverson could do nothing else but wait for his punishment. Surprisingly, Stern did not penalize Iverson or the 76ers but rather asked Iverson to change the lyrics to his song, which he later did, but the album was never released.

Allen Iverson continued rapping after the incident

As Iverson had already earned the love of the fans and the other other people who are and became one of the faces of the NBA, he did not need to pursue a rap career. The reason he started it in the first place was because of the pressure from his friends.

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But in 2003, Iverson decided to showcase his talents yet again to the audience. This time, Iverson joined rapper Jadakiss to promote his show, A6, with a commercial in which Iverson had a verse of his own. Although it still remains iconic to this day, Iverson is not proud of his work as he considers himself to be a terrible rapper.

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What do you think of Allen Iverson’s rap career? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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Rijin Varghese

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Rijin is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. Specializing in the technical aspects of the game, keeps a close eye on the three principles of coaching of Gregg Popovich: Humility, Discipline, and Determination. That same attention to detail made him a big fan of the reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. While Rijin did not follow the traditional route to become a journalist, his passion for basketball and writing brought him to ES.

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Jayant Chhabra

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