Rebel Without Applause

GRIND’s Thomas Fields on creating the world's first portable basketball shooting machine that fold's in a large duffel bag. A lifelong basketball fan, the Houston native had dreams of one day playing in the NBA. But after multiple ACL tears derailed his once promising career, the Top 50 state-ranked guard set out to find another way to impact the game he loves. Using his college refund check, Thomas built the prototype for his shooting machine back in 2014 and after many iterations and improvements, his creation is here. The GRIND Portable Shooting Machine is ready to help basketball hopefuls and established players improve on their shooting and raise their overall level of play. 

Dr. Anthony Pinn on Religion and Hip-Hop, Race & White Supremacy In America. The decorated professor of Humanities and Religious Studies at Houston’s prestigious Rice University started his career at Macalester College (St. Paul, MN), where his research and teaching earned him early tenure and promotion to full professor within his first eight years. In 2003, he became the first African-American to hold an endowed chair at Rice. The Harvard PhD then expanded his reach as a cultural icon with his widely popular "Religion and Hip Hop Culture" course that he taught with rap legend Bun B. Not just a scholar, the ubiquitous author has written over 42 books, including “Kendrick Lamar and the Making of Black Meaning” and “Religion in the Age of Obama.”

Derrick Stafford talks 30-year career as NBA referee and old vs. new NBA. Before making calls for the best basketball league in the world, Stafford was a two-sport athlete (football and baseball) at the iconic HBCU, Morehouse College. While there, he found his love for officiating and charted his trajectory to the pro ranks from there. Over the course of his decorated career, Stafford called some of the biggest games, with the biggest players and superstars to ever play and has plenty of good stories and anecdotes to prove it. Now retired, he's enjoying watching NBA games as a fan like everyone else—with a discerning eye for the rule book, of course.

Phill Wade on Comedy R&B, his sultry K. Relly alias and being a versatile entertainer. As a youth, he discovered his love of performing, whether it was singing, impersonating celebrities or comedy. And after having to quickly come to terms with his desire to be a singer, actor and comedian while attending the HBCU Prairie View A&M, he set out to lay the groundwork to become the wildly entertaining multi-hyphenate he is today.

Robert L. Hodge on what it means to be an artist, early lessons and new goals. After a short stint at New York City's prestigious Pratt Institute, the interdisciplinary artist attended the Atlanta College of Art where his artistic palette was opened to all levels of creativity and he found his own voice as an artist. Since then, he's put his hometown of Houston, Texas on the map for creatives, exhibiting his work in numerous national and international institutions, including the Project Row Houses (Houston, TX), Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX), Contemporary Arts Museum (Houston, TX), Coma Art Space (Los Angeles, CA), and Contemporary Museum of East Africa (Nairobi, Kenya).

Barbara Turner talks WNBA, playing in Turkey and winning two back-to-back championships at UConn. After a storied college basketball career, she was drafted 11th overall by the Seattle Storm, where she played until she was waived and then signed with the Houston Comets in 2007. After another stop with the Connecticut Sun, the 2004 Ohio Ms. Basketball took her talents overseas and now plays for Hatay Büyükşehir Belediyespor in Turkey.

Marcus J. Guillory talks about being a writer in Hollywood and why he quit his prestigious job as an Entertainment Lawyer. Born in Houston, Texas, he has written for such popular television shows as "Empire," "The Breaks" and Marvel's "Cloak & Dagger." He's also a successful novelist working on the follow up his critically-acclaimed debut, "Red Now and Laters." He participated in the 2016 Sundance Screenwriters Lab for his screenplay, "Gully," which made its debut at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. The film, directed by Nabil Elderkin, stars Robin Givens, Amber Heard and Terrence Howard.

Rob Markman talks about his impressive journalism career, helping build Genius into a powerhouse brand in the music industry and transitioning from a writer to an MC. His journey began in a corporate mailroom, but he dreamed of one day hearing his song on the radio, specifically New York City's seminal station, Hot 97. After taking a detour as a respected journalist for Scratch Magazine, XXL Magazine and MTV News, he released his first LP, Write to Dream, and finally heard one of his songs broadcasted live on his favorite radio station. Today, he's the VP of Content Strategy at Genius, where he chronicles hip-hop culture with groundbreaking content, which includes his popular show, "For The Record."

Nate Robinson talks performing and touring with Lecrae, Christian Rap vs. Secular Rap and life as a professional drummer and producer from Houston. He rebounded from having a child at a young age to go to college (Prairie View A&M), play on the drumline and start his career as a professional drummer for former NBA player Wayman Tisdale. He went on to work with Kelis, Jermaine Dupri and countless others. As a producer, he has two albums, "Heard Not Seen" and a new live performance series, "The Social Sessions."

Kenny Anderson talks about his 14-year career in the NBA and the tough life lessons associated with his three divorces, molestation, the death of his mother and overcoming a stroke. Now, as the head coach of the men's basketball team at Fisk University, an HBCU located in Nashville, Tennessee, he relishes the opportunity to teach his young student athletes how to be great men, as well how to play winning basketball.