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'I'm through with it' Iverson won't release rap CD after all
Updated: Tuesday October 02, 2001 8:17 AM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Allen Iverson won't release his rap album, which drew criticism from civil rights groups and earned him a reprimand from NBA commissioner David Stern. "I'm through with it," the league MVP said Monday, the day before the Philadelphia 76ers open training camp. "It's something I always wanted to do. It was a childhood dream of mine, just like basketball. But I feel like people took it the wrong way. It kind of took all the excitement out of it." When the single 40 Bars was released in October 2000, Stern called some of the lyrics "coarse, offensive and anti-social." After meeting with Stern, Iverson said he would eliminate the most offensive words from the final version of the album. The CD originally was to be released around the All-Star Game in February. But Iverson put that off until after the season. Now it won't be in stores, after all.
"Just the response that I got from it, the negativity behind it, I just felt like it's not something I should go through, or my teammates ... my kids and my family," Iverson said. "I look at it as something I tried to do and I just rubbed people the wrong way with it. The negativity swayed me away from it." Questions about the CD followed Iverson throughout last season and into the playoffs. He led the 76ers to the NBA Finals and won his second scoring title in three years. "You could see him evolving as a person," said 76ers guard Aaron McKie, one of Iverson's closest friends on the team. "It's causing too many problems with his job. When you come to play basketball and people ask you about a rap record, something is wrong. I think he pretty much wants to focus on his family and playing basketball." Iverson got married during the offseason and had arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow last week. He said he's tired of questions about his maturity. "It's starting to get old," he said. "I'm 26 years old; I'm married with two kids. What do you expect me to do? Be 20, 21, like I was when I came into the league? I'm going to get better as a person."
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