Throwback Thursday [Rebirth of Slick and Mitch Richmond]

At a time when West Coast G-Funk was ruling Hip-Hop Digable Planets came out with an unique sound that fused Hip-Hop and Jazz, and was arguably the first rap group music critics actually took seriously as a result of their unique blend. Their first album which features their most well know hit "Reachin'" is full of Miles Davis references and sounds, while I didn't get it at the time I first I heard it, I liked the album a lot, and many years later can fully appreciate just how good Reachin' really is, simply put, they were ahead of their time with their cross-genre style. The group would release two albums in two years and then quickly broke up after they failed to have another hit as big as Rebirth of Slick, but many artist owe a lot to Digable Planet, not only their unique style, but they brought alternative Hip-Hop to the mainstream. 

Mitch Richmond was drafted by the Golden State Warriors, there he Chris Mullin, and Tim Hardaway formed Run TMC, the most exciting group of young stars playing at that time. They could all shoot, they could all pass, they could all put on a show, and while that Warriors team failed to do anything, they caught a lot of people's attention with their style of play, much like Digable Planet, Run TMC was ahead of its time.

Richmond was then traded to the Sacramento Kings, where he became the first Kings superstar since they moved from Kansas City to Sacramento. Once in Sacramento he became one of the games best shooters, and best scorers, while with the Kings he never average under 20 points a game, and was a perennial All-Star, he even won the All-Star MVP in 1995. He joined the Dream Team III at the 1996 Olympics In Atlanta, which was his second Olympic appearance.

Eventually he was traded to the Wizards for Chris Webber, while it saddened the city to lose Richmond it turned out to be the best move in Kings history as soon after getting Webber the Kings became a force in the Western Conference for the first time, nearly going to the NBA Finals once.

Richmond struggled with the Wizards and would eventually join the Lakers, winning his first and only Ring as a Laker, while he only averaged 4 points while a member of the Lakers, he was the person dribbling the ball while time expired in the 2002 Finals, he would retire that summer, making that his last NBA moment, that's not a bad way to go out.

Fun Fact: While I didn't get or understand the Miles Davis references throughout "Reachin" in the years since Miles Davis has become one of my favorite artists of all-time.