Rapper Meek Mill and NBA player Dion Waiters are from the same world, same city, but have succeeded greatly in two different lanes of life.
The two Philadelphia icons will team up late August, and combine the best of both their worlds, as they put on for their city.
Waiters and Meek Mill will have teamed up to bring the Dream Chasers Sports and Entertainment Summit to Philadelphia on Aug 30 at Temple University.
The all day event will feature a number of successful entertainers and athletes who have had success in both music and sports.
Waiters, the former Syracuse star and Meek Mill, whose Dreams and Nightmares debuted at #2 on the Billboard albums chart, are leading the charges for change in the city.
They know each other from hanging out in the same north Philadelphia neighborhood.
“It was both of our idea, mainly,” Meek said Tuesday. “Philadelphia, we’ve never really had no things, no summits, where you could get a lot of information about what’s going on, know what I’m saying? You know, a lot of these kids, they’re growing up, trying to get involved in that business, you know, we’re just trying to educate them, to let them know what it takes to be involved in these types of activities.”
Guest who are expected to attend the summit include, Master P, 76ers forward Thaddeus Young, Hawks guard Lou Williams, rapper Machine Gun Kelly, Clippers guard Maalik Wayns, and many more.
Meek and Waiters both agree that the allure of musicians and athletes wanting to be one in the same has existed for years.
“I think it’s easier for a ball player to rap, than a rapper to play ball,” Mill said. “Rapping you can just come with that. You grow up listening to rap, you can just do it.”
“You can just come up with anything these days,” Waiters said. “Get somebody to come up with a crazy beat and just spit something. Basketball is every day, three or four times a day, working out as far as swimming, pulling trucks. All these crazy things you have to do with basketball.”
“Everybody thinks it’s easy, but it’s really hard,” Waiters said of making it to the NBA. “But once you get past those stepping stones, put the right people around you, the right people who have really got your back, then you can be successful. First and foremost, believe in yourself.”
BlackSportsOnline of course will be in the building.