Hoop Dreams Deflate Like True Fiends’ Weight

Will Smith, of Bel-Air Prep, faces off against Marcus Stokes, of Malibu Prep, in the rich-ass-kids high school championship game

I have this recurring gag with my flatmate that I’m “street.”

Though I come from a very blue-collar family (my mother’s a waitress, my father plays music for/at various different ventures and people); spent the first eight years of my life living in a tiny, room-less public housing estate in Sham Shui Po (public housing estate are for those with low income and Sham Shui Po, back in the 80s, was considered a poor area of Hong Kong); and spent my formative years in Alhambra and the eastern edges of Monterey Park that’s basically El Monte — two cities dominated by Mexicans and Asians of the Vietnamese ilk, not exactly minorities known for their wealth — I know I don’t actually come from “the hood,” at least not in the sense that people like Jay-Z or, hell, 80% of black celebrities claim to be from.