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Metta World Peace gets nostalgic while opening old basketball and rap trading cards

Every week here on Yahoo Sports, I open up old baseball cards with various people from the baseball world. It’s a fun show that we call — wait for it, because this is going to blow your mind — “Old Baseball Cards.” But like many kids who hit up their local card shops every week in the ’80s and ’90s, I wasn’t just chasing Ken Griffey Jr. cards. I was also looking for Michael Jordan, Shaq, Penny Hardaway and Larry Johnson.

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This is where Metta World Peace comes into things. I crossed paths with the former NBA star/rapper and current author/entrepreneur a couple weeks back. Turned out I had old Skybox basketball cards from 1991-1992 with me as well as Yo! MTV Raps cards from the same era (Truth be told, I pretty much always have these with me).

Metta World Peace provided a great opportunity to dip into both worlds. He played in the NBA, of course, but he also grew up in Queensbridge, NY in the golden era of hip-hop — the land of Nas, Mobb Deep, MC Shan and Roxanne Shante — and he himself took a turn putting out music. It all plays into his new book “No Malice,” which hit stores earlier this month.

Metta World Peace opens Skybox basketball cards and Yo! MTV Raps cards. (Yahoo Sports)
Metta World Peace opens Skybox basketball cards and Yo! MTV Raps cards. (Yahoo Sports)

So yeah, we opened some old hoops and hip-hop cards and both took a walk down memory lane. And you know we had to make a trade that stretches across rap and basketball. If you like old rappers and/or old basketball players, this is for you.

If you like this, be sure to check out the “Old Baseball Cards” series, which taps into the same nostalgia on the baseball side. Here are some episodes you might dig:

Pedro Martinez
Randy Johnson
George Brett
A-Rod
Eric Davis
Bill Nye
Mr. Belding
Gary Vee
Hank Azaria

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Mike Oz is a writer at Yahoo Sports. Contact him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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