Juelz Santana Says He's Not A Fan Of Kobe Bryant

Juelz Santana is a rapper with almost three decades of experience under his belt. That means he's seen a lot of NBA basketball go down over the years. Entire generations of basketball greats, with front-row seats to some of the hottest names in the sport. And through all of that, Juelz has one thing to say: He wasn't a fan of Kobe Bryant. As shocking as that claim might be, it makes way more sense when Juelz Santana provides context to the statement.

Despite the lack of love coming from Juelz, he says that the LA Laker legend "demanded my respect." "You couldn't hate on him. No matter what," Juelz said in a brief conversation with sportswriter Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson. The NBA Insider at Bally Sports Network also relayed that Juelz was a big Michael Jordan fan back when he was dominating the league. Santana further explains that people treated MJ like how he treated Kobe. They were both guys people didn't like, but those people couldn't say anything bad about them due to their greatness.

Why Juelz Santana Didn't Like Kobe Bryant

Juelz Santana was not a huge Kobe Bryant fan because everybody at the time was claiming that Kobe was better than MJ. Being the big supporter of Jordan that he was, this common belief did not sit well. "[Everybody] always said he was better than Jordan," said Santana, via Robinson, "so that was my whole dilemma with not being a Kobe fan." Again, he did not knock the sheer impressiveness of the Black Mamba in his heyday. He doesn't have a bad thing to say about Kobe, he just has to defend his day one guy, the guy who Kobe looked up to all his life.

Other than the miscellaneous pop culture drama, Juelz Santana is currently working on his latest album, We In Motion. The album reportedly has numerous collaborations, and he teased the tracklist a few months ago. However, he's been teasing this album for about half a year, with delays crushing the excitement. His interview with Scoop B might help raise the buzz once more, especially with hot takes like not being a Kobe fan.

[Via]