- What's up AD
I'm Carmelo Anthony, welcome to my home.
Come on there.
[upbeat music]
My big welcome piece upstairs, that's Muhammad Ali.
That's the focal piece in the house.
It just gives so much energy, so much spirit, so much love,
when you look at that.
I've been collecting art almost 15 years now.
I was always into up and coming artists
and I just had an eye for what I like
and I realized quickly that I don't have to like something
because somebody else like it.
I like it because it appeals to my mind.
It appeals to my spirit, whether it's a dollar or $10.
This is Swoon, she's amazing.
Grew up maybe three, four blocks away from her
in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and this one by Kehinde Wiley.
He did a series of artists, I think it was myself
Spike Lee and, and Swiss Beats
my inspiration behind this,
well, I'm a big Game of Thrones fan
so that's the king right there.
Come on now I'm gonna take you out to the
the most important room in here.
[upbeat music]
This is the music room.
This is the green room.
There's a lot of details in this place
so pay attention to the details.
This is a big Swoon piece.
As you can see, I'm a, I'm a big Swoon fan.
This is one of my first pair
of signature sneakers with Jordan brand that I've,
that I created here in New York.
One of my first years, first seasons with New York
and the artist Domingo Zapata,
did something for me at a dinner.
It was part of a magazine cover release.
We got a Kehinde Wiley skateboard, which is amazing.
All my books.
I love to read, love culture, I'm an Ali groupie.
Anywhere you go in the house
you'll always see a picture of Ali.
So this shovel, the gold shovel.
This is the shovel we use to break ground.
When we opened the Carmelo Anthony Center in Syracuse
in this corner right here, this is Nelson Makamo,
one of the best black artists,
South African artist there is.
He's just a amazing, good friend of mine.
I went to his studio in, in South Africa
and this sketch wasn't even done yet, but I told him
I wanted it and, and now it's here on my wall.
So this is they watching us and
this is our kids saying that, right?
So that's a very powerful piece by Nelson.
Here is some of my collection a little bit,
some of 'em a gift, some of 'em I purchased.
I got Ali speeches.
One of my favorite prizes over here is the Malcolm X
Ballad or Bullet speech live.
I just think that's one of
the most powerful speeches of all time
[upbeat music]
Working with Cassandra,
that is always a good fun when you have a partner
and a teammate like that, that can, that knows you well
and know how you think and know your vibe.
She gets worked towards putting
that all into what this is right here.
So when you see the different rooms and the colors
of the rooms, it's like different moods of, of mellow.
This is a plaque from my mom.
She gave this to me back in '03.
20 years ago, she gave this to me just because,
I love you, mom.
All my gold medals.
I think that's '08, 2012, and 16.
Now I'll take you to
where things really get popping,
in the bar.
[upbeat music]
So welcome to the bar.
This is my high school jersey, Oak Hill number 22.
It's like a little celebratory area,
celebrating Oak Hill,
celebrating retirement,
celebrating getting drafted in 2003,
and then Dom Pérignon celebrating my 30th birthday.
Cassandra did a great, great job at picking these lights.
It's some things that I just let her do
like some of the fixtures
and you just gotta let her bring her creativity out.
I'll bring you back here to the bar
so you can see what we have.
I got into wine probably mid 2000s,
not knowing what I was doing.
To fast forward to now,
I'm very particular with what I drink.
So as you can see, it's
there's a lot of First Growth's Bordeauxs up here.
First Growth is like the
the big boys of the, of the wine game.
The winemakers been there forever.
They're the first plants that was grown.
This is a nice lil tour and if you wanna have a good time
you come over here, have some wine.
These are Cassandra's right here.
She gifted these to me.
We all know who Malcolm is and we all know who
who Martin is, but James Baldwin
y'all need to go read his books and listen to his speeches.
He's one of the most powerful debaters that's out there.
[upbeat music]
This is where the checks get cut.
Nah, I'm kidding.
The checks get cut in LA.
Well, this is kind of my sanctuary.
My book, you know, you gotta have the
the memoir behind you, Where Tomorrow's Aren't Promises.
The chairs are amazing.
They're comfortable.
I did design them myself.
I want to give myself a pat on the back.
This is not animal skin, okay?
This is not animal.
This is nothing animal over here, okay?
This is faux.
[upbeat music]
This is the memorabilia wall, right here.
This is the Ali gloves.
This is big for me.
The Social Justice Champion Award.
So big shout out to Kareem for making me the
inaugural winner of that.
[upbeat music]
I love lounges, I love hotel lounges, I love hotel lobbies.
You can just chill, hang out, have a, you know
have a drink, coffee, tea, whatever's your
whatever's your preference.
So this is that vibe over here.
Hotel lobby, lounge area, chess, books.
You can always read a book.
Again, details, light fixtures, amazing.
You gotta keep the snakes with you, you know, just in case.
Keep the snakes with you just the case.
This is, to me, one of Nelson Makamo's most powerful pieces,
by the title of this, which is Forgive Them.
I assume that this kid is thinking about all the
that happened to him and is happening constantly
and he's trying to send that message to forgive them, right?
If you forgive them, then that burden comes off of, of you.
You don't have to live with that no more.
It's on them now.
And at the end of the day, we forgive, but we don't forget.
[upbeat music]
I didn't want to just a, a standard dining table.
I don't have formal dinners.
I don't sit down at the table and have full fledged dinners.
So when I'm in here
I want to eat and be creative at the same time, right?
So Syracuse, you know, you have define yourself.
You have Creative 7, the production company.
You have Red Hook, you have innovate, you have Baltimore
and then you have the flag of Puerto Rico ingrained in that.
So it gives it a different vibe, even an artistic vibe.
And you don't feel bored.
I, I don't like to be feel bored in the
in the dining lounge.
It's just not about having art in the rooms
and in the house.
It's about being very intentional on what you put up.
You know, each room has a different vibe, a different mode.
So you want to be intentional about what you put
in those areas, the energies that you put in those rooms.
[upbeat music]
I call this the bathroom,
some people call it the powder room.
Surrounding, ya know, is my guy.
You know, you got Ali,
you got the special wallpaper right here.
This is Flavor Paper.
I know it's a lot of Ali, but
come on, you can't beat that wallpaper right there.
[upbeat music]
I collect shoes because I wear shoes, to be honest with you.
I don't collect them to just let them sit.
I collect them to wear them.
I'm a active collector.
And wine, I collect to drink,
and sneakers I collect to wear,
and clothes I collect to wear.
It's my first signature shoe of all time.
So this is what, what kicked it off.
And lemme, now I just wanna be clear
I was the first Jordan brand signature athlete, ever,
the first, I was just excited to have my own signature shoe
with a Jordan brand or a brand like that.
And then we actually made a great shoe.
So I'll always be grateful for this sneaker right here.
[upbeat music]
So these Jordans right here.
My son actually designed these or created these.
So these are his, as you can see, Kiyan.
And this is called the What The Kiyan,
Instead of What The [techno beat].
It's What The Kiyan.
My first pair of Jordans, I didn't get
until my senior year in high school at Oak Hill.
And that was only because they was a
a Jordan sponsored school team.
And that was my first pair of Jordans.
So now going from that
to being the first signature athlete at a Jordan brand
after never being able to have a pair, it's full circle.
[upbeat music]
The best thing about this room
is this bed, oversized bed, comfortable bed.
If you don't sleep well, your day don't go well, right?
Over here,
again, there's Nelson Makamo everywhere, all over the house,
but this particular portrait is the perfect image.
It's the perfect energy that you need.
Outside of it being a, a great painting,
and the messaging behind it, I just think just
you just gotta get a look at the eyes and then
you can see the soul of this actual room.
This may be one of the most powerful pieces that
I have when we talk about the money
money being the root of all evil.
And you,
some people say you change when you get money, right?
So when you got the money, put the face on as
Jay-Z said it best, you could try to change
but that's just the top layer.
You are who you are before you got here.
So no matter how much money you got
you gonna always be who you are behind that mask.
[upbeat music]
This is my mindfulness meditation.
You can hear the waterfall flowing.
This room doesn't need art.
The thoughts in your mind is that's the brush, right?
So however way you want to paint this canvas, you do that.
You know, it's intimidating, at one point in time,
you need to meditate, you need to like,
it's intimidating.
But once you find out your space that you can go to
that space and you can sit there and you can be still
and you can breathe and you can embrace it, the thoughts
but let 'em go, one at a time.
So I've been able to do that for a while.
Yeah, it helps me.
I recommend it and I recommend you to find you a
a sanctuary like this where you can get away
for a couple minutes a day and, and breathe
and get your mind right and reset and bounce back.
[upbeat music]
This is my son's room, as you can see.
He got, you know, his favorite players, his uncles.
These are, these are like family to him.
These are important.
This was a Stop The Violence campaign.
This is Trayvon Martin,
we got Malcolm X,
we got Jam Master Jay, we got Biggie, Tupac, Biggie.
Also this was a hip hop series that was created
for kind of Stop The Violence and stop the shooting.
And so you put him on a stop sign and do not enter signs.
And this is his room, 16 years old.
So I try to stay out this room.
[upbeat music]
All right AD,
I let y'all come in my crib.
Now it's time for y'all to get on outta here.
I gotta get back to work.
See y'all soon, peace out.