New York, NY (May 9, 2008) – Ahh, the age-old question: Does money buy happiness? Who knows, but it might have bought Lil Romeo a scholarship. Or so says NPR. HiphopDX had the story, but click here for the audio. An excerpt:
…With the support of his father, entertainer Percy Miller aka Master P, the 18-year-old rapper has had the luxury of having direct contact within the industry, allowing him to have sold over one million albums at the age of 11 and star in various films. Developing from a father to coach relationship, the duo came in to contact with the 2008 McDonalds All-American Dunk winner and NBA prospect Demar DeRozan through P’s off-season club team.
Aligning themselves with the Compton-based basketball star, the Millers continued to strengthen their relationship as Romeo and DeRozan played in tournaments together. According to NPR, Master P phoned USC coach Tim Floyd.
“Percy Miller called me and said, ‘Would you like to have Romeo and DeMar,’ and I said ‘Why sure—I’d love to have them’,” Floyd told NPR.
With a possible deal brewing, public speculation grew due to the lopsided comparisons of DeMar’s skills to the mediocre talent of Romeo.
“I think Tim Floyd did what he had to do to acquire an All-American prospect, namely DeMar DeRozan and it cost him two scholarships,” High school basketball talent scout Bob Gibbons admitted to NPR.
In other news today, a little bird told me that colleges and universities in Massachusetts are being targeted for a proposed 2.5% endowment-tax. What you need to know? Colleges and universities are tax-exempt. Harvard took in $35 BILLION dollars in endowments over the 2007 fiscal year. They would have to pay out $875 million to the state, money that could be used to send thousands of other kids to school. Harvard and other high-profile schools in Mass are being accused of hoarding the wealth. Find out what Yale is doing about it here and to get some more background on the situation, click here.
So… the question I ask now: which is a bigger issue – Romeo or The Rest of Us?