Wild about hip-hop

And 1 staked its claim as the leading basketball footwear and apparel provider for the hip-hop generation by sponsoring the avant-garde movie "8 Mile" in an advanced screening at Cinema 6, Glorietta 4, in Makati the other night.

The message that And 1 sought to deliver was as clear as a rap sheet. If you dare to be different, if you're with it, and if you like to let it all hang out on the court, there's only one brand for you--the brand that National Basketball Association (NBA) hip-hoppers Kevin Garnett and Latrell Sprewell wear.

In 1993, Seth Berger and Jay Coen Gilbert formed And 1 in Piola, Pennsylvania, to address the demand of a burgeoning youth market anchored on urban street culture. The concept was to produce a basketball line catering to the hip-hop playground generation. Berger and Gilbert started out with a line of "in your face" trash-talk T-shirts and eventually expanded to shoes and other gear. An And 1 innovation was the knee-length shorts that are now standard wear among cagers with an "attitude."

"Our roots are at the playground level where ballplayers talk smack and have the game back it up," said Berger in the book "Just Ballin.'"

No wonder at the "8 Mile" premier, the theater was packed with Fil-foreigners. And no wonder "8 Mile" was And 1's choice as the movie to sponsor.

"8 Mile" marks the screen debut of controversial and highly-acclaimed white rap artist Eminem. It's a semi-autobiographical film that relates a young man's struggle to find the strength and courage to break out of the rat race. It's almost Eminem's own story. In the film, Eminem's character Jimmy Smith, Jr., nicknamed Rabbit, tries to find his place in the sun out of a trailer park in Detroit where the real rapper is from. Rabbit, working shifts in a car factory, lives with his mother, played by Kim Basinger, and little baby sister Lily because he can't afford to strike it out on his own. He has a special talent for rapping and is looking to make it a profession as a recording artist. There's a surreal love twist in the story as Rabbit falls for a Madonna lookalike (Brittany Murphy) who's also struggling to make a name for herself as a model.

Eminem, whose hit single "Lose Yourself" is a classic in rap reality, is the king of today's hip-hop generation. He's everything you don't expect from a rapper and that's why he's become an icon. For one, he's white. For another, he doesn't do mainstream rap-—he latches on real-life themes, like when he apologized to his mother in a song for talking about her drug use.

When "8 Mile" premiered at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, California, last November, some of the biggest names in showbiz came to toast Eminem. A celebrity newsmagazine said it was "an amazing turnout for a musician who's been called everything but the son of Satan thanks to his curse and insult-filled songs." Among the stars who walked the red carpet that night were Christina Aguilera, Macy Gray, Ashton Kutcher, Obie Trice, Queen Latifah, Matthew Lillard, Matthew Perry, Avril Lavigne, Kid Rock and Pamela Sue Anderson.

At the lobby of Cinema 6, the country's And 1 top honcho Bobby Bachmann set up a display of products and introduced the brand's endorsers to the fans. Rob Duat, Jojo Lastimosa, and Mike Cortez were around to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Bob Zozobrado of And 1's publicist ideazplus made sure things went smoothly from start to finish.

Before the start of the show, Bachmann thanked the fans for their support and gave away And 1 products and "8 Mile" soundtrack CDs in a raffle.

A slew of Fil-Ams picked in last Sunday's Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) draft came to watch the movie. Cortez, of course, led the way. Other rookies in the crowd were Eugene Tejada, Rob Johnson, Sunny Boy Margate, Harvey Carey, Richard Hardin, and William Villa.

Also spotted were Asi Taulava, Mark Telan, Ali Peek, Mike Hrabak, Alvin Castro, Jon Ordonio and wife Jackie, and Rodney Santos. Alaska coach Tim Cone was there, too, with wife Cristina as were assistant coach Luigi Trillo and wife Ria. The Bachmann family, including Alaska assistant coach Dickie, came in full force although Hall of Famer Kurt wasn't around.

Sportscaster T. J. Manotoc and last Sunday's draft co-host Hans Montenegro also enjoyed the movie.

I sat near Tejada, Alaska's second round pick and its third overall (after Cortez and Brandon Cablay) last Sunday, and he said he never expected to be picked by the Aces.

"I thought I was going to Shell," said the 22-year-old Tejada whose father Danny played for San Beda in the NCAA before migrating to the US. "I'd practiced with Shell and Purefoods. And I'd sat down with the Shell guys to talk about things. But I'm happy to be at Alaska. The team's got a lot of talent. I know coach Tim likes to run the triangle. I'll learn it and I'll adjust."

Tejada said he plans to lose about 15 pounds and trim down to about 210 before the season begins on Feb. 16.

"I play the three spot," he continued. "I think I'm not that quick to play two guard. But I'll do what I'm asked to do. I've visited the Philippines thrice before, the last time in 1998. I'm familiar with the PBA. I watch the games on TFC (ABS-CBN's The Filipino Channel on US cable TV). Among the PBA players, I know Nic Belasco who played in the Fil-Am leagues in San Francisco. And I've played with guys like Sunny, Rob, Harvey and (Billy) Mamaril in the FABA (Filipino American Basketball Association) in the Bay Area."

Tejada said he postponed entering the draft last year to stay loose. "I worked as a waiter, earning $6.75 an hour and $100 on tips a day," he said. "I'm hoping things work out in the PBA. My dad will probably come next month for the opening of the season."

Another Fil-Am in the crowd was Margate who applied for the draft last year but pulled out because his Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmation of Filipino citizenship hadn't been issued. Now his papers are done.

Margate, who's played in the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), confessed he thought he wouldn't get picked in Sunday's draft after he was ignored in the first three rounds.

"My hands were shaking," he recalled. "I was so nervous. We all were in the tent, waiting to be called. Finally, I got picked by Alaska in the fourth round. For a while, I thought I was going to go back to the States."

Margate was the fifth to the last player drafted. Only Mike Bravo, Joseph Dominguez, Ramil Ferma, and Sanley de Castro were picked later.

That night, the rookies tried not to think of the PBA. After the tension in Sunday's draft, they just wanted to relax and enjoy a good movie.