Kobe Bryant had connections with the hip-hop world during his time in Los Angeles playing for the Lakers. One of Bryant’s acquaintances at the time was the recording executive, Steve Stoute, whom the Lakers legend had known since his early days in the league. Stoute very recently appeared on Shannon Sharpe’s show Club Shay Shay and spoke about how an 18-year-old Kobe showed glimpses of his future tough personality when they had encountered an armed gangster at a Brooklyn diner.
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Stoute was out for dinner with the Los Angeles Lakers rookie, looking for Cristal, a high-end alcohol brand. Stoute chose to drink Cristal as Kobe wasn’t eager to drink then. However, their attempts to acquire a bottle were thwarted by some local gangsters, who had hoarded the supply of Cristal in the bar. This act upset Kobe and he started loudly teasing one of their members’ outfit choices, which must have enraged them.
After overhearing Kobe’s remarks, the situation soon escalated, and the man in question called Stoute outside to threaten him. The man was armed and had a gun out, which could have turned the situation into a nasty affair within moments. However, when Kobe Bryant saw the situation worsen, he intervened immediately. Recalling that moment, Stoute told Sharpe, “I go outside, I’m like, ‘Yo, the young kid…he got the gun out.’ He doesn’t even know who Kobe Bryant is. I’m like, ‘He’s a young man, he’s cool, whatever, whatever.”
When Bryant arrived to defuse the situation outside, Stoute was worried about the young rookie’s safety. Despite asking Kobe to go inside and allow him to handle it, Bryant refused to back down. Recounting this incident further, Stoute added, “When he said, ‘I ain’t going nowhere,’ I’m like, who, what kind of person is this? I’m giving you the out, this is not your problem, I’ll deal with this problem. He [Kobe] don’t want that. This is ‘our’ problem.”
This was just one of the first glimpses of Kobe Bryant being fearless both on and off the court. Stoute was surprised to see the tenacity of spirit and level of confidence in the young rookie and hence, believed in Kobe’s potential to reach great heights.
Kobe Bryant’s tough mentality had top NBA players scared
Kobe Bryant soon developed a reputation for his extremely tough personality, which helped him remain unfazed against trash talking, raging opponents on the basketball court. Kobe’s mentality even had some top players, such as Rip Hamilton and Raja Bell, scared of facing the Lakers in the league.
In 2004, Hamilton led the Detroit Pistons to a championship, thwarting the Lakers’ dominance in the league. Though the Pistons team had attained notoriety for their newfound form at the time, Hamilton admitted that the only player he and his fellow star Raja Bell were afraid to face was Kobe Bryant.
According to a CBS Sports report from 2020, Hamilton said, “He’s probably the only guy — and Raja can probably attest to this — the only guy that I competed against in my 14-year NBA career that when I would come into the game, I was low-key scared.”
It wasn’t just the veterans; even the new players in the league have admitted to being extremely intimidated by Kobe Bryant’s personality. Kevin Durant, drafted as a rookie into the league in 2007, has also admitted that he used to be “scared sh**less” before facing Bryant. Perhaps all such testimonies add even more to Bryant’s alluring legacy.
