This piece was originally published at THUMP in December 2016.
All Sporting Life wants to do right now is play ball, but New York City keeps conspiring against him. Mere minutes before we meet up on an unseasonably cold October night, a text hits his phone informing him that his weekly nighttime basketball game at a downtown public school has been cancelled, replaced by a Halloween dance for the kids.
The night marks our second failed attempt in a week to get some time on the court; our previous try was thwarted by a wintry cold snap that kept the spacious outdoor courts nearest to Sport's apartment in Chinatown all but deserted. "I really wish we'd gotten in," says the 33-year-old producer and artist born Eric Adiele, the production arm of leftfield hip-hop group Ratking and a forward-thinking solo artist in his own right. "It's such a nice gym with freshly waxed floors. Just so good."