As a lifelong Knicks fan, Public Enemy frontman Chuck D knows how much New York craves an end to its 53-year NBA title drought.
He didn't see the Knicks win their second championship in 1973 because he had to go to bed.
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The clinching game was on the West Coast and it was a school night. He was 13 and in seventh grade.
Today, 13-year-olds stay up to 5am, but back then things were different. Chuck D remembers getting the news the next day and seeing clips of the game.
He started out a Knicks fan because his father was a fan of the team.
His mother was high school classmates with Cal Ramsey, a former Knicks player and longtime commentator.
This 2026 Knicks team is different and very special to him. As a New Yorker, he has been waiting 53 years for another championship.
The NBA started in cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. The Knicks were one of the originals, but they didn't win as much as some others.
They went to the finals in the 1950s, but also had long droughts. When Chuck D was a kid, he was part of the renaissance.
He saw the Knicks going to the finals and winning.
In the 1970s, the Knicks resembled the United Nations, with different types of players who got along and played selflessly.
His first basketball superhero was Willis Reed – The Captain. There were also Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, Earl the Pearl, and Jerry Lucas.
