Allen Iverson admits his decades-old rap album was flat-out “terrible.”
The 11-time All Star reflected on the project during an appearance on Kevin Hart’s Cold as Balls series. Iverson claimed the album, titled Misunderstood, was one of several factors that caused tensions with David Stern, the former NBA commissioner who died in 2020.
“It wasn’t a great relationship when I did that terrible rap album,” Iverson said at the 4:30 mark. “When I did that bullshit, that’s when I had a problem with David Stern.”
Misunderstood was supposed to mark Iverson’s debut album under his rap alias Jewelz. The project, which was ultimately scrapped, sparked controversy ahead of its release, as its lead single “40 Bars” was widely criticized as sexist and homophobic.
Iverson recalled a time when Stern got ahold of the “40 Bars” lyrics and began reading them out loud.
“I remember going into the office, and he was reading my lyrics, Kev,” he said. “Like, David Stern was actually reading ‘40 Bars‘ off a piece of paper, and me and (Sixers star) Theo Ratliff — I was trying not to laugh, because I knew how serious it was. And the shit I was saying, obviously, you know … So to hear David Stern rapping it, it was crazy. It was embarrassing.”
“It was not a good idea. It looked so bad,” he continued, before Hart pointed out that it had a lot of features. “A lot of people tell you what you wanna hear, as opposed to what you need to hear. And I dealt with that.”
You can check out Iverson’s full interview above. He also discusses his controversial tattoos and questionable fashion choices during his time with Philadelphia.
