As we march towards MLK day, another reminder we have the best Star ever. Can't wait for his 4th album to drop along with his documentary. Damian Lillard on taking action: ‘I want to actually be a part of some change’ “Being somebody that uses my platform and has actually been out there literally marching, you look around and just think. I’m not sure exactly what to do going forward, but I think whatever it is, it has to be with action. “The whole, using my platform and just trying to post about stuff and all that, we’re past that point. We’ve got to start figuring out what’s the plan of action. I want to actually be a part of some change.” Part of the action for Lillard is becoming an investor in a predominantly Black-owned media network called PlayersTV. Lillard is joining more than 50 current and former athletes as investors, including Blazers teammates CJ McCollum and Carmelo Anthony, NBA players Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, De’Aaron Fox and DeAndre Jordan, and former baseball star Ken Griffey Jr. Lillard is in the midst of filming his new documentary series Dame about his life and Sessions, which features aspiring athletes with notable musicians in studio settings, that will both air this year. What more can you bring to the table there? You look at what CJ did with Kamala Harris. You look at what Kyrie did with Common. The NBA is able to use its platform to shine a light on things that they feel strongly about. I think it’s great that you got people using this platform to control their narrative. For me, I feel the same in a lot of those situations, and I have a lot of things of my own that I’d like to do my way. I’d bring truth, authenticity and somebody who truly cares about the cause, and who truly cares about our culture, and our people. So, I’m not sure exactly what it would be. But I know it’ll be things that I bring to the table that’ll make us stronger on this platform. As a rapper, have you been writing a lot of lyrics of late with everything going on in America and the world today? Back in April-May, I put music out, just kind of shared how I was feeling about everything that was going on in our country. I have worked on a lot of music since then. I actually just finished my fourth album. I don’t know when I’m going to release it yet. It’s something that I’m proud of. I feel like it’s my best work to this point. But the state of the country and the ‘hood, you tend to look around and see some of the things that’s going on. You almost just don’t know how to respond to it or what to do about it. The Blazers will be hosting the San Antonio Spurs on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday. What does it mean to you to play on MLK Day? For me, it’s always an honor to play on Martin Luther King Day because when you look at our history, when you look at where we are now in this country, he’s the name that you think of whether you think about pushing that line and sacrificing his life, and standing up for the cause, and risking it all. He really fought that fight in a much worse time than we have now. So, the most respect, he’s an icon in this country, not just in Black history. He’ll always be remembered and loved for his work and what he’s done for his people, and it’s always an honor to play on that day. Also, to just acknowledge him, it’s always a pleasure and an honor.
Appears 2020 was a soft launch and will more distributed mid 21. Video Transcript DAMIAN LILLARD: We all have our unique stories and our unique interests. Day to day lives and things like that. Our things that we love to do away from what we're known for. And it's unique content to each person. We all have our own story to tell, our own things to share. And there's platforms for us to exercise that. I get to share that with the world and with fans and things like that. But there's not a lot of platforms where you can control that content, where you can use your creativity and share your story and have control of that content. So in a situation like this, where I'm able to do that, that's really important. Especially while we're in this time of ownership and control, and you're doing things yourself and pushing that line. And also, being an equity partner, it just presented a great opportunity for me. DAN ROBERTS: Yeah, if you zoom out a little bit, overall, in the last few years, the scene for athletes in media has really changed and evolved. Not just because of social media, but I remember when The Players' Tribune was started. And that was the first big disintermediator, where people were saying, I like publishing a blogpost on The Players' Tribune because I can put in my own voice. Now we're seeing a much more intense version of that. Bringing your own series, you're going to have a series on this platform called Sessions. You're going to have a documentary about your career on this platform. What's the natural progression in the next step? Are more and more athletes just going to want to be the direct source and origin of their stories? It's a little bit cutting into the traditional way that reporters and journalists cover big-name athletes. DAMIAN LILLARD: Yeah. Well, I mean, why wouldn't you want to be the source? I think a lot of times narratives get controlled, people get put in a box, people get labeled. And I think it's much easier to do that when you don't have access to the actual source. You're not seeing the character that's being talked about on TV and being talked about on the internet. And I think stuff like this allows you to share your own. Even if you want to create content where you just share your day to day, or you respond to certain things that happen in the public eye. It gives you the opportunity to be the source. Share your own message, share your side. And I think another thing is, for us as athletes now, we want-- in the past, it was like, I was the biggest Michael Jordan fan ever. And all I knew was his performances on the floor. I didn't even see many interviews and see what he did off the court and things like that. I knew he was in "Space Jam," and that was about it. But I think what we have now is an opportunity for people to become fans of us as people, and not just fans of us as athletes. And I think just that alone takes us out of that box of "he's just an athlete," where I got things like "Sessions," where-- another passion of mine is music. And I'm putting it out there in front of them. I'm linking artists with myself, other athletes that do music and things like that and linking them with aspiring artists-- just piecing that puzzle together; using my platform and my resources to help people, which is something that I feel strongly about. And I've, for eight years, I've done 4 Bar Friday. The community has grown. And we just continue to put things in place. So this is another opportunity to empower those same emcees. And then, with the documentary, it goes back to what I was saying, when you're introducing them to the person and not just the athlete.
