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The host of Blood on the Razor Wire opens up the broadcast by stating that he has “one of Kobe Bryant’s best friends on” the show.
The guest goes on to explain that his name is Kevin Sanchez and he’s from West Philadelphia. He claims that at one point in his life he ended up moving in with his aunt in a home on the outskirts of Philadelphia and that is where he met Kobe Bryant. The two struck up a friendship, bonding over basketball and rapping together.
The host, Chad Marks, then states that if you Google “Kevin Sanchez and Kobe Bryant” there will be some “stuff to read.”
Right now, the main things that pop up are this interview, but there is a story on Grantland titled “The Secret History of Kobe Bryant’s Rap Career” in which Sanchez’s relationship with Bryant is discussed in some detail.
In that story, it is stated that Kobe Bryant’s testimony could have kept Kevin Sanchez out of prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit. The story claims, “Nearly 15 years later, Sanchez isn’t bitter.”
That ship must have sailed because Kevin Sanchez had a whole lot of bad things to say about his former friend in the interview with Blood on the Razor Wire.
“To me he’s not as good a good person like everybody think he is,” Sanchez said, claiming that before the fame Bryant was “a cool
down to earth dude.”
“He turned out to be something, you know, I mean, he’s still to me the best basketball player I ever seen play besides Michael Jordan. To me I never seen nothing like it. … He got arrogant as he got bigger and they was feeding his head and that he knew he was becoming the best. That’s when he became like a piece of crap.”
Sanchez added, “As far as us that was his original friends, because he s— on all of us in at the end of it, if you want to keep it real. He s— on every single one of us.”
He then talked about being arrested and how Kobe didn’t want to testify because he had already been drafted by the Lakers. Kobe did, however, try to bail him out, but his mom didn’t allow him to do it. Sanchez also claimed that had Bryant testified on his behalf he wouldn’t have been found guilty.
Sanchez would go to say, “The man never did nothing for anybody in his family. He’s got a $500 million empire. His sisters are working regular jobs. You see, his mom and dad have to sell memorabilia and s—. Even when he was home.”
Sanchez later told a story about a conversation he says he had with one of Bryant’s cousins.
“His cousin came to me, he said, ‘Kev, I’m going to tell you something about this guy. Dude is a certified piece of s—.’ That’s when he started running everything down,” Sanchez said. “He just don’t care about nobody but his wife and his new family. This is when I really found out he was a piece of s—.”
Whether any of this is true is certainly up for debate, but some of it does jibe with the Grantland story from 2013, so who knows?
Listen for yourself and decide.