Pro Basketball Player Kason Harrell “Churchboyfresh” Talks Basketball, Rapping, His Views On Toxic Relationships + More

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ButterB: I just want to start out and say thank you for doing this Interview and welcome to 2KIB. This is going to be a very special interview because it is the first ever interview on this site and when looking for people to interview, you were top of the list, cause I know you will keep it butter and authentic.

Kason: Appreciate it Butter, thanks for having me

ButterB: Let’s talk about  Basketball, you just finished your illustrious career at Purdue Fort Wayne. Tell us about your experience there and how that came to be

Kason: Thank you so much I appreciate that. Well, it was the summer before my senior year of HS. I had just lost an offer from UNC Wilmington so I was really stressed out because I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. After that, I had an AAU tournament in Louisville and coach Ben Botts who was an assistant at (then IPFW) was there and he saw me play. When he first showed interest, I wasn’t really too familiar with them and I didn’t even know they were D1. But then my dad did research and saw that they were, in fact, D1 and even came close to making the NCAA tournament which sparked more interest from me. We then scheduled an official visit, I was able to meet coach Coffman and the guys, and I prayed and asked God if this was the school for me, and he said yes. Going there, it was an amazing experience both on and off the court and I got to make some really good friends and meet some very nice people.

ButterB: When looking back at your career the most memorable moment for many fans is Your Go Ahead 3 pointer you hit to beat at the time #3 ranked in the nation Indiana Hoosiers, walk us through that, and is that your most memorable moment as a mastodon?

“That was a moment I had been practicing for my whole life, and I gotta thank my Lord Jesus Christ for allowing me to be ready”

Kason: Well, the game from start to finish was just amazing. The Coliseum was packed, and I just remember we were playing our best basketball. John was doing his thing, Bryson was amazing, and other key guys like X and BC were doing a great job on the boards and stuff. In the second half, I remember I was shooting really bad, and actually missed a potential game-winner in regulation. It was right before we went back out for overtime, Coach Coffman pulled me over to the side because he could tell I was frustrated with the fact that I was like 2-6 at that point in the game. He told me, “Kason, you’re gonna hit a big shot for us right here in overtime.” And I just remember feeling confident and ready. Sure enough, we won the tip, John hit me on the wing, and I hit the shot to put us ahead for good. That was a moment I had been practicing for my whole life, and I gotta thank my Lord Jesus Christ for allowing me to be ready. That is for sure my most memorable moment as a Mastodon

Minutes Before Hitting the Go Ahead Shot

ButterB: What is next for Kason Harrell? What are some things you have been working on to improve your game?

Kason:  Well, I’m currently signed with Goempire agency, so right now I’m waiting for teams to hit me up. Right now, I’m just working on my craft, and staying ready and in shape. I’ve really been working on being able to create my own shot, for in college up until my senior year, I was dependent on other guys to get me shots. Now I’m trying to tighten up my ball handling so that I can create a shot for myself and others. I’ve also done some speed and strength training as well

ButterB: Let’s switch gears here( no Lavar Ball, Molly Qerim). You are part of the small fraternity of successful basketball players who also rap… just to name a few, in the NBA you got (Damien Lillard, Marvin Bagley, Lonzo Ball). Have you heard any of them rap and if so what one of them do you like the most as an MC

Kason: hahaha Honestly, I haven’t listened to much of any rappers in the NBA today. I mostly listened to Shaq, a little bit of Kobe when he rapped, and Ron Artest when he had a song on 2k11. If I had to pick one, however, I’d probably roll with Lonzo for present NBA Rappers

ButterB: When did you begin to rap and what inspired you to pick the name Church Boy Fresh?

Kason: I began rapping in 8th grade. I started freestyling just for Fun. Then I wrote my first rap towards the end of summer and my pastor at my church allowed me to perform it in service the following week and I got a lot of positive feedback from the people in my church. After that, I began to take it more seriously and the name Church boy fresh came from a T-shirt that my sister got me at a church conference. I saw the shirt and thought the name was cool so I decided to use it as my own. I use rap as a way to tell other people about Jesus. People love music and so I decided to use rap music as a way to witness to people about Christ.


ButterB: That’s dope!! Are you working on any new music, and where can people find or listen to your music

Kason: I am just now starting to get back into writing. And I usually post stuff on my Instagram (churchboyfresh32) Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChurchBoy_32) or my Snapchat (mastodon32)

ButterB: Do you sing in the shower?

Kason: haha sometimes

ButterB: It looks like you have a new found Bromance with former Ball state  basketball player “Trey Moses” tell us about how that came to be and yawls constant back and forth on Twitter

Kason: Haha well me and trey became close after sophomore year. We had scrimmaged each other and he told me after the scrimmage that he really respected my game and to keep working hard. Later on, we became friends through social media and we keep in touch a lot. A lot of the back and forth comes from the fact that he is “the GOAT ” at ball state, especially when it comes to the ladies, and I always ask him how he does it and he insists that actually, it’s ME who is “the GOAT” with all the ladies so we always go back and forth but that’s my dawg for sure

ButterB: Now we do this thing at 2KIB where we like to end our interviews with a “Keep It Butter” question. This question we ask our interviewees to be “100” and keep it butter. Your question is “Why do some people stay in relationships that they know are toxic”?

Kason: I think because they feel insecure. Like, girls feel like they can’t live without him and guys think they can’t live without her. So, even when stuff ain’t going right, and they’re getting hurt either emotionally mentally or physically, they feel like they’re stuck. I wish that they knew that God has better for them and that they don’t need a man or woman to fulfill happiness. True joy and happiness is found in Christ. “100”

ButterB: Thanks for doing this interview man, had a fun time, and best of luck to you on your professional basketball career and with rapping. Last but not least and as always keep it Butter G

Kason: Always a pleasure Butter  Thanks for having me


EMPATHY

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 Empathy is one major trait that as a collective human race we are lacking. To Me, Empathy is the ability to look at a situation from another person’s point of view and feel, or attempt to feel what they are feeling or perceived to be feeling. In Layman terms just put yourself in someone’s else’s shoes. When looking At Empathy,  we see it as the cause of many problems in the world. It may not be the main Root of all those problems but it is definitely involved, it’s almost like if you order a pizza from, let’s say PaPa Johns(Who still goes to Papa Johns, soo 2017), and you pick all the toppings off and eat them. Empathy would represent the toppings and the other problems would represent the crust but at the end of the day, a pizza is only as good as its toppings. ( Unless you’re a weirdo and eat margarita Pizza). So empathy exemplifies the core problems just as toppings exemplifies pizza. So this weekend after a fun night downtown, Me and my brother and his girlfriend return to the parking lot to their car window smashed in, glass everywhere, and everything in the back and front seat stolen. ( * Lesson learned, Never leave bags visible or invest in some tinted windows.) And you know that feeling when you just got GOT and at first, it’s almost surreal and then you just stand there for a minute thinking. So after a minute of that feeling we began doing the “ My Car got broken into starter pack” which includes calling the police, attempting to clean out the glass and still stood there puzzled. Then another car rolled up behind us asking us if we were leaving in which we replied yes but in a sec. Long story short the car behind us got inpatient fast and made an unethical decision and decided to pull guns out and pretty much get the parking spot by threatening to shoot us. ( Was it really worth all of this, for a parking spot??) Obviously, I was terrified and heart beating fast as it was my first time seeing a gun up close and I was able to run away and later meet up with my brother who drove away. Luckily we were safe, and they probably had no intention of shooting us and were just doing a scare tactic but nowadays you never really know. It almost sounds like it could be a Bad headline. It was frankly kind of sad because they were young Black men and playing into the implicit attribution that many Americans have on young black men. Reflecting on the situation in an optimistic mindset I was thinking it was almost a good thing we got guns pulled out on us because in a split second we went from frustrated about our last and damaged items to happy and thankful we were alive. It put things in PERSPECTIVE. It seems like the main root of this issue they had besides LACK of patience was Lack of Empathy and total disregard for the situation that we were in. And you could chalk it to just dealing with a bad person in a bad place at a bad time but in reality, that same behavior is prevalent in many ways in our culture(most of the time in less violent ways). Was what they were doing in malice intent or were they just conforming to the mindset of society? And even as a generation, I feel the vast majority of people that are egocentric and have an “only worried about my agenda” mindset.

On the flip side, some people who practice empathy on the regular get taken advantage of. For empathy to reach its highest potential it has to be a two-way street. The next day I am on my way home and took a flight to Chicago to then take a greyhound bus to Indiana. So i arrive in Chicago and board the bus. When boarding the bus, I do what I usually do, put my headphones on and listen to music with the focus and intensity I would before going into a prize boxing match. So I get on the bus and stick to my strategy and sit in the middle of the bus( If you go all the way in the back 9/10 times you encounter sketchy people and if you go to the front 9/10 times you encounter sketchy people.) So as I sit down I make myself comfortable while the seats are filling up I see older women walk on the bus. She looked like she could be borderline crazy and her clothes were stained. We made eye contact and I politely smiled at her and she sat behind me. ( Oh great, now I’m going to have to be on the look out for the next 4 hours) when she sat down she carried the aura of Erykah Badu’s Bag Lady and you could tell she been through a lot in her life. Throughout the first hour of the bus ride, you could hear her grunting and making the occasional “MM Hmm” sound, She was making it soo loud that I could hear it over my music. The 2nd hour goes by and I begin to try to get comfortable and I put my arms in my sleeve, as soon as I did this she tapped me on the back and asked me if I was cold. I wasn’t cold but in a spontaneous reaction replied “Yes.” She then asked if I would want her blanket, stating, “ I know how it feels to be cold” to which I considerately replied with “no thank you but thanks for offering” then I turned around and attempted to try to sleep. Five minutes later I feel something on my body and smell the smell of strong cigs, I open my eyes and a blanket is on me. At this point, I am kind of grossed out and slightly frustrated but then I thought WoW. Here I was yesterday, repetitively asking myself the same question, Why can’t more people practice Empathy? And not that long later an old lady is showing me empathy, and probably too much. In her mind she was probably thinking this guy is cold, he’s going to love this cover but she failed to think that her cover reeked of cigs and maybe he didn’t want to be wrapped up in that for 2 hours. As for Empathy, I guess beggars can’t be choosers. where is the fine line of Empathy? Which situation do you think was worse/ would you rather be in? Lack of Empathy or way too much Empathy (No Means No!)?