MambaAndMe

KOBE BRYANT TRIBUTE: 'Black Mamba Black Mamba' | The Day The Earth Stood Still

The story behind the video:

On January 26th, I woke up to a text from my sister back in Detroit telling me to turn on the news. For the next several hours, I watched in shock as details slowly surfaced about the tragic helicopter accident. As fans rushed to the streets of Calabasas and DTLA near Staples Center, the cameras rolled as fan after fan shared their stories about Kobe Bryant and the impact 8/24 made on their lives. I reached out to a lot of friends I grew up playing basketball with and we were all sharing in the sadness and disbelief.

After a couple hours of media coverage, I knew I needed to get out of the house so I grabbed my basketball, shoes, and went to Woodbine Park in the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles. When I arrived, I spoke with more people about the tragedy. After we finished playing and I was walking to my car, I kept hearing the words “Black Mamba, Black Mamba” in my head. Over and over. The words kept replaying. I've never had anything like that happen before.

As soon as I got home, I began to write a poem based off of those dynamic words. Hours later, I was sitting on my couch still in my basketball clothes, and I called Director/Editor and close friend Riley Robbins. We were both inspired at that moment, and immediately set plans for this Tribute video in motion.

As we sat and talked, a lot of emotions ran through us:

-- What Kobe meant to us as kids growing up playing basketball
-- What he meant to our city of Los Angeles.
-- What he meant for those who saw him as a role model.

So many people on the news were having trouble putting into words the sadness and grief they were experiencing. I hope these words will hit home.

Additionally, we thought a lot about Kobe’s importance to his family and friends. We thought about Gianna. We thought about all of those in the helicopter. They were the inspiration for this tribute to Kobe, the Bryant Family, and all of the other families affected by this terrible incident.

- Phillip Andrew Barbb