KEYS TO THE CITY: KNicks Championship parade - CITY HALL, NYC

6/27/26

Gotta start this off by giving the biggest congratulations to the 2025-2026 NBA WORLD CHAMPION, NEW YORK KNICKS!!!!🧡🗽🏆🗽💙

As a native New Yorker, that has been a Knicks fan since a kid, I always imagined what it would be like for our city to win. Now, we don’t have to dream anymore!!! This team brought the title back to the city after a 53-year long drought, so you know we were going to show up and show out, in a way that only NYers could!

I was already planning on going to the parade, but when I got the word that I could be in the middle of it all, at City Hall (where the parade ends), I knew it was going to be a motion picture! The day did not disappoint.

After making it through the streets, which is a whole other story for another day, we arrived! You know I had to bring the wife and kid to witness this historic moment! (The kid didn’t want to go at all until I told her that she would get to see her Titi Ali, and that sweetened the deal… lol). So we arrive, and then I realize the seats we have are located smack, in the middle of all the action! We were literally in the 2nd row from the stage (and I had a better vantage point than some of the shooters in the press pit). Big thanks to my step-sister, Alicia Keys for always looking out and including me in moments like this. I know most of the people sitting around us were probably wondering who we were, and why we were sitting so close… I always have a personal laugh internally… lol… Celebrity is such a funny thing, but I’m getting sidetracked…

We locate our seats, and settle in, and then I just stayed ready. It’s hard to just enjoy being somewhere when I have my camera, because I’m aware that moments happen without warning. Taking candids is different than just taking a pic when you have the attention of the subject. It’s like I’m on safari, and you have no control over your subject in the wild. You must wait, watch, studying their movements, and be ready because at any moment something dynamic can unexpectedly happen.

That day was no different, stuff started happening all around, more people started filling in the empty seats, and before you knew it, it was showtime!

The section we were seated in was where most of the talent from the parade was sitting, so I ended up sitting in front of the RZA, and at the opposite end of a row, that had Raekwon the Chef (Wu-Tang Clan), Havoc (Mobb Deep), Shawn Pecas (Music Executive), Rich Player (Fat Joe’s team) & Fat Joe, just to name a few. Having someone close to me that is a celebrity has given me a deeper understanding of the occupation, so as much as I admire and have looked up to these people, I always try to give them space, because most people don’t. After watching tons of people come up and ask for pics, I just like to watch from a far, and be as respectful as I can with my shots. It helps that I use a 75-300mm lens, so I don’t really need to be close… lol.

As all the seats started to fill, the show’s host, Mike Breen (MSG) would begin to introduce the show openers. The Brass Queens would kick off the celebration, followed by the Knicks City Kids. The New York City Mayor, Zohran Kwame Mamdani & his wife, Rama Duwaji, along with the rest of New York City politics would follow, and then the moment we were all waiting for - the stage was filled with our Champion New York Knicks!!!

The energy was electric, as we witnessed a powerful statement made by the Mayor, followed by words from Jumaane Williams (NYC Public Advocate), Mark Levine ( City Comptroller), Julie Menin (City Council Speaker), Mike Brown (head coach), James Dolan (Knicks owner), Leon Rose (Knicks Team President), and Finals MVP, Jalen Brunson. The presenting of the Keys to the City would follow, giving each recipient a Mayoral photo op.

Then the moment was upon us – after hearing the song ring out through the streets of the city thru social media, while simultaneously being the soundtrack during the Playoffs and the Finals, “Empire State of Mind” was about to fill the space inside, then spill out the gates of City Hall, into the streets! Alicia was joined by her son, Egypt Dean, (who is a piano virtuoso himself, as well as an aspiring basketball player), to play the keys, as they performed a special medley of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” & “Empire State of Mind”. The look on the faces of the players articulates the feeling of the moment! As the sun peaked, Keys’ performance matched the temperature, and then took it up a few notches – one of the best performances of the hit to date, imo. A celebration after the moment of triumph was being witnessed with the perfect song to encapsulate this historic achievement!

To be born in NYC, to be a basketball player, to be a Hip Hop kid, to be a Knick fan, to be connected to a New York Icon, that is responsible for one of the most important songs to represent this city, and to see it performed at the celebration for the city’s team at City Hall, is beyond monumental! I will cherish this maybe once in a lifetime opportunity, because I know it’s a stretch, but I’m manifesting and speaking into the ethers that we can repeat, or least get another one with this core – but this day will live rent free in my mind, in perpetuity. I could go on much longer, but I’ll save some words for the next championship. Gonna be orange & blue skies until this time next year, and I’m going to enjoy ever minute.

✌🏽🧡🗽🏆🗽💙🤞🏽