Interview

Professional Basketball Player, Eugene Campbell III Has Proven His Worth Today By Playing His Way Up to Higher Leagues

Eugene Campbell III is a professional basketball player from Jersey City, New Jersey living in an environment where violence, drugs, and crime were the norm. Growing up, his family was not the wealthiest, but they managed to provide him with the best life filled with enjoyment and valuable life lessons. His passion for basketball is rooted in his relationship with his father and older sister. We had the opportunity to interview this incredible player on how he became a true dream chaser and how he has managed to overcome so many challenges and become who he is today.

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Hello Eugene, welcome to Honk Magazine. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Eugene Campbell III – “Before I took basketball seriously, I was into baseball in the eighth grade and was pretty good at it. Unfortunately, one of my teachers did not like the idea that I was playing on the baseball team and told my parents that I was failing her class and wouldn’t be able to play baseball. Come to find out, I was never-failing my class and was kicked off the team anyways, even though I wasn’t ever failing. This teacher never wanted me to play baseball and lied to my parents as I was never failing the class. When the Baseball incident happened, I stopped playing sports up until the end of middle school. It was hard for me to play any sport, knowing that I would always be cut just because of who I was. Once I went to high school, though, I started to get back into sports and focused more on basketball instead of baseball. I felt that I was one of the better players in my freshman year, but because my school was again not fond of me, I was cut from the team. I used this to motivate and fuel me to have the career I have today.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

Eugene Campbell III – The most Interesting thing that happened at the start of my career was my teammate and I being placed in a city in Moldova where we were the only people who spoke English. We had to use sign language and pronouns just to communicate with people. It was also interesting that we were the only Americans in the whole city. At times we were often starred at walking to the stores and asked for photos with people. It was very interesting and it is something I won’t forget.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Eugene Campbell III – The funniest mistake I made at the start of my career was bringing expensive white Jordana with me to Moldova during my rookie year. It was a funny mistake because when I got back to the United States my sneakers were brown. I learned my lesson and that movement on I either brought cheaper sneakers or darker colored sneakers.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

Eugene Campbell III – I am working on some new designs for my clothing brand coming out this spring. I am going to be modeling a couple of brands that I am a brand ambassador for and I’m working on getting news coverage from News 12 New Jersey to come my community service events coming up.

Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

Eugene Campbell III – The most interesting people I interacted with are people from Armenia. They had upbeat energy that was unmatched and very memorable. The best story is on my birthday when I went to the mall and I told the people at the burger place I always got to that it was my birthday and they gave me free food and played the birthday song in English and danced with me. It was very kind and sweet and it was a memory I will never forget.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Eugene Campbell III – I would recommend them to take care of their bodies. The best ability is availability which is what my college coach uses to always tell me. If you are available to play you have a better chance of longevity in your career than someone who isn’t available.

You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Eugene Campbell III – My advice is for the people out there seeking professional basketball careers is to stay locked in and make sure you give everything 120%. The bigger the dream is the early your going to have to wake up and then later you are going to have to stay up.

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Can you share with our readers any self-care routines, practices, or treatments that you do to help your body, mind, or heart to thrive? Kindly share a story or an example for each.

Eugene Campbell III – The best self-care treatment for me is listening to Eric Thomas who in my opinion is the greatest motivational speaker in the world. Whenever I’m not feeling the most motivated I always listen to him and I am instantly motivated and ready to take a goal at hand.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

Eugene Campbell III – I wish someone would have told me that euros are worth more than the U.S dollar that way I would have known in advance that I would be losing money exchanging USD. I wish I would have known in advance that in my rookie year in Moldova that the city I was in didn’t have an ATM that way I would have just brought a lot of money to exchange. I wish someone told me that Armenia was a racist country so I would have been more prepared for it instead of dealing with the culture shock as soon as I entered the country. I wish someone told me that a full overseas season lasted 7to 8 months that way I would have packed more clothes and sneakers. I wish someone told me that bringing a laptop is very important being overseas. It would be 10x easier to get work done if I had my laptop with me.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Eugene Campbell III – “Trying suggests the option of failure and failure is not an option” This quote is very relevant in my life because it comes from a very special brother of mine Shawn Hawkins who was my educator in my intake process of being a proud brother of psi sigma phi multicultural fraternity incorporated. It made me eliminate the word trying out of my vocabulary and now I just say it’s going to get done it has made me more confident and determined in getting things done.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Eugene Campbell III – I have to give a big thanks to a great family friend of mine Kenneth Faried (NBA player). Kenneth is someone I grew up with and my father and his father are best friends. He was able to make it to the NBA have a great career and I was blessed to be able to receive some meaningful advice from him. Kenneth called me in the spring of 2019 when I told him that I officially wanted to be a professional basketball player. He sat on the phone with me for over 30 minutes giving me the blueprint and the tools I needed to become a pro I listened to every word he said followed the blueprint and became a pro two years later. I still talk to him to this day and I always thank him for giving me the advice and motivation I needed to get my career started.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Eugene Campbell III – I want to build my recreational center for children and adults of all ages who like sports. They don’t have enough of these in New Jersey that cover all sports so I want to be the first. People don’t understand that sports not only build lifetime friendships but also keep people active and lower the obesity rate around the world. I will not only change the community but I will change the world.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might see this.

Eugene Campbell III – I would most definitely love to have breakfast with my favorite basketball player of all time Paul Pierce. He is the reason I love basketball the reason I am a die-hard Celtics fan and was my biggest motivation to keep playing. I imitated everything Paul Pierce did from the headband to the wristband to even the trash talking. He is my role model and I would love to sit with him and just talk basketball.

How can our readers follow you online?

Eugene Campbell III – You can follow me on Instagram – @iamgenecampbell

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Interview

Charlamagne Tha God Turns Pain Into Power Amid Kanye West’s Shocking “Cousins” Confession

On a recent episode of “The Breakfast Club,” radio host Charlamagne Tha God opened up a moment of powerful facts about his own childhood trauma while talking very openly about Kanye West’s troubling new song, “Cousins.” In classic form, Charlamagne’s response was at once raw, emotionally layered, and deeply human. In “Cousins,” Kanye reflects on an unsettling sexual episode from his younger years involving a cousin, a song that had fans and critics reflecting. And as the song has whipped up waves of reactions across the internet, Charlamagne himself incisively cut through the noise with one of his own truths.

“No, they not. People are not gonna start coming out saying they sucked their cousin’s penis,” he said. “Listen, I was getting molested when I was 8 by a 20-year-old woman.” Charlamagne wasn’t reading from a script when he made the admission. It wasn’t done to sell records. It was unfiltered truth and a reminder that beyond the hot takes and the headlines, there are actual people whose invisible wounds we bear with us. Still, he didn’t completely let Kanye off the hook. This is a discussion we should be having,” he insisted, “I just can’t take it serious when it’s coming from Kanye. It’s always something with Kanye every week. That’s all. All of it just feels like a stunt.”

Also check this out: Jeffree Star Stirs The Pot With Cryptic Post Amid Kanye West’s Controversial “Cousins” Song Release

Kanye’s explosive public persona makes it difficult for some to distinguish between genuine confession and viral marketing. And they do matter, even more than ever, when the subject matter is so weighty. What happened on “The Breakfast Club” was a man seizing control of his own story in an arena that too often prizes spectacle over substance. Whether Kanye’s track succeeds in that level of reflection is a point of debate, but Charlamagne’s brutal sincerity also served as a timely reminder that healing begins when someone dares to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth.

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Interview

Jermaine Dupri Breaks Down the Bias Behind Xscape’s Rise

During his visit to the R&B Money podcast, Jermaine Dupri shared an obstacle he encountered in launching ‘90s R&B titan Xscape, and it has nothing to do with their voices. Dupri was blunt; Xscape never took off because of a lack of talent; it was their looks. “They just kept telling me they weren’t cute,” he said, shaking his head disapprovingly at the dismissive way executives from that era greeted even undeniable vocal firepower. It broadsided him, a wake-up call to the naked fact that marketing beats merit most of the time.

Even for one of the most vocally gifted female groups of their era, Xscape faced an industry that was more focused on image than artistry. The criticism wasn’t subtle. Even The Notorious B.I.G. dissed them in one of his lyrics words that stung in a culture where beauty was currency, and women who didn’t fit a narrow definition were often relegated to the sidelines. But Dupri wasn’t having it. He then doubled down on his faith in Xscape, championing their talent when almost no one else would. His gamble paid off chart-toppers like “Just Kickin’ It” and “Who Can I Run To” didn’t only reach No. 1 on the charts, they solidified Xscape as gods of R&B’s golden age.