N.O.R.E. has transitioned gracefully from his late 1990s and 2000s east coast rap career as a solo artist and with Capone to a commentator and personality in the genre. The main engine behind this was his YouTube show Drink Champs with DJ EFN, where they have alcohol-fueled discussions with some of hip-hop’s hottest.
Most recently, Drink Champs has has hosted two spicy guests as they helped ignite and settle a beef between Kanye West and Big Sean. The episodes, which took place this fall, were started by Ye’s slander of Sean, and led to Sean joining the show weeks later to tell his side of the story. This is likely the most popular era for “Drink Champs.”
While N.O.R.E. is doing great work as an interview host, he ran into an NBA legend last week. Allen Iverson met up with Noreaga and turned the tables on him. N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN pride themselves on praising artists and musicians before they pass, but this time, N.O.R.E. was the one receiving his flowers from A.I.
In a video of the two meeting up, Iverson tells Noreaga of his admiration for him: “God almighty, man. I love you, dawg. You the best, man. You one of the heroes in my life.”
In the caption of the post, N.O.R.E. returns the favor: “I LOVE @theofficialai3. He has no idea how much I love him me and my nephew yalla hondro @yung_reallie we LOVE U A.I. salute yande!!!”
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Later on, Noreaga posted another video flashing Allen Iverson’s Hall of Fame ring, which he earned in 2016: “That’s a Hall of Fame ring, but whose ring is it? We with A.I. and we not talking about artificial intelligence!”
Lastly, N.O.R.E. posed for a picture with A.I., again showing their ultimate admiration for each other: “When u meet the yalla at the yallla yande !!! @theofficialai3 salute my idol!!! And I put on the hall of fame ring!!!”
Last summer (2020), Norega was hoping to get A.I. on an episode of Drink Champs, but it evidently never materialized. Perhaps this meeting could reignite those talks, as we’d love to see Allen getting drunk and being candid with N.O.R.E.