A Style of Life

It’s not a “lifestyle”. It’s a style of life. Remember that …

I’ll keep this brief so we can get to the good stuff: This Slug Story is about my great friend, Mouhamadou Gueye, a man with a 1 of 1 style of life.

Me and Mo go way back to 7th grade, gym class, when he was on the “taller side” and I was just … average (shoutout Just Average Clothing). We ended up on the same gym basketball team and I remember us having good chemistry. His class schedule was on a different floor in the school, so we barely saw each other, but I remember always having a distant connection with him through basketball and sneakers. For the next many years, I didn’t really see Mo too much, if at all. We had played each other our sophomore year in basketball, as our schools were rivals (not that we cared at all), but that was the most of our relationship (see photo below of me calling Iso on Mo). It was maybe a year or two into college, that we reconnected.

2020 was great.

As we began to chill more and more during our summers home from school, COVID-19 really shook things up. I had just graduated from the University of Miami and was waiting to see if I was headed to a Master’s of Architecture program. Mo had just finished up his year at Stony Brook, gaining national attention and buzz. With both of our lives moving fast, we found ourselves back in our hometown of Staten Island with nothing but time. So naturally, we did what we saw in those photos we loved: hang out, ride bikes, chill. Effortless shit. Major flow.

There was one day, Mo had asked if I wanted to link up with his friends from Stony Brook. Lenny, Jeff, and Q. All super cool and talented dudes. Lenny, now working in the front office for the Atlanta Hawks, Q, lead reporter for the Washington Post and founder of Inside Voices Production Company, and Jeff … I don’t know where Jeff’s at but bro was hysterical! Anyways, we had a great day walking around downtown, visiting art galleries. Here’s a photo of me wearing one of the first Slugs in 2020 (Lenny said I was the only person who could wear a red bandana around his neck and there would be no problems lol). Anyways, after that day, I hadn’t spoken to any of those guys for a while, until I got a text message from Q in 2024. He explained to me that he was working on an interview series which I was honored enough to be apart of, and that you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9Ub7dB4-0I.

Mike in a White Tee.

I remember like it was yesterday. I was working at Silver Lake Golf Course and at the time I was posting all these old vintage basketball photos and references. But these weren’t normal on-court photos. These were NBA players, off the court. Dressed in suits, or sweats, reading, meditating, hanging. Kobe in a nice car. Jordan in a white tee. This was a style of life. And whenever I would post, Mo would like it. And when I would go on his page, he was posting similar things. Coffee shops, croissants, cars. It was a language of leisure we both spoke, and coming out of Staten Island, that was pretty rare to come across (especially as 19 year olds in 2017). After many years of not talking, we began to speak and share our lives and interests. Oh, and also in that time Mo grew to be 6’11”, playing Division 1 basketball. A long way from 7th grade gym and being on the “taller side”.

MJ, Mo, Spike, Slug.

Alright here comes the story (sorry, context is needed in these Slug Stories). One fall evening, Q put me, him, and Mo in a group chat saying he had an idea for a Slug ad. Say less. We were all in. Months later, we were all back together, except this time in Staten Island. The location for this shoot was a special one: Curtis High School. Curtis was the high school in which Mo went to. He is the only player to ever make it to the NBA from this school. And now we were shooting a Slug commercial here. The crew for today’s shoot was: Q, Q’s two cousins Quinlynd and Kalif, and Kim, an incredibly talented photographer and dope soul I met at Q’s interview series. We got right to it.

Q’s concept for this shoot was inspired by the “It’s Gotta Be The Shoes” Nike Jordan advertisements back in the 90s, starring Spike Lee and Michael Jordan. It made complete sense. To me, Slugs are the next Sneakers. I’ll put it like this: There were shoes… then there were sneakers. There were bags…then there were Slugs. That’s how it is and that’s how it’s gonna be. So, instead of “It’s Gotta Be The Shoes”, Q had the brilliant idea to say, “It’s Gotta Be The Slug!”. I would play Slug Whiteman (playing off of Spike Lee’s character “Mars Blackman”) and Mo would be himself/NBA player (playing off Michael Jordan in the original ad). See how everything comes full circle.

“Inside Voices is the Best Production Company I’ve Ever Worked With”

The shoot went amazingly. It was fun, it was light, it was easy, it was smooth. Mo killed the acting, Q bodied everything, Kim shot legendary photos, Quinlynd held down the BTS, and Kalif … I’ve never seen a more sturdy mic in my life. It was a beautiful day that I hope to have again soon. Shout out to Q and Inside Voices.

Until next time, live your style of life - Slug Whiteman

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Mo & Slug

It’s Gotta Be The Slug.