Black Gods of the Asphalt: Religion, Hip-Hop, and Street Basketball

J-Rod moves like a small battle tank on the court, his face mean, staring down his opponents. “I play just like my father,” he says. “Before my father died, he was a problem on the court. I’m a problem.” Playing basketball for him fuses past and present, conjuring his father’s memory into a force that opponents can feel in every bone-breaking drive to the basket. On the street every ballplayer has a story. Onaje X. O. Woodbine, a former streetball player who became an All-Star Ivy Leaguer, bring…