Steve is free to do whatever makes him happy.  But this is comical.  You have to wonder if a 60 year old Steve Coleman looks back on this decision as a good thing.  I'm gonna go with "biggest regret of a lifetime"....But I could be wrong.

Peace out, Stevie Fresh.

Coleman probably is following in the footsteps of Joaquin Phoenix who was a successful actor but now is 100% rapper:

He is currently the subject of a documentary directed by his friend and brother-in-law Casey Affleck; the documentary will follow him as he moves to a career making hip-hop music while managed by rap icon Sean "Diddy" Combs. Filming began in late 2008.^[24]

He obviously never talked to Jesty Beatz.

www.youtube.com/watch

I agree with Arkley..."ouch"

Unbelievable.  It makes you wonder if there is more to the story that we don't know about.  You would think that John Groce would do everything possible to talk some sense into this kid and stop him from making a huge mistake.  Not just for the program's benefit, but this kid is throwing away his life here.  Yes, he has the freedom to make his own choices.  But, like many said already, this is a very stupid move and he is going to look back many years from now with a huge regret over this one.  There are many wanna-be-musicians out there, who are also chasing the same dream, but have little to fall back on.  Coleman is going to college for FREE and could be making $ in Europe leagues after 2 more years or he could go after that music career while having a degree to fall back on...

I wish the best for Coleman and hopes he becomes the next Kanye, but really dude...WAKE UP!  Hopefully, Groce is just giving the kid some time to realize what opportunities he is throwing away.

Props to the Love for Stephen A Smith type reporting.

Horrible horrible decision. Its laughable. Not only that, his music is pure crap. Its literally some of the worst "music" I have ever heard. He'll be selling cd's out of the back of his trunk in Cocoa Beach for the next 2 years. Way to go Stevie you've hit the big time. Doesn't this kid have any adult influence at home who could have talked some sense into him?

As usual I will step over a line here with a different view, but after listening to his music and seeing the titles and the lyrics.  This move could be the first and a big step in getting the Mary Jane out of the program, and keeping some younger kids away from the influences of some older kids who were caught up in some of this.

I'll say this: When listening to this music, I can't formulate a cogent sentence.

Now that the music has ended and I can see clearly through the fog of my extinguished soundtrack, I will wish Coleman the best of luck. I hope he finds what he is looking for.

As for those who pontificate about throwing a life away, please find something with your hands and get a grip. Do you have any evidence that chasing basketball as a means of support is a sure fire career path? Because everything I've ever seen indicates that a very small percentage of people succeed. Who are we to say that quitting a business in which a career can end with the twist of a knee is a worse choice than spinning turntables? And give me a break about free college, I could go on for about 5000 words about the fallacy in that.

We have no proof that he's making a bad life decision beyond the fact that we won't be buying his music. We're a bunch of old white guys. Did you ever think he'll target a different audience?

OH SWEET JEEBUS I AGREE WITH SWANK! HAFTA GO SHOWER NOW!

Pete - Some of us are just guessing that he will come to regret this.  We all said he is free to make his own choices and we wish him well.  My basis in thinking he will come to regret it:

1 - How many old men do you hear talking about how glad they are they quit (fill in the blank sport here)?  This is true even of being a so-so high school player, but even moreso when you can be an impact player at a nationally recognized program.  His chances at a wage earning pro career is secondary.  I'm almost certain he'll look back and wish he had stuck with basketball.
2 - The success rate of musicians is not good.  It's terrible, even for extremely talented individuals.  Regardless of what we think of his music, there is just a very slim chance he can make a career out of this.

These are 2 reasonable points in bringing up the reasonable prediction that he is making a mistake he will come to regret.  I could be wrong, and I hope I am.

Actually I take what I said back. Upon listening to his cd again I didn't realize he was working with industry legends such as DJ Hye Quality and Da Kid Glass.

Next stop:  train wreck.

To me it sounds like he chose the cheeba over b-ball.  What doesn't make any sense to me as a fellow musician is if he was really serious about getting in the music industry, why would he leave a place where he was majoring in Audio Production with amazing recording facilities for a huge unknown?  (I've worked in their studios.  They are pretty sick.)  He could have worked in pro level studios for the next three years while improving his b-ball game for a potential pro career (Europe or otherwise).  Now he'll likely be a struggling musician working in basement studios and no other potential career to fall back on.

The only way this would make any sense is if he had a bunch of buzz and was selling 10,000 cd's out of the trunk of his car or already had some sort of arrangement in place.  Take for example rapper/producer Sam Adams.  I know most of you probably haven't heard of him, but he's a soccer player from a small college in Boston who at one point this year had the #1 album on iTunes.  Over 700,000 plays on Myspace and millions of views on Youtube later, he's still in college pursuing an education with no type of music deal.

The point is, it's extremely tough to make it in today's music industry.  Literally just about anyone can get some gear and cut some decent tracks.  There's way more to it than that.  You absolutely have to have something to fall back on.  A degree in Audio Production and four years of basketball at a D1 program would definitely qualify as that.  I hope everything works out for Steven, but this really doesn't seem like a wise decision. 

This thought just crossed my mind.

A person who enjoys certain things would be wise to take a free trip to The Bahamas.

www.webehigh.com/city/detail.php