May 13th- I have always been a Mike Tyson fan. He was the first heavy weight that I actually paid attention too. In a way he represented my generation of young black males that grew up in the late 80’s. A generation of black men who lacked guidance from the generation before them and as a result we were full of intimidating menace but very little substance. Mike, with his low-cut socks and part in his hair, would come out the tunnel with the swagger of a generation of boys who were heading for extinction. His tiger-like stare said, “I’ve come to kill all who stand before me. Move out of my way or die.” When he speaks on the fact that he “knew no one would f#ck with him physically ever again” as he chokes back tears I really felt the duality of his situation. He was a menacing predator on the outside but still a conflicted street kid on the inside.
Tyson was so hip hop. He embodied the anger of Public Enemy’s rage against the machine. His uppercuts had the power of a well timed Rakim punch line. His hands moved with the speed and impact of a Big Daddy Kane jam. To this day it seems like every rap battle starts off with two opponents glaring across the room at each other like Iron Mike viewing his next victim. As Tyson climbed the ladder knocking out all the older heavy weights his fights had the symbolism of a young black America lashing out at the generation who had left us behind. The symbolism even goes further as Tyson recalls the time that he physically beat up Don King after finding out King was stealing his money.
To understand the man you have to know the man’s past. The Tyson documentary did an excellent job of describing the abject poverty that Tyson had come from. The way he describes the thrill of armed robbery as if it’s some sort of chess game between the robber and the victim was an inside peek that I had never really seen Tyson give before. I learned a lot about the man before the ring. I knew about his hobby of raising pigeons on the roof of his project building but in his own way he described the sport of boxing by using those very same birds in an analogy. If you put a limited amount of food in the cage the birds will fight over that food. They will kill for that food. In absence of that food those birds can be docile and co-exist peacefully but once the equation is thrown off the birds resort to survival of the fittest. That is what boxing became to Mike. It was just a means to get to the money that would fund his lavish habits and self destructive lifestyle. It was survival of the fittest and Mike was the fittest in the game at the time.
Much like hip hop Tyson was doomed from the start. Nothing that bold and uninhibited can be allowed to roam free in a world dominated by corporate money and greed. He never stood a chance on his own. In the end Mike was only a boy with the power of a man but he couldn’t harness that power himself. It was just a matter of time until self destruction would occur and Mike was racing against time. He won his championship before he was out of time but he lost so much more. He was everything that was wrong with hip hop at the time. Even Mike seemed a little disappointed when reflecting on how early he had achieved his goal. It was a gift and a curse.
If you’ve followed boxing even a little bit then you know the rest of the story. Mike’s trainer/father figure dies and Tyson implodes with out the guidance of Cus D'Amato. He was too young and irresponsible to handle his own affairs. His training regiment fell to the wayside and he became a lascivious beast. It’s a tragic tale that is almost painful to view again. If Mike’s life was a TV show it would be HBO’s “The Wire”. If it was a book it would Richard Wright’s “Native Son”. Mike was the embodiment of promise unfulfilled, a dream deferred and talent destroyed.
After viewing the narrative that lead to his down fall, prison seemed like a formality and not a punishment. Even as details about the rape accusation were unfolding I felt that there could only be one outcome for this man who represented a lost generation. Mike had gone from a street thug to a ring king but he couldn’t escape that destiny that looms over so many young black men. After all wasn’t Mike a child of destiny? In the outside world the popular opinion was that Mike was a crazy lunatic who belonged in prison with the other animals. Yet when Mike speaks on his incarceration it’s obvious that he didn’t belong in prison. He talks about prison the same way a 50 year old stock broker would speak on the matter.
Years later when Mike made his come back you could see he wasn’t the same. Just like the new corporate version of rap, Mike seemed soulless. He talked more viciously, playing to the stereotypes of black males who exit the penitentiary. The love of the sport had left him. It wasn’t about the ring any more. It was about the bling. It was about the women and the lifestyle. Hip hop/ Mike was dead. He was angry at the world but not focused. He won the belt again but it was that rage against his unjust imprisonment that lead him back to the ring. You could still see the lines of anger in his face when he spoke on the second half of his career.
In his diminished capacity Mike was still a representative of hip hop. He was a shadow of his former self but he still drew the crowds. He still turned out the pay-per view numbers that no one else could. Everyone seemed to be hoping for his focus to return and lead him back to domination of the heavy weight arena. Even Tyson admits that the era of domination was over for him. After winning the title a second time he immediately went back to womanizing, abusing his body and training without discipline.
Still I have to urge you to see this documentary. Not because of the new revelations that are unveiled but because of the new perspective on these events. Mike’s perspective. This documentary is narrated by a sober reflective Tyson. Now that Tyson is officially retired he’s done selling wolf tickets. The edgy braggart who promoted his fights by promising to eat his opponent’s offspring is gone. This version of Tyson is informing us not just what happened but why things shook out the way they did.
This movie really lets you look into the soul of a flawed man who is completely honest about his own short comings. I don’t know if hip hop will ever reach this sort of sober reckoning but this does give me hope. Maybe the lack of sales in the hip hop industry (most likely due to music pirating) is changing hip hop for the better. Artist with substance are starting to peek through the clouds of sophomoric dust and provide a little enlightenment. The documentary really ties in this connection with it’s ending credits being played to a Nas track about Mike Tyson. So maybe Mike is still the symbol for hip hop and its fans. Even though his thoughts can be somewhat chaotic and frightening they are delivered with such honesty that no one can help but be impressed. I think this documentary is worth checking out because it is the only documentary I’ve ever seen where Tyson addressed ever major issue in his own words. This is the definitive take on Tyson.
This documentary didn’t seem to try to breed sympathy for Tyson even though it did drum up my old feelings of adolescent worship for Iron Mike. It felt like a trip into his past and a behind the scenes view of the things that shaped him. In a way it gave me hope not only for the future of Iron Mike but also for the culture of my youth. No matter how turbulent the past was you can always paint your own future. This film was quite a journey and the ending really speaks volumes in my opinion. Every sports fan should try to check this film out and fans of hip hop should be even more intrigued.
