Interview: NEMS Talks 'The Crew League' on Revolt TV
Bing Bong: We spoke with 'The Crew League' host NEMS to get his thoughts on season 3 of the Revolt TV show, and more.
There are different levels to viral fame. If level one is, “Trending for an afternoon,” the final level would be, “The Jonas Brothers repurpose your content with help from the President of the United States.”
That’s the level of viral infamy that NEMS achieved over the past year. His video for "New York's one-minute street show" Sidetalk NYC catapulted the career of the Coney Island MC, bringing newfound attention to his music and scoring him a hosting gig with the hit Revolt TV show The Crew League. Now in its third season, The Crew League features popular rappers, singers, and producers putting together a "crew" for a 4-on-4 basketball tournament with a $100k grand prize, half of which goes to the winner’s charity.
Although NEMS says he watched the season 2 finale the night before his audition, he felt certain he was the man for the job.
“When they hit me up to be the host, it was just like, 'Yo, we want you to just be you.’ When you’re yourself, and don’t have to play a role or anything, no matter what they put in front of me, I’m just gonna be me,” a freshly-cut NEMS told Sling TV from New York this week, one day before heading to Atlanta for a taping of Wild 'N Out. “I know myself, I know I’m good in any type of situation. So I didn’t really have to prepare, I was like, ‘Yo, just give me the mic, let’s make this happen.”
His confidence paid off, as NEMS was consistently entertaining throughout The Crew League’s third season. Also entertaining? The games. Following a single-elimination tournament with eight teams, Chris Brown’s OHB team was back in the championship for the second year in a row. Their opponent was G Herbo and his 150 Dreamteam. After watching all the action up-close, NEMS wasn’t surprised to see those two teams in the finals.
“Chris Brown’s team, they’re already the champions, so they were already crushing it from last season. When they came in, they already had the swag, the aura of winners. And Herbo’s team, they were just playing physical, jail ball. They were trying to win by any means necessary. They were just thuggin out the other teams, in my opinion.”
Given the long-term marriage of basketball and hip-hop culture, we asked NEMS if there were any old-school artists he wished could have joined The Crew League in their prime. Not surprisingly, he keeps it local.
“I would have loved to see a Terror Squad team, with Big Pun and Fat Joe on it. That would have been next level,” he says, before adding, “It would be crazy to have a Wu-Tang team.”
As for contemporary artists he’d like to see lead a team, NEMS already had someone in mind.
“I’d take myself,” he says without hesitation. “I already told Elie [Maroun, The Crew League co-founder] and them, I said, ‘Listen, man. Y’all don’t want me to come and bring my Coney Island team, Team FYL, because I would just bring ballers from Coney Island. We got Stephon Marbury, we got Lance Stephenson, we got Sebastian Telfair. Isaiah Whitehead, who was on the Nets. Already right there, we would kill any other team with no problem.”
While it remains to be seen if he'll appear in season 4 of The Crew League, NEMS is keeping busy. He dropped the Bing Kong EP last month, featuring “Bing Bong” remixes with legends like Fat Joe, Styles P, Paul Wall, and Busta Rhymes, among others. He also has an album with Scram Jones that should be here this summer, as well as an upcoming project with Statik Selektah. Still, NEMS is aware that, with a billion views on Tik-Tok, his fans are always hungry for new content. He’s happy to oblige.
“I don’t try to go viral or nothin’ like that. It’s just, I’m myself, and people sometimes gravitate to things that are authentic," he says. “I feel like that's why things get popularized, because people can tell when it’s real and authentic. So I’ll just keep doing me, and that’s all I can do, be me.”
Watch all seven episodes of The Crew League season 3 on-demand with Revolt TV, and tune-in to a special bonus episode featuring producers Hit-Boy and London on da Track next week.