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The chip comes home, and a whole new New York.

Filmed by We Them Media · New York

Seven minutes on a New York street on the night the Knicks won the championship, taken as fast as people will stop. The camera catches the first voice mid celebration: “We brought the chip home.” Asked what it means for New York, the answer is one line long. “It means everything.”

The old slogan has been quietly updated in the street, from Knicks in 4 to Knicks in 5, and people are shouting the new count at the camera as a sentence rather than a prediction. “That means that the curse is broken.” “It’s a whole new New York.” One man widens it as far as it will go: “We needed this. The city needed this. The state needed this. I think the world needed this.”

Not everybody here is from here, which is half the tape. A man who has just arrived from North Carolina says “I mean, our lives are gonna change”, then adds “I hope.” The person filming says he is from Philadelphia and reads it as morale: “I feel like it’s a morale boost. I feel like the city needed a morale boost.” His case for why the night landed is the comeback: “New York needed somebody to show them possible’s possible.”

The longest conversation is with Shan Wallace, a visual artist from Baltimore who has lived in the city for several years. “I love New York, and I’m happy to be here”, she says, having got off the Amtrak and watched the game on her phone. She is glad for basketball and, she reckons, for somewhere else too: “It’s a great thing for Puerto Rico”, because “Towns is Puerto Rican, I think. He might be Dominican or Puerto Rican.”

Then she and the filmer work out who is allowed to say we. He grants that he does not live there. She does: “I have a community here. I care for my elders here. I’m an artist here.” Her shout outs are the best minute on the tape, to a residency “where they invite you in and they teach you printmaking”, and to Robert Blackburn, who she says “started a printmaking workshop in the ’40s, which was unheard of.”

The last word goes to a young fan who says she loves sports, and gives the win to everybody who watched it. “We really tried really hard, and really to come this far was really big for us.” Then the camera moves on down the block.

What is in it

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Transcript

Transcribed and speaker-separated with AssemblyAI from the original audio, so nothing is masked. The letters are the model's speaker labels, not names; fillers are dropped by the model. Names corrected. Published in full so it can be read, searched and quoted. Search every transcript →

0:11AHow are we feeling? How we feeling? Yo, let’s go, next! Oh yo, you alive interview? Yeah, go ahead for it, bro. Yo, T, yo, we told y’all, we told y’all. That’s what we gonna say, we told y’all, niggas. What does this mean for New York? What does it mean for New York?

0:25BIt means everything.

0:26AWe brought the chip home. I mean, Jalen Brunson, OG, you brought the chip home. It means everything. We told y’all niggas.

0:33BLet’s go!

0:34AWait, yo, whoa, flip the camera. How you feeling? How you -- oh, I got you. I got you, I got you. Like this, like this. Boom, just like that. How am I feeling? Yo, how you feeling? I’m feeling like New York needed a win. I’m not from New York, but I feel like New York been in a slump. I’m from Philly, and I feel like -- Yo, shout out Philly! Yo, shout out Philly! Yo, shout out Zombieland, you know the vibe. I feel like New York needed a win. East Coast needed a win. How are we feeling about this Knicks win? Dude, we love this. Hell yeah. Does it mean anything?

1:19BI just moved here just now.

1:21AFrom where? Uh, North Carolina. All right, welcome, man. Welcome. It’s a good time to be here. Can I ask you how we’re feeling about the Knicks win? What does this mean for the city?

1:38BI mean, our lives are gonna change.

1:41AI hope.

1:41BI hope.

1:41AYou hope? Yeah. I feel like I feel like it’s a morale boost. I feel like the city needed a morale boost. This is New York.

1:47BI agree.

1:47AI feel like people were forgetting this New York. People were forgetting. They need a wake-up call. How do you feel about the Knicks winning tonight?

2:42BThey won, babe.

2:44AI don’t follow sports, but it sounds fun.

2:47BI’m lit about it.

2:48ALet’s go. Y’all are, y’all are big Knicks fans?

3:57BKnicks and 5.

3:59ANixon, that’s not so. That’s not a yes.

4:01BNixon five.

4:03ASo what what does it mean then? The Knicks are won tonight. What does that mean?

4:06BNixon five. That means that the curse is broken.

4:12AThe curse is broken.

4:12BThe curse is broken.

4:14AIt’s a whole new New York, huh?

4:15BIt’s a whole new New York, my nigga.

4:16AThat’s what I’ve been saying.

4:17BIt’s a whole new New York.

4:18AI feel like New York needed a major win. I’m not gonna lie. I feel like New York in a slump.

4:21BWe needed this. The city needed this. The state needed this. I think the world needed this. Nixon five.

4:28ANixon five. Fucking out here.

4:29BThink about it. All the fun that’s about to come. The fucking Spike Lee shit in Fort Greene. The fucking parade. He doing a -- he doing a -- he’s celebrating in Fort Greene. He already said it.

4:43AI don’t even know.

4:43BThat’s what I’m saying.

4:44AOkay.

4:45BWe lit. It’s turned the fuck up. I’m not even from here.

4:48AWhere you from?

4:49BI’m from Baltimore.

4:50AOkay. Well, you feeling New York City?

4:52BNo, I’m feeling -- I love New York, and I’m happy to be here. Let me tell you, I got off the motherfucking Amtrak and watched the game on my phone.

4:59AUh-huh.

5:00BSo I’m very happy.

5:01AI believe you.

5:03BAnd it’s exciting. The curse is broken. It’s a great thing for basketball.

5:07AYup.

5:08BIt’s a great thing for Puerto Rico.

5:09AUh-huh.

5:10BYou know?

5:11AWhy’s that? Why’s it a good thing for Puerto Rico?

5:13BBecause Towns is Puerto Rican, I think. He might be Dominican or Puerto Rican. I think he Puerto Rican.

5:17AI don’t know nothing about basketball. I’m not gonna lie.

5:19BThat’s crazy.

5:20AThis week is the most hype. They came back 30 points. I said, damn, I’m a basketball fan again, ’cause 30 points is crazy. 30 points is crazy. I said, New York needed a 30-point comeback, ’cause folks feeling like 30 points is impossible.

5:30BListen.

5:30ANew York needed somebody to show them possible’s possible.

5:32BWe needed to feel something. We needed this. Where’s this going?

5:38AOn my YouTube. I still have a channel called We Them Media.

5:40BOkay.

5:40AAnd so I’m trying to get people and their reactions to this moment. And I agree with you. I think New York’s gonna understand. It’s New York.

5:45BYeah.

5:45AI feel like from here, not from Philly.

5:47BOkay. Okay.

5:47ABut I have a lot of respect for New York culture, New York music.

5:51BLike, this is the new New York. This we needed this.

5:54AThey needed this. I’m gonna say they needed this.

5:56BWe needed this. Do you live here?

5:58ANo, I don’t live here.

5:58BOh, see, I live here.

5:59AYou can say we, but I feel some people say wouldn’t say say you’re we. How long you been here?

6:04BI’ve been here for several years. Okay.

6:06AOkay.

6:07BI’m not saying I’m a New Yorker. I’m not a New Yorker.

6:09AYeah, but we needed this regardless.

6:10BI live here. I fucking pay taxes here. I have a community here. I care for my elders here. I’m an artist here.

6:17AOkay. What kind of art you do?

6:18BI do visual art, photography, analog image making, all that cool shit.

6:22AOkay. Shout it out.

6:23BYeah. So shout out to motherfucking Robert Blackburn. He’s a Black man who started a printmaking workshop in the ’40s, which was unheard of. He was a Jamaican man from motherfucking Harlem. I just finished a fucking printmaking residency program where they invite you in and they teach you printmaking. So shout out to Etching and Taglio. Shout out to Catherine. Shout out to Essie. Shout out to Nancy. Shout out to Jasmine. Shout out to the master printer. Shout out to the motherfucking print shop because that experience changed the trajectory of my motherfucking life.

6:50AOkay.

6:51BShout out to motherfucking New York for those kinds of opportunities for artists from all over the world. Fuck yeah.

6:58AWhat’s your socials? What’s your website?

7:00BI’m Shan. I’m Shan Wallace. My Instagram is _yoshannixon5. Shout out to Baltimore. I love my city. This was a great motherfucking win for the motherfucking city. We mother -- oh shit, my motherfucking Pittsburgh niggas right here. Okay, okay, okay. Knicks in 5! Knicks in 5! Knicks in 5! Knicks in 5! I love sports.

7:28AYou love sports? Yeah. So what does it mean the Knicks just won?

7:32BWe really tried really hard, and really to come this far was really big for us.

7:38AHell yeah. Big shout out to your friend here. It’s very nice to meet you. Very nice to meet you. Museos.

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