February 18, 2003.

A prominent date that sticks out in most sports fan's mind is June 17th, 1994. It is a day that will live in infamy. OJ Simpson set sail on the west coast highways, Ken Griffey Junior made baseball history,and the New York Rangers were finally able to hoist the Stanley Cup through the streets of Time Square. Yet, the events that took place on June 17th,1994 isn't even in the same ball park as the events that had taken place on February 18,2003. Kobe Bryant was months away from his life changing moment that changed his image forever in the American eye. Yet, it is quite right to say that his experience in Colorado that evening went all the way back to February 18th,2003.

I remember it like as if I already knew it had happened. I woke up from the buzz that was circling the entertainment world. Perhaps the biggest album since Linkin Park's debut album was ready to drop. It was a foreshadow of what was to happen the rest of the year and would help make the decision for Kobe Bryant to enter that hotel. This album was Chocolate Factory, by R. Kelly. It was an album that was way a head of it's time. Critics and artist agreed that it carried the same formula and master mind that can be heard in Beethoven's Symphony No.9. The lucrative lyrics of a lyrical genius set the tone of what was to come of 2003.
The message was so powerful. That morning George W. Bush woke up from a mid-days nap and on accident(so he says)popped in R. Kelly's Chocolate Factory. It was then and there he decided, "We must go to war." Yes, the fans were bumping and grinding, but little was known that the cd would have such an impact on the American people, which helped start a war.

Historians and anthropologists have studied the album closely and they have each agreed that the release of the Chocolate Factory on Jive Records was like opening Pandora's Box. Something we can not reverse. Don't believe them, just ask Kobe Bryant. "Shit got really real, real quick"-Kobe Bryant

The Horse