With Marty Supreme set for a Christmas Day release and the New York Knicks riding momentum into the NBA Cup Finals, Timothée Chalamet found himself in familiar territory this week. The actor stopped by Carmelo Anthony’s 7 PM in Brooklyn podcast for an hour-long conversation that bounced between basketball, New York culture, and life experiences. One moment, though, stood out for its honesty and clarity.
The discussion shifted when Chalamet brought up a shocking Ron Artest story involving violence during a YMCA pickup game. Anthony quickly stepped in to contextualize it, explaining that the story reflected life in the projects rather than what most people casually label as the hood, per TheSportsRush. From there, Anthony broke down a distinction rooted in how people grow up and live day to day.
Melo explains the difference from experience
Anthony described the projects as a vertical world, families stacked inside large buildings where space stayed tight and lives overlapped constantly. He talked about small apartments filled with multiple people, shared meals, and kids turning elevators, rooftops, and hallways into playgrounds. To him, the projects felt like a maze, one structure holding countless stories at the same time.
He explained that you could live floors apart from wildly different realities. One neighbor might be dangerous, another a standout athlete, another a teacher, and another the most admired person in the building. Everyone existed together under one roof, which created a unique mix of pressure, community, and survival.
Anthony contrasted that with the hood, which spreads out across streets and neighborhoods instead of stacking people on top of each other. The experiences can feel similar, but the layout changes how life unfolds. The projects compress all of it into one box, forcing constant interaction. As Anthony put it, the environment becomes a hood within a hood, an idea cohost Kazeem Famuyide reinforced during the exchange.
The moment resonated because of the setting and the listener. Chalamet, a Hollywood star with deep New York roots, took it in without posturing. It captured what 7 PM in Brooklyn does best, creating space for real stories to land without filters.
