Kevin Brereton was a budding musician in Canada when one NBA legend took a gamble on him. John Salley had arrived in the Toronto Raptors in 1995 while furthering his entertainment career. That’s when Brereton came on his radar. With Salley’s push, Brereton became the rapper and songwriter, k-os. At that time, Brereton’s background as a Jehovah’s Witness had made him reserved. So Salley tried very hard to get him out of his shell, including introducing him to Michael Jordan.

Before he dropped his first album, Brereton was unsure about pursuing music. His father was a minister and raised him deeply rooted in his faith. But Brereton also says on Q with Tom Power that his father introduced him to a wide variety of music. Then Salley took him under his wing, brought him his first equipment and pushed him to release more music.

When the Bulls signed Salley in 1996, he brought k-os along. He situated the rapper in the Waldorf Astoria in downtown Chicago. Salley would go on to win his third ring with the Bulls that season. When asked if k-os remembers the Bulls’ championship game, he couldn’t even if he wanted to. “I wasn’t there. I never went games. Again, my Jehovah’s Witness personality was like ‘stay away, stay away from this weirdness.'”

With Michael Jordan out of retirement, the Bulls were back on the championship run with a new team that included John Salley, Toni Kukoc, and Dennis Rodman. They’d win the fourth title by beating the Seattle Supersonics 4-2 in the Finals. Though Salley failed to draw k-os to his games, he managed to introduce him to his teammates.

John Salley got k-os out of his shell with Michael Jordan’s help

After a game, the Bulls had an afterparty that Salley finally convinced k-os to come to. At this party, he introduced his friend to Michael Jordan. By his recollection, he was starstruck.

“I met Michael Jord once at an afterparty and it was incredible,” Brereton recalled. The biggest takeaway from that first meeting was how Salley introduced MJ. “I do remember that because they used to call him [Jordan] ‘the Messiah’, that was his nickname. And John Sally was like, ‘meet the Messiah.’”

Spider talked up his young mentee to his teammates a lot it appears because Jordan told k-os “Heard a lot of good things.” The sense of accomplishment it gave k-os was like, “Yeah I did that.”

Through introductions to his teammates, Salley was able to convince his friend that he’s got more potential out of Canada. That’s how Kevin Brereton finally left his home in Ontario to move to Los Angeles under John Salley’s mentorship and established k-os.