\u201cHouse of Melo,\u201d<\/a> a new exhibit filled with artifacts, memorabilia and other rare ephemera from Anthony\u2019s life and career. It debuts Oct. 25 at the central Enoch Pratt Free Library.<\/p>\n\u201cThis is a 20-year career that these people are about to experience,\u201d Anthony recently told The Banner. \u201cSo for Baltimore to see that and understand that they\u2019ve been a part of that journey from the beginning \u2014 and are still a part of the journey \u2014 I want everybody to experience that.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ahead of the exhibit\u2019s opening, Anthony discussed why Baltimore got \u201cHouse of Melo,\u201d misunderstandings about his career and more. This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n
You were in Baltimore for Ravens-Lions on \u201cMonday Night Football.\u201d How often are you here?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m in Baltimore at least twice a month, primarily weekends, because of just work up here in the city [NYC}. But man, I\u2019m in Baltimore a lot.<\/p>\n
You could have picked New York or Denver for \u201cHouse of Melo.\u201d Why Baltimore and the Enoch Pratt Library?<\/p>\n
For one, with Enoch, it\u2019s a free library, so I was very adamant on doing something at the free library and giving all these kids, and just the city, the opportunity to come see something for free \u2014 something that\u2019s elevated, something that\u2019s highly curated, something we put time and effort into, and research. This is my way of giving back to those kids of the city in Baltimore. <\/p>\n
And also [it\u2019s] to get kids back into the library, right? Let\u2019s get these kids back into the library and being creative and reading and getting some knowledge of self in a sense. \u2026 My idea\u2019s to take back my community in a sense. I could have did New York, could have did L.A. I could have did overseas, somewhere international. I wanted to bring this back to Baltimore.<\/p>\n
\u201cHouse of Melo\u201d was announced shortly after President Donald Trump called Baltimore a \u201chellhole,\u201d and in the exhibit\u2019s press release, you said \u201cwhat\u2019s happening politically is a distraction.\u201d What about today\u2019s political climate made you say let\u2019s put the focus back on inspiring Baltimore?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no secret to what we\u2019re all dealing with in this climate, whether politically or whatever it is. We dealing with it, and we see it every day, and we hear it every day. But when you come from a place like Baltimore, you get a little bit more said about you. And I sit back and I hear it and I read it and I observe it and I see what\u2019s going on. I see the back and forth. <\/p>\n
So the only thing I can do is take care of this younger generation and give this younger generation an opportunity to be inspired and want to get out their situation and understand how these things are possible for them. As far as the politics goes, the politicians can handle that. I\u2019m about making real impact, and I think this exhibit is a lot bigger than political spats.<\/p>\n
![\"Carmelo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/63YR6TQYPFGB5MFI5GMDRQIPOI.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Carmelo Anthony, who has said Baltimore \u201craised\u201d him, was a star at Towson Catholic before later playing 19 seasons in the NBA. (Devin Allen + House of Melo)<\/p>\n
I have to ask as a basketball fan: What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about you as a player and as a person? <\/p>\n
Man, that\u2019s a good question. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a misunderstanding. Maybe people don\u2019t want to understand it but the level of care and grace that I walk around with \u2014 a lot of times, people can see a celebrity or somebody famous and be like, \u201cOh, they don\u2019t care about this.\u201d Me? I care about the littlest, littlest things. I care about the information. I care about people in my city. I care about the lady who lives in the middle of the block on Myrtle Avenue. I care about what they really say and I care about what they really feel because these are the people that\u2019s on the ground, that\u2019s being highly impacted, whether negatively or positively. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s what I truly care about, and the people that know know I care. But just to answer your question, I would just say that the level of grace that I have for myself and for others.<\/p>\n
In your Hall of Fame speech, you said that everyone thinks you\u2019re just a scorer. I was always curious about your own perception. I thought you were pigeonholed and underrated as a player.<\/p>\n
I appreciate that. That\u2019s a conversation you have with your friends: \u201cUnderrated or overrated?\u201d But I look at the journey. I look at the longevity. I look at 19 years strong in the NBA. I look at playing at the highest level that you could possibly play in a sport. I look at the amount of work that I put in for 19 years in the NBA. The amount of work I put it in on my game, on my mental, my physical, my spiritual. That\u2019s what I look at. And if you could call that underrated or overrated, I\u2019m cool with whatever it is. But I know the journey that it took on the day to day to accomplish what we accomplishing.<\/p>\n
Your \u201c7PM in Brooklyn\u201d podcast is a hit and you\u2019re joining NBC Sports as an NBA studio analyst this fall. Do you see yourself becoming more of an on-screen presence?<\/p>\n
With this NBC deal, we will be in-studio a lot, so talking about the game from that perspective, I\u2019m excited about that. But the \u201c7PM\u201d podcast, it\u2019s just a show that I can actually showcase [myself] and have conversation and talk. I think people are so surprised \u2018cause they never heard me talk over these years like that or that much, right? So when they hear it, it\u2019s like, \u201cOh shit, this is perspective. This is real-life information. This is real-life experiences that these guys actually go through or that he went through.\u201d That\u2019s what it\u2019s for \u2014 to tell my story. I can only talk about my story. <\/p>\n
Now I\u2019m gonna grow the platform, going to grow the media company. Do I see myself primarily on screen with that? I\u2019m still gonna do \u201c7PM,\u201d but I do want to build that universe out. I do want to build and create other shows.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next? Are there any philanthropy efforts you and your foundation are working on? <\/p>\n
From a philanthropic standpoint, we\u2019re planning to bring back our foundation weekend in Puerto Rico \u2014 A Very Melo Weekend. We\u2019re gonna bring that back in \u201926. You know, working on community days and things like that in Baltimore, bringing some entertainment to Baltimore. It\u2019s a lot, from a foundational standpoint, that we\u2019re actually working on and discussing. In \u201926, you will see more of what we\u2019re doing being played out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Carmelo Anthony was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last month, the ex-NBA star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[10208,355,99],"class_list":["post-221206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-fedexforum","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}