Sporty Thievz: A Hip Hop Group and Its Street Cinema Story

Sporty Thievz is a hip hop group from Yonkers, New York, known for narrative rap that plays out like a short film. This site collects background on the group, its best-known recordings and the projects that followed, based on material preserved in web archives. It is an independent informational resource and is not run by the artists.

Who they are

The group is associated with King Kirk, who started it in 1990 as a rapper and producer. Over the years its line-up also included Marlon Brando and Big Dubez. The correct spelling of the name is Sporty Thievz, even though fans often write Thieves or Thievez. Learn more on the pages for the group and for King Kirk.

What they are known for

Sporty Thievz built a reputation on storytelling. Their 1998 album, Street Cinema, arrived on RuffHouse, Sony and Columbia and included tracks such as Cheapskate and the widely remembered No Pigeons, an answer record to TLC’s No Scrubs. Read more about the Street Cinema album and about the No Pigeons story.

Later projects

After a break following the loss of Marlon Brando, King Kirk returned with new material, including a solo concept called Street Cinema 1.5 and, in 2013, the mixtape Speak Ya Mind pt. 1: Cinema, Beats and Brawdz. See the interview, the mixtape release notes and the catalogue overview.

Explore the archive

• Blog on art and music
• Photos
• Music catalogue
• A tongue-in-cheek social media blog