For years, Marion “Pooh” Baines II was deeply entrenched in the fabric of West Coast Hip-Hop.
As the founder of the independent label Da Trap Music, he worked with some of the region’s hottest names — KT Foreign, and even the late Drakeo The Ruler — helping shape a generation of underground artists who carried the torch for authentic street rap. But over the past three years, Coach Pooh has traded the studio for the sideline, reinventing himself as head coach of the LA Premier Prep basketball team and founder of Da Trap Sports, an AAU and youth development program rooted in discipline, second chances, and real mentorship.
For Coach Pooh, the move wasn’t about abandoning the music grind — it was about returning to his first love. “Transitioning from music to youth sports is just basically me following my heart and going back to my passion,” he said. “I want to give back and be able to give kids a positive role model and keep them away from making the same mistakes I did as far as gangs and hustling in the streets.”
The idea for Da Trap Sports came naturally. The “Da Trap” brand already had traction in music and fashion, and Coach Pooh wanted to redefine what it stood for. “Da Trap Sports came from me already having the brand and logo,” he explained. “I wanted to give the term Da Trap a positive meaning. Da Trap can be anything — you going to work, going to Da Trap, school, gym, workout, train — it’s all Da Trap.”
That spirit of hustle and reinvention was the same one that drove his label’s success. Coach Pooh recalls his time at Da Trap Music as a period of collaboration and cultural pride. “My favorite memory is putting KT Foreign together with other West Coast artists, making some classic music, and taking them on tour,” he said. “They’re from two different sides, one Blood, one Crip, and when on tour had no problems bringing both sides together. That was some of those artists’ first time even leaving the state of California. And just getting artist artists signed, walking them into that Interscope building and seeing their expression — that was priceless.”
When Coach Pooh decided to pivot to coaching, he didn’t do it alone. He reached out to the mentors and peers who helped shape his basketball journey. “My high school coach Thurman Watson — I’m still very close to him. I averaged 32 points a game playing for him,” he said. “I was a young knucklehead and he was a young coach, just graduated and finished playing at Saint Mary’s. I patterned our relationship and his coaching style.”
Those relationships reignited a fire in him. “When I decided to get into coaching, I reached out to Coach Al Caveness who’s another well-known coach at St. Monica — I look up to him. I reached out to my great friend and high school teammate, the legend Reggie Morris Jr. He told me, ‘Come up to Redondo Union and see if this is something you want to do.’ He allowed me to be part of his program and that’s when we knew,” Coach Pooh said. “I talked to another great friend and trainer, Keion Kindred, aka The Gate Keep — he trained me when I was in the D-League. He had me come out in the summer, started training and coaching that following season, and it’s been up from there. I also talked to another good friend, Cedric Lusk, who I played against in college. He’s the head director at OGP and hired me to start coaching and training at their camps — I haven’t missed a camp since.”
That network of support helped Coach Pooh transition his hustle from artist development to athlete development. “The best part of making the transition is me being able to help these kids get better and develop in basketball and putting my players into college,” he said. “Last year out of 34 players, we put 30 in college from D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JUCO.”
But the motivation behind Da Trap Sports runs deeper than wins and losses. It’s tied to redemption — a way for Coach Pooh to give back after surviving choices that nearly derailed his own basketball dreams. “I was a great basketball player but I loved the streets more and hustling, getting fast money,” he admitted. “I tried to mix gang banging and the streets. I would go work out on my game for hours, but as soon as I was finished, I was back in the streets. My freshman year I got shot three times, once in the head, still played and had a great season, but that pushed all the schools away from me. I had to do another year in JUCO, killed my sophomore season, and ended up still going D1. But I never left the streets alone. So I’m just trying to right some of my wrongs and give back to these kids.”
The results speak for themselves. Under Coach Pooh’s leadership, LA Premier Prep and Da Trap Sports have become hubs for elite youth basketball talent on the West Coast, producing college-ready players and attracting national attention. “My relationship with my teams and players are great, from my AAU program to my prep school players,” he said. “They all love me, including their parents.”
To Baines, Da Trap Sports isn’t just a name — it’s a movement. “As a brand and organization Da Trap Sports means everything,” he said. “It means hard work, success and determination. Coming from nothing turning into something.”
That same energy drives his vision for the future. “The goal is to be the biggest AAU program out of Cali and be the West Coast hub for prep school — trying to be the IMG of Cali,” he said. As for the rest of 2025, his focus remains simple: “We in season now, so the goal for the rest of 2025 is to keep God first, stay blessed and WIN.”
Beyond sports, the Da Trap brand continues to expand. The clothing line, which started as a side hustle, has grown into its own lane. “Da Trap clothing started on accident,” Coach Pooh said. “Da Trap originally was the name of my dispensaries, and when I would go to the weed conventions I would wear shirts or sweatsuits with Da Trap on it and my logo, and pass out t-shirts. Then people started wanting to buy the clothes and it ended up taking a life of its own. A lot of people tried to copy my logo and name, but the original always stands tall.”
From record deals to recruiting calls, Coach Pooh has proven that no matter the arena, his grind doesn’t stop. What started as Da Trap Music — a label built on turning struggle into success — has evolved into Da Trap Sports, a platform dedicated to molding young athletes and reshaping futures. For Coach Pooh, the mission stays the same: work hard, stay real, and never forget where you came from.
