The vulgar lyrics in his 40 Bars is a far cry from Shaq’s “ I don’t give a heck, ” but it remains an essential piece in the hip-hop/NBA canon because his flow came natural, which is more than can be said about most of his contemporaries.īy 2006, Jay Z had a minority stake in the Nets franchise, Nelly had a double-double in the 5th annual celebrity all-star game, and Jalen Rose had been in eight rap videos from Styles P to Ludacris. And who could forget when Master P briefly signed with the Charlotte Hornets and the Toronto Raptors in ‘98 and ‘99 respectively, only to be waived from both teams before they began their regular seasons.Īround the turn of the millennium, Shaq essentially put down the mic to acquire NBA championships and hip-hop’s new favorite became Allen Iverson, whose rap career was cut short due to controversy and lost interest. By ‘94, Shaq’s debut album had gone platinum and to this day, remains the only platinum record by an athlete. Even Fab Five member Jalen Rose began his rap video cameo career, appearing in PMD’s I Saw It Comin’, where he appears toward the end playing Sega Genesis with Ice Cube.
From elite shooter Dana Barros to lockdown king Gary Payton, many of the league’s stars made rap records in the offseason. But going back even further, on what’s often considered one of the first hip-hop songs ever put to wax, Personality Jock by King Tim III and The Fatback Band, there’s a mention of a “slam dunk”, proving that there was never a moment of recorded hip-hop where it wasn’t frequently tied to basketball.īy the mid-80’s, the coupling became formally inscribed in wax, when Kurtis Blow wrote an anthem entirely dedicated to basketball, reminding the fledgling hip-hop nation that “Jerry West” rhymes with “very best.” The cliche that “rappers wanna be ballers, and ballers wanna be rappers” has persisted since the beginning, but really took hold as both became massively popular phenomenons in the 90’s. In hip-hop’s first widespread hit, “ Rapper’s Delight ,” Big Bank Hank of The Sugarhill Gang boasted about watching the Knicks on his new color TV. The commercial wasn’t the first time hip-hop and basketball came together. The hook is catchy and the beat is fun so it’s better than the Converse commercial, even though “I’m Kurt Rambis” is one of the worst ways to start a verse.
Apparently, Magic Johnson’s awkward performance wasn’t much of a deterrent because in the following year, he and the rest of the NBA champion Lakers got together for an anti-drug rap where the irony is that coach Pat Riley has always looked like the intended receipt of a cocaine heist in a Michael Mann movie. The result was this bizarre Weapon commercial where a handful of NBA all-stars rapped off-beat about the advantages brought to them by the shoe.
In 1986, as the basketball shoe market was shifting in Nike’s direction with the success of the Jordan 1’s, former official NBA shoe brand Converse took to hip-hop for its new ad campaign. Please subscribe to Passion of the Weiss on Patreon.Ĭaleb Sowle be kicking shit like Rodman did the cameraman.
I'm sure you've got problems I can't understand And I'm sure it's because I'm only a man And I'm sure if I had an astounding I.Q.We all can ball if we support each other.
#Kurtis blow basketball genius how to
I know your last man did you wrong And I know you and your mama don't quite get along And I know you'd help with the bills if you could And I know that your intentions are basically good But there's one more thing that I definitely knowĪnd I'm sure you'd cook if you knew how to use a pot And I'm sure you'd clean if the soaps weren't so hot And I'm sure you'd mop the floors if you weren't afraid of hot water And I'm sure you do the laundry if you only had a quarter And I'm sure that I wish that it just wasn't soĪnd I know that you want a career in high fashion 'Cause when you buy your clothes you do it with passion Well that's chilly by me,you do what you will But when you're finished,don't send me the bill 'Cause Halston and Jordache got enough of my dough
0 kommentar(er)
