In celebration of the new @dunksocial community/ tribe, today I am sharing some hip hop records about basketball or releases from players.
Sadly, I wasnt able to find the Hurt Em Bad record or my Shaq CD in the piles for the pic, but I'm sure if you hit the dollar bins hard enough, you should be able to find one😘
Hurt 'Em Bad
"NBA Rap"
1982
I always thought this song was a ripoff of Kurtis Blow's "Basketball," but this song predates it by two years! Now the rapper clearly does a Kurtis Blow-type flow, so maybe it was obvious that Blow had to reclaim it. The lore says that Blow's girlfriend at the time told him to make a song about basketball...Im calling BS on that one, as hip hop was in its infancy still, so there's a good chance he would have heard about this one, as there weren't exactly tons of releases.
Kurtis Blow
"Basketball"
1984
Probably the most famous hip hop song about basketball, I'm sure if you are reading this that you are familiar with this one, having been played during countless games over the years. Kurtis is a classic hip hop artist and the first successful solo rapper to have a gold record.
Shaquille O'Neal
"Shaq Diesel"
1993
Shaq was such a beastly sensation that he released a CD early in his basketball career. Featuring some name early 90s producers like Erick Sermon and Def Jef, but most famously, this cut featuring A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg- who's about 5 foot 3. So, thats a pretty interesting duo to picture in the studio! Also, never forget this legendary, late career freestyle:
Kobe Bryant f/ Tyra Banks
"K.O.B.E."
Well, I don't wanna speak ill of the deceased, but I'm sure most would say that Kobe's rap career was...kinda outshined by his basketball skills? If he wasn't a legendary player would he have even tried to or even been able to put a record out? Let alone get a famous singer such as Tyra Banks (you know, the one who cried in front of 400 pound women on her talk show because she was mistreated the one day she wore a fat suit). I thought about trying to sell this record when he passed, but i figured i should just hodl this one.
So who are your favorite or least favorite NBA players with rap careers, regardless of how long the rap stint lasted?
I'm gonna end this post with the Delonte West fast food freestyle in hopes that it encourages some kids out there to focus their talents in the right place😎
i hope you liked my post!
