Introduction
Ever since Kurtis Blow released his 1984 song “Basketball,” the first known time that popular hip hop music mentioned sports, the connection between hip hop and sports has continued to prosper. This paper will try to shed light on hip hop artists connecting to sports and athletes connecting with hip hop to show the impact they have had on each other.
In this paper I will cover the connection between hip hop and many sports including: basketball, football, soccer, baseball and boxing. While all these sports have connections to hip hop, there is no question that hip hop has had the strongest connection with basketball, because as Todd Boyd argues in his book Young, Black, Rich, and Famous, basketball “is a game uniquely suited to the urban environment” because “it requires very little space…[which] can often be found in public parks or community gyms” (11). Basketball, as Boyd points out, has had the most connection with the hip hop culture because “these are two arenas where Black people have had the best opportunity to express themselves, and where there continues to be a critical mass of individuals who use the opportunity to influence culture at large and, hopefully, make money in the process” (12).
Because hip hop started in an urban environment and has continued to cultivate in an urban environment, it makes sense that hip hop and basketball would be intertwined when looking at how Boyd points out that basketball is perfectly suited for an urban setting. It also makes sense that, since many professional basketball players (in particular) indeed come from the inner-city, they would have grown up with hip hop and see that as an integral part of their lives.
Influences
In 1985, just one year after Blow rapped about how “Basketball is his favorite sport” and that his “favorite play is the alley oop,” Michael Jordan jumped into the national scene by dominating the National Basketball Association as a rookie. While his skills were undeniable, Jordan’s feet were the center of controversy on the court. Nike released the Air Jordan I’s, a new line of shoe branded after Jordan, which departed from the traditional while basketball shoes and instead had flashy red and black on the sneakers. As a result, Jordan was fined $5,000 every time he stepped onto the court with those on. Nike, glad for the marketing, agreed to pay all his fines.
The line of Air Jordan’s became such a hit with people in the hip hop industry that every year since 1985 Nike has released a new pair of Air Jordan’s. Those shoes were and have continued to be known as essential to the hip hop wardrobe.
The rise of hip hop’s influence in sports will forever be seen in conjunction with one team: the 1991 University of Michigan basketball team. The Wolverines’ coach, Steve Fisher, decided to start five freshmen who were dubbed the “Fab Five,” named in part after Fab 5 Freddy who hosted “Yo! MTV Raps” and was seen as a hip hop pioneer. The Fab Five wore long, baggy shorts, black socks and black shoes, shaved their heads, and were known as superb trash talkers. Many people, especially in the media, believed this was the influence of hip hop. The hip hop community jumped on this opportunity to capitalize on popular athletes and connect their success with the hip hop world, such as when Chris Webber, the star of that Wolverines team, appeared on Naughty by Nature’s fourth album, Poverty’s Paradise, just after he entered the NBA. Hip hop exploded onto the national when this 1991 Wolverines team gained notoriety and popularity, and basketball has never looked back. However, there are limitations as we will see later with Allen Iverson around the turn of the century.
Athletes in Hip Hop
In 1992, just a year after the Fab Five, the Orlando Magic drafted Shaquille O’Neal. Shortly thereafter, he appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show where he rapped with the Fu Shnickens, dubbing himself “Shaq-Fu" and thereby becoming the “fourth member” of their group (and later made a video with the Fu Shnickens). The one verse that Shaq rapped showed for the first time an athlete crossing over into the realm of hip hop music.
Just one year later, “Shaq” released his first full-length album, Shaq Diesel, which had two singles (“(I Know I Got) Skillz” and “I’m Outstanding”) that made the Billboard Hot 100 list. The next year Shaq released a follow-up album called Shaq Fu: Da Return. His sophomore album did not find the same success as his first, but was still certified Gold by the RIAA. Shaq has since released two more albums (You Can’t Stop the Reign in 1996 and Respect in 1998) and has recorded an album that still has yet to be officially released called Shaquille O’Neal Presents His Superfriends, Vol. 1 which featured artists such as Dr. Dre, Mos Def and Nate Dogg.
Despite making five albums and releasing four of those, perhaps Shaq’s most famous rap came in June 2008 when he hit the stage of a New York City night club to freestyle rap. In his impromptu rap, Shaq disses ex-teammate Kobe Bryant, taunting Bryant that he has never won an NBA championship without him. Shaq then busts into a catchy chorus comprised of one line: “Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes?” Shaq further accused Kobe of causing his divorce (“I’m a horse, Kobe ratted me out, that’s why I’m getting divorced”) due to the time Kobe said, while on trial in 2003 for rape, that he “he should have done what Shaq does ... that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything” and that Shaq had already spent up to $1 million for "for situations like this."
Rasheed Wallace is known for his on-the-court attitude as he accumulated technical fouls as a greater rate than any other player in history, but off the court he is involved in hip hop. While he played for the Portland Trail Blazers, he had his own hip hop radio show. Wallace was also known for wearing Air Force I’s, a shoe that he bought back to the mainstream. He even had a feud going with rapper E-40 from the Bay Area after Wallace dissed E-40 in an interview. E-40 shot back at Wallace in a song called “Record Haters.”
Other athletes have tried their hand at music as well. For example, Ron Artest released a full-length album entitled My World in 2006, which SPIN magazine gave a 5 out of 10 and said that “as it turns out, his rap game is a lot like his hoop game—not flashy, but fundamentally sound.” While Artest has been rather quiet on the mic lately, he did write and record two newer singles. One was a Michael Jackson tribute song after Jackson passed away in 2009. Artest was so influenced by Jackson that he picked his basketball jersey number after the number of weeks (37) that Jackson’s song “Thriller” was number one on the charts. The second was a song called "Champions" written for the 2010 Los Angeles Lakers NBA Championship team, of which he was a member.
Other athletes that have gotten behind the mic include: “Neon” Deion Sanders, a former professional football and baseball player, has released two albums (Prime Time in 1994 and The Encore Remix in 2005); Roy Jones, Jr., a professional boxer, has released one solo album (Round One: The Album in 2002) and one album with the Body Head Bangerz (Body Head Bangerz: Volume I in 2004); Kobe Bryant put out an album called K.O.B.E.; All-Pro running back LaDainian Tomlinson put out a video called “LT Electric Slide”; and even little known ex-NBA player Troy Hudson released an album, Undrafted, under the rapper name “T-Hud.” The album was not successful in the slightest, selling only 78 copies worldwide in the first week.
These are just a few examples of former or current athletes trying their hand at the hip hop game. Most have been fairly unsuccessful, with Shaq being the most successful of modern athletes. Why is this? Boyd believes it’s because “the game peaks in conjunction with and response to the conditions of urban America in a most direct way…the game is connected to other forms of cultural expression that work to define and represent Black people as their contemporary slaves” (11). It is also in both hip hop and basketball that have been fueled by both the economic and social conditions since the early 1980s (and Reaganomics).
Hip Hop in Sports
Just as athletes often try to get involved in hip hop, likewise hip hop artists often try their hand at sports—or, at the very least, they use their art and their lyrics to talk about sports. Some even get involved in the management side of athletics.
Jay-Z, who has sold over 50 million albums worldwide, is the part owner of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets with a reported $4.5 million share. It is confirmed that these days Jay is considering buying a stake of the famous English football club Arsenal F.C. saying, “I never want to be a back-seat investor. I want to be on the board, involved in the decision-making...I’m at the stage of my career where I am ready for another investment like this. I have really got into soccer over the last 10 years and I’ve been saying for some time I want a percentage of Arsenal.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs has also entertained the idea of getting involved in sports management. Early in 2010 Combs placed a bid to buy Crystal City, an English football team that is in financial trouble, with a roughly $560 million bid. There is no current update as to whether that bid went through or not, but even the interest shows that those in the hip hop world will travel even overseas to get involved.
But the dream for everyone is to actually play professional athletics and in 1998, Percy Miller (aka “Master P”) got that chance. Master P twice signed with the Charlotte Hornets and then signed a pre-season contract with the Toronto Raptors. Though he never got playing time in the NBA, Master P went on to play for years in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA).
Cornell Haynes (aka “Nelly”) was an all-star high school baseball player and former MVP of the St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association. His rap group, the St. Lunatics, are known for wearing St. Louis professional gear, most often the Rams (NFL) and Cardinals (MLB). In 2003, Nike signed Nelly to release the “Air Derrty,” a retro remake of a Charles Barkley shoe. Nelly got into the basketball game by owning part of the Charlotte Bobcats with Michael Jordan and former president of BET, Robert Johnson.
Johnson then sold BET and joined forces with Jordan to invest in the Bobcats who began in 2004. He also owned the WNBA team the Charlotte Sting until they folded in January of 2007. Eventually, Jordan became the majority owner and Johnson took a back seat to become a minority investor in Jordan’s group.
The crossover is also seen in friendships. In fact, it was his friend boxer Mike Tyson that Tupac Shakur went to see fight on the night of his death in September 1996. They were good friends because both men had a hard time finding people who cared for them. Tyson said, “Our problem was we always had to worry about someone betraying us, our closest friends.” In his book Holler If You Hear Me, Michael Eric Dyson sheds perhaps more light on why Tyson and Tupac were so close. Talking about the rape charges brought against him, his conversion to Islam which led to a sort of “Holy War” when he fought the evangelical Christian Evander Holyfield where he famously bit off a chunk of Holyfield’s ear, and the other public images brought upon Tyson, Dyson says: “For many, Tyson’s apology for his ring actions rung hollow, a futile gesture in a grotesque choreography of self-pity. Just as Tupac did, Tyson still faces his greatest challenge: taming the demons inside” (165).
On the night of September 7, 1996, Mike Tyson was fighting Bruce Seldon in Las Vegas. Tupac was attending the fight to support his friend and partly because Tyson decided from then on he would choose Tupac’s music to enter the ring to—in fact, Tupac made a special song for Tyson to enter with that night. The two were supposed to meet up after Tyson knocked out Seldon in the first round, but on the way Tupac was gunned down in his car. ESPN Films made a “30 for 30” documentary about the unique friendship between Tyson and Shakur called One Night In Vegas.
When people think of hip hop and sports, what often comes to mind first is the connection between the two in clothing, which I covered earlier, and in lyrics. Many times the lyrics are of admiration, which Lil’ Wayne is notorious for. His songs reference athletes from all sports including football (“I come to the defense like Champ Baily”), baseball (“Ballin’ like Tony Gwynn”), and even hockey (“And when it’s cold, I turn into Wayne Gretzky”).
There are many other examples such as in Jay-Z’s song “Hola Hovito” when he says: “I ball for real, y’all niggas is Sam Bowie. And with the 3rd pick I made the earth sick. MJ, Him Jay, fade away perfect.” This references how Sam Bowie was taken before Michael Jordan, who was picked third, in the 1984 NBA Draft. Bowie played only 511 games in his injury-riddled career, averaging only 10.9 points a game. Meanwhile, Jordan went on to become one of most successful players in NBA history, winning six NBA championships, five Most Valuable Player awards, and was a Hall of Fame inductee. Jay-Z combined admiration for one athlete (Jordan) and used another (Bowie) to dis on someone else.
The glorification of oneself is a second major way that artists use sports. Public Enemy said in “Rebel Without A Pause”: “Simple and plain, give me the lane, I’ll throw it down your throat like Barkley” in reference to Charles Barkley’s dunking ability. Nelly compares his driving skills to NASCAR great Jeff Gordon in his song “E.I.”: “I drive fastly, call me Jeff Gordon. In the black SS with the navigation.” Jay-Z comes through with another great line when he says “I am the Mike Jordan of recordin’.” Not a bad comparison for Jay to make: himself, who has a net worth around $450 million and has created his own brand (Rocawear) to Jordan, who has created his own brand as well (Air Jordan) and earns over $40 million a year. Both started out as hot upstarts and both are now seen, by some, as having sold out to corporate life.
Sometimes it’s as simple as using an athlete’s number in their lyrics. Fabulous said, “They tried to put two nine’s on me, just like Gretzky, but my lawyer saw through it, just like wet T’s” in reference to “The Great One’s” iconic number 99. Jay-Z in his song “Encore” said that, just like Jordan he would retire during the peak of his career, only to come back later: “As fate would have it, Jay’s status appears to be at an all-time high, perfect time to say goodbye. When I come back like Jordan, wearin’ the 4-5.” Jordan, who is known for wearing the number 23 in his career because it was half of his brother’s jersey number (45), wore the number 45 when he initially came out of retirement.
In fact, there could be a whole section of Jay-Z and sports lyrics. In his song “Empire State of Mind,” he tells the listener that he has made it because he is now “sitting courtside, Knicks and Nets give me high fives. Nigga, I be spiked out, I can trip a referee…” He is now living the good life because as he says later, he “made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can” and that “If Jesus payin’ LeBron, I’m payin’ Dwayne Wade.” Jay also repeatedly refers to ESPN and their programming. In “Change the Game” Jay says he’s “Ballin’ repeatedly, highlights on SportsCenter.” In “Oh My God” Jay says that on “ESPN see me in action.”
So the connection can go beyond just athletes in particular—often times lyrics mention sports programming, sports scenarios (“Bottom of the 9th and I really gotta score” in J-Kwon’s “Tipsy” in reference to something else), or even institutions such as the Hall of Fame (“Now you know I play it, like a pro in the game. Naw, better yet a veteran, a Hall of Fame” in Lil’ Wayne’s “Go DJ”).
Finally, it’s appropriate to also mention that some artists use their music and fame to give back to the community through sports. A great example of this is with Snoop Dogg, who grew up on the rough streets of Long Beach in Los Angeles. Eight years ago, while in the midst of a successful hip hop career, Snoop’s son wanted to play football. Just two years later, Snoop started his own league in Los Angeles “dedicated to the inner city, to save lives, to help kids, and just to give back in general,” says Snoop. They have had 3,500 kids in the league, four of whom have earned a scholarship to play Division I football, and the league has now expanded to Chicago.
Conclusions
While it’s apparent that hip hop has influenced sports, especially since the early-to-mid 90s, the question that many in an older generation are asking is “Is the connection between hip hop and sports a bad thing?” Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tackles this question and defines the "hip hop generation" saying, “Every kid today. Your young sons. Your young daughters. Your nieces. Your nephews. They are all part of the Hip Hop Generation. They don’t have to like all Hip Hop music. They could like Alt rock, punk, R&B, Opera, Musicals, whatever. But somewhere along the line, they sang along with a rap song. That’s just the way it is. Hip hop songs were 4 of the top 5 titles on BillBoards 2004 charts. It’s todays [sic] pop music. Talking about kids and talking about the Hip Hop Generation are interchangable [sic].” He goes on to say that he does not think that hip hop and sports are a bad thing, and why should he? I think that every generation has some sort of link between entertainment industries, and this happens to be the link today.
It’s apparent that for the foreseeable future hip hop and sports will continue to be intertwined, especially as athletes try their hand at hip hop and hip hop artists continue to rap about—and sometimes even try—sports. As long as hip hop and athletes continue to find mainstream success and have some commonality, it’s not hard to foresee the connection growing even stronger and deeper in the coming years. In fact, it would not be surprising to see someone become very successful in both professions. Shaquille O’Neal and Master P have come the closes to mastering both trades, but Shaq never had the mainstream music appeal and Master P, though he had tryouts, never made an NBA roster. Someday someone could do both and become the talk of both worlds.
References Cited (that are not linked)
Boyd, Todd. 2003. Young, Black, Rich, and Famous: The rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture. New York: Doubleday.
Dyson, Michael Eric. 2001. Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur. New York: Basic Books.
