Basketball & Hip Hop

The movie "More Than A Game", which is set to hit theatres this week features NBA megastar LeBron James and his high school teammates as they struggle to win a national high school championship. This group of players grew up together and became men by building a sacred bond with one another. They are still close to this day even after LeBron James rose to stardom. The main theme for this movie shows the relationship between Basketball and Hip Hop. It is a brand new song by hip hop artist's Drake, Kanye West, Lil' Wayne and Eminem called Forever.

The relationship between hip hop and basketball extends over a long period of time. Every rapper wants to be a basketball player and every basketball player wants to be a rapper. The two subjects have almost always gone together and the release of this movie shows nothing different. To get 4 of the industries biggest artists to collaborate on a soundtrack is almost unheard of. Missing from the fold however might be one of the greatest artists of all time; Jay-Z. One could argue that he is missing from the track because of his commitment to promoting his new album "The Blueprint 3" but to have him on this song would make sense in two ways that I can think of at the moment:

1) Jay-Z and LeBron James are great friends. Jay-Z shows up to any game LeBron James plays in New York (Jay-Z's hometown) or New Jersey (Jay-Z owns a part of the New Jersey Nets). It has even been rumoured that Jay-Z will lure LeBron to the Nets in 2010 when LeBron becomes a free agent.

2) Jay-Z is one of the greatest rappers of all time. He understands greatness when he sees it and LeBron is just that. It only makes sense for him to have a part in LeBron's movie.

Bringing the topic back to Basketball and Hip Hop, the relationship can even be traced back to the past NBA season. The NBA's motto this past season was "Where Amazing Happens" and it's theme song was Kanye West - Amazing. This shows that the relationship is undeniable. Players used to dress exactly like rappers before NBA implemented a more business-like dress code. Now, many rappers have taken up that business-esque look as well. A few years ago you would see players showing up to games in du-rags and chains much too large for their necks. These days you see those same players showing up in well-tailored suits and ties. The connection also translates to other forms of entertainment beyond court.

Video games are another example of the relationship between Basketball and Hip Hop. The latest NBA 2K10 has the same feature track the NBA had this past season in Kanye West's "Amazing". It's counterpart NBA Live 10 also brings basketball back to Hip Hop since it's main narrator is Hip Hop artist Mos Def. Along with all of that, many of the games' soundtracks have hip hop tracks on them. Of course there are the token Rock & Roll or Techno songs to keep everyone happy but the majority of songs on the soundtrack in a basketball game will always be hip hop because that's what the majority of NBA players listen to.


Now, the relationship is not always peaches and cream. There are the facets of the connection between Basketball and Hip Hop that should never go together no matter what. Situations like the one in the video I posted above are the main reason why rappers rap and basketball players play basketball. Shaquille O'Neal's lame attempt to freestyle about Kobe Bryant got him in hot water and it wasn't because of his bad rapping. Everyone though that the Shaq/Kobe feud had been cleared up until Shaq brought out this rap. In it his favourite line is, "Kobe, tell me how my a** taste!" This was a little while after the Los Angeles Lakers had finished losing to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals and Shaq was essentially saying that Kobe could not win a championship without him. Well, this past season Kobe won the championship and Shaq missed the playoffs. It's funny how those things come back to bite you in the a** (pun intended).

Nevertheless, Basketball and Hip Hop are a match made in heaven even with people like Shaq around. The connection between the two has been strong for many years and has helped both things prosper in their own ways. Hopefully the relationship will stay strong for many years to come.