Throwback Thursday: NBA Rappers

Today July 4^th happens to be the release date for the much anticipated “Magna Carta holy grail” album from rapper/mogul Jay-Z. He has 13 career#1 albums and love him or hate him he is a legend in the world of hip-hop. They say all rappers want to be basketball players and all basketball players want to be rappers well thats actually happened with guys like Ron Artest, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Chris Webber all trying their hand at rapping. NBA players who rap will be the subject of today’s Throwback Thursday.

Some NBA players have a skill for rhyming and others should be grateful they can play ball at a high level. The most notable NBA MC is former Lakers big man Shaquille O'neal who has one platinum and one gold album. He has done songs with hip hop legends Ice Cube, Wu-Tang Clan and also Kobe Bryant. He is no legend but Shaq certainly has had his moments like in the song off his platinum album “Shaq Diesel” in a song titled “I'm Outstanding”. O'neal has done literally everything you could do for a basketball player business wise but this seemed like he genuinely loved rapping. Check the video below to see young Shaq doing his thing.

Ron Artest Like Shaq represents some of the good for NBA Rappers but to a lesser extent. He never had any platinum albums or gold albums or any critically acclaimed albums but he did have some success with his song “Champion” that he released after the Lakers captured the title in 2010. The song made its way on to NBA 2K11 and became the most popular song in the game instantly earning millions of views on Youtube.

Guys like Kevin Durant just do it for fun. He doesn’t have any albums but you can tell that his flow mirrors his playing style on the court which is silky smooth. Although he won't impress you lyrically he isn't as bad as say Kobe Bryant in his song with Tyra Banks. In his song “Worried about Tomorrow” he shows you that he is a legit rapper, Ive even heard people say “KD has bars”.

One guy who I personally liked out of the NBA Rappers was Sacramento Kings great Chris Webber who was featured on west coach legend Kurupt's song “Gangsta Gangsta” its not that bad and he looks and sounds like he knows what he is doing. Had Webber put his time into rhyming like he did as a baller who know he would have turned out.

Allen Iverson might be the only guy on this list who looks like both a rapper and a basketball player at the same time but he had his moments on tracks like “40 bars”. Iverson's music can pretty much be summed on how he did things on and off the court which was his way.

Kobe Braynt has a pretty funny rap career he is most famous for his self titled song “K.O.B.E” featuring Tyra Banks which pretty much is the biggest joke when it comes to NBA rappers. What most people don't realize though is that he is actually a dope rapper on skill alone he might be the best rapper on the list. He a did song with Shaq titled “3x dope” he goes raps under the moniker “K-raw”. In the song he had the 1^st verse and to be quite honest it didn't even sound like Kobe Bryant he sounded like an underground rapper that knew what he was doing. So in terms of Kobe Bryant's rap career, he is trolling all of you fools. Check the videos below to see what I’m speaking about.

The Bad

The Good

So NBA players are rappers too but some of them need to stick to their day job because they aren't going to touch Jay-Z.......Unless Kobe comes out of retirement.

99 Problems

With the NHL lockout going on there really isn't much to talk about theses days in the world of hockey here in America, but i recently saw something pretty interesting. Nikalas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals was seen wearing the ever popular #99 of the great Wayne Gretzky in his KHL Debut. The number is retired in the NHL. Seeing this had many hockey fans enraged about Backstrom's number choice and they took to social media outlets like Twitter to voice how they felt. Here are some interesting tweets i came across.

Nicklas Backstrom is wearing number 99 in the KHL, what a f**khead, NHL or not, respect Gretzky and choose a different number-@thatonebeanut

I can't believe Nicklas Backstrom is going to wear #99 in the #KHL #ZeroRespect-@joe_lama

I hate niklas backstrom now #WhatAreYouThinking #NotGoodEnoughFor99-@loafaKAL

Niklas Backstrom wearing #99 in #KHL apparently is a story. Jesus Christ the #NHL needs to come back-@The_Road_guy

"i've got 99 problems and my number is one"-Niklas Backstrom
-@Sulty

Change Clothes

The upcoming NBA Season is around the corner and lately Ive been seeing a plethora of teams making alterations to there uniforms. Some Great and not so great either  way the new uniforms look to add some more flares to what I and many others anticipate as a great basketball season.

Brooklyn Nets

Since the day they stepped
foot in The league New Jersey the Nets have always played second fiddle to the Knicks. They were like that awkward stepchild few people liked. Owner Mikhail Prokorov and Rapper Jay-z are doing there very best to take over NYC and culturally build an untouchable brand of basketball. Brooklyn has completely rebranded from last year from the Jerseys,City,Arena and roster. Signing the likes Of Joe Johnson, Deron Williams and Gerald Wallace The Nets are trying to make the word “Brooklyn” on the front of those jersey’s mean something when they take the floor at the Barclay center. These Jerseys are a huge upgrade over the dull Red, white and Navy jerseys they sported in Newark last year. Black and White are colors that represent toughness and in all honesty they make what was once an uncool team cool again.

Charlotte Bobcats

Last season my hometown team came off the worst season in NBA History at 7-59. They made some alterations to the threads this year. On the home Jersey they took the “Bob” out of Bobcats and now it just reads “Cats” in a baby blue font paying homage to UNC. The road uniforms are my favorite’s  on  it has a navy base minus the battleship gray pinstripes in a smaller font it reads “Charlotte” it has a much cleaner feel to it. The jersey’s are part of a new identity that the team is trying to forge with new head coach Mike Dunlap. The team improved it’s roster adding Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Jeffery Taylor through the draft along with veterans like Ben Gordon, Ramon Sessions and Brendan Haywood. The team looks to be tougher, faster and stronger then last year and as they continue to improve they will look good in the new uni’s those get a thumbs up.

Denver Nuggets

Of all the teams New Jersey’s this season this one is by far my favorite. It features a yellow base which is weird for the Nuggets because that color has always been an outline and never the base of a jersey. Then it Pays homage to the 80’s Alex English era of basketball with the Denver skyline along the rocky mountains. These Jersey’s although they are alternate’s and will only be worn 17 times this year get a 10 out of 10 thumbs up. It looks to be an exciting year of basketball in the city of Denver this year. Ty Lawson during the unveiling of the new jersey boldy proclaimed his team as “The team to beat” in the western conference. I’m definetly rooting for Ty and the Nuggets and look forward to watching them play in the new swagged out jersey’s

New York Knicks

Of all the jersey’s that made changes this offseason the Knicks made the least amount any changes to the jersey’s. They Basically took out any black outlines they once had in the jersey’s. it looks more like the team’s jerseys from the Walter Frazier days I guess that’s what they were going for. In my humble opinion though I feel like they just wanted a revenue stream to combat what the nets did.

San Antonio Spurs

I really don’t like these because when you have won multiple championships and are known as a dynasty in basketball why mess with something great seriously. I’m so happy these are alternates.