"Next thing you know, there’s Soulja Boy, sitting courtside at Playoff Game three between the Cavs and the Wizards. His song Crank Dat blared through the stadium at halftime…"
An historic NBA finals series is underway, bringing together the Boston Celtics and the LA Lakers 20 years after the Magic Johnson/Larry Bird rivalry captivated fans. But for hip hop generation fans like Youth Radio’s Brandon McFarland, another interesting rivalry kicked off much earlier in the playoff season.
It was a highly forgettable player who sparked the first sports rap battle:
“Stevenson for three! Are you kidding me? You’re down fifteen points and you’re gonna do that?”
After this game in March, the Washington Wizards’ DeShawn Stevenson dared to say that Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James is overrated.
On the surface, this seems like just Sunday barbershop talk. But consider the source – Stevenson’s season average is about 11 points per game. Lebron James routinely clocks about 30. So naturally, he couldn’t leave Stevenson’s challenge unanswered. Bypassing all sports metaphors, Lebron James invoked hip hop.
James compared himself to Jay Z, who’s sometimes called the best rapper alive. He compared Stevenson to one-hit wonder Soulja Boy.
MUSIC – Soulja Boy/crank dat
Next thing you know, there’s Soulja Boy, sitting courtside at Playoff Game three between the Cavs and the Wizards. His song Crank Dat blared through the stadium at halftime…
MUSIC – Soulja Boy/Crank Dat
“Ladies and gentlemen Soulja Boy is in the building!”
The very next day, Jay Z himself came with the slam dunk.
MUSIC – Jay Z: Blow the Whistle hits hot, fades
Jay Z made a diss track in defense of his homie LeBron, and debuted it at a D.C. nightclub.
MUSIC - Jay Z’s Blow the Whistle hits hot
Now, you may think this sounds like one bad crossover move. Jay Z the rapper is too established to be involving himself in petty baller beef. But Jay Z the businessman knows that controversy sells…be it albums or stadium seats. And as part owner of the New Jersey Nets, it’s a smart business move to use your rap credentials to defend the best player in the league.
MUSIC- More Jay Z’s Blow the Whistle
So what does LeBron James get out of all this rabble rousing? Jay Z…also known as Jigga…helps enhance his superstardom, just like guesting on SNL or his Eddie Murphy-esque shoe commercials.
Patrick Johnson hosts a sports music radio show called Curt Flood EPMD. He says James is part of the new school of players who’ve come up in the post- Michael Jordan era when you’re not just a player—you’re a brand.
…really he’s seeing himself as being a huge multimedia mogul. That’s one of the reasons he hangs out with folks like Jigga. He…understood at an early age that sports is simply entertainment, and it’s part of this huge entertainment industry.
And a sports rap battle like this one is much better entertainment than when ballers and rappers try to do each others’ jobs, like Master P’s terrible performance playing for the Hornets, or Shaquille O’Neal’s entire rap career.
Fans of both basketball and hip hop were lighting up the music blogs over this one – and you can’t buy that kind of buzz.
Perhaps this whole affair is best summed up by Jay Z himself:
MUSIC - Jay Z Diamonds in Sierra Leone verse comes up under Brandon
