For many decades, there has been the connotation that “rappers want to be athletes, athletes want to be rappers” (Stoute 150). We’ve seen the intermingling of the two professions from the early 90s when Shaquille O’Neal started rapping (Joseph, Revisiting Shaquille). Others, like Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson, also hopped on the bandwagon early. Now, there are much more serious attempts by those of Louis Williams and Damian Lillard. On the other side, we have seen numerous hip-hop artists show their love for sports. Be it Nelly’s numerous songs relating to his athletic skillsets, or even his movie, The Longest Yard, where he is the running back. Another prime example of rappers transitioning to the sports world was described perfectly
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Not only were they starting to accumulate similarities, a transition into each other’s line of work was beginning to happen. Shaquille O’Neal released an album, Shaq Diesel, which went platinum (Daniels, Shaq’s Overlooked Rap Success), and led the general public to become “blessed” with hearing a plethora of NBA players try their skills out on the mic. Likewise, the current culture also allows for hip-hop stars to shine when it comes to sports. A great example is during the NBA or MLB all-star festivities. There are always a couple rappers who take the celebrity games all too seriously. Some emcees are even going through with their dream to make it big in the sports world. The most recent example is Lil’ B who is taking his talents to Philadelphia (Burton, Lil B Accepts …show more content…
There will now be that of a bidding war to acquire the top athletes towards the personal brands of the artists. Although some of the friendships will still develop naturally, many of them will be more of a business decision. Similar to that of the shoe companies bidding for the star athletes, the hip-hop industry will now start the same thing. Although some might argue that it might be distasteful to “buy” their friends, it will actually be quite the opposed. That thought process will not come into play, it will solely be focused as to who has the most money to afford the next LeBron James or DeSean Jackson to add to their association. The additions will be looked at as a terms of luxury. The most successful artists will then be able to afford the best athletes to represent their
Not only were they starting to accumulate similarities, a transition into each other’s line of work was beginning to happen. Shaquille O’Neal released an album, Shaq Diesel, which went platinum (Daniels, Shaq’s Overlooked Rap Success), and led the general public to become “blessed” with hearing a plethora of NBA players try their skills out on the mic. Likewise, the current culture also allows for hip-hop stars to shine when it comes to sports. A great example is during the NBA or MLB all-star festivities. There are always a couple rappers who take the celebrity games all too seriously. Some emcees are even going through with their dream to make it big in the sports world. The most recent example is Lil’ B who is taking his talents to Philadelphia (Burton, Lil B Accepts …show more content…
There will now be that of a bidding war to acquire the top athletes towards the personal brands of the artists. Although some of the friendships will still develop naturally, many of them will be more of a business decision. Similar to that of the shoe companies bidding for the star athletes, the hip-hop industry will now start the same thing. Although some might argue that it might be distasteful to “buy” their friends, it will actually be quite the opposed. That thought process will not come into play, it will solely be focused as to who has the most money to afford the next LeBron James or DeSean Jackson to add to their association. The additions will be looked at as a terms of luxury. The most successful artists will then be able to afford the best athletes to represent their