Incredibly Specific Player References In Rap Songs

This newsletter has covered the wonderful duo between basketball and rappers before, but there are plenty more lyrics out there.

Today, we’re looking at a few particular references that really only apply to one person and one person only. Let’s dive. onin!

Drake — “6 Man”

The line: Two girls and they get along/Like I’m Lou Will

Drake name drops Lou Williams several times in the opening bars of the song, but this reference is the most specific one.

Williams carved out a lengthy and productive NBA career largely as a 6th man (hence the name of the song), providing some potent offense coming off the bench.

But this line references something else about Williams. Namely, that he was dating two women at once and everyone was fine with the situation.

Williams said this is more common than you might think, but as far as we know, he’s still the only player in such a scenario to be named in a song.

Kanye West — “Monster”

The line: Do the rap and the track, triple-double, no assists

This song features a ton of guest performances on it, most notably Nicki Minaj announcing her arrival to the hip-hop world.

Though her verse is insanely impressive, it’s Kanye West (or Ye, as he legally changed his name to last year) who delivers the extremely niche reference here.

Typically, if an NBA player gets a triple-double, they get at least 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

But 7’6″ Shawn Bradley did things a little differently. All six of his career triple-doubles have come via points, rebounds, and blocks.

In fact, three of those triple-doubles feature no assists at all. Truly a magical feat.

SupaHotFire — “Rap Battle vs Blueface”

The line: I take the ball, I bounce it/I shoot, I miss it/SIKE, I swished it

If you’ve ever seen someone diss someone else on the Internet, you’ve likely come across this gif.

It’s from a series of videos featuring SupaHotFire, a rapper dropping some delightful verses during rap battles. And it makes me smile every time I see it.

So, this rap is oddly specific in that it’s me referencing one of my favorite gifs via the rapper referencing himself.

Trust me, it works. Please drop these bars in your next staff meeting and watch everyone react like they do in this video.