| If youâve been subscribed to Crisp Bounce Pass for a while, you know that Iâm a big fan of the intersection of basketball and music. There are so many fantastic lyrics out there that reference the game, players, mascots, and so much more. I enjoy discovering these and sharing them with other people. If youâre a newer subscriber, well, you can call me a melodic wind turbine, because Iâm a big fan of basketball and music getting together. The very first issue of Crisp Bounce Pass covered basketball lyrics in music. And here we are, 50 issues later, making some sweet harmonies once again. Letâs jam. The line: Catch me at that Memphis game, seats saved by Rudy/Or Marc Gasol, or Selby do, thatâs plenty dough This song is largely about making enough money to flaunt it everywhere and let people know you have a lot of cash. Itâs a fairly unique concept in rap, so Iâm glad to see it here. Our basketball line is delivered by Wale, who is just as at home talking hoops as he is releasing a mixtape revolving around Seinfeld. In any case, Wale is good friends with former Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay. Both are from the DMV (the Washington Metropolitan Area) and love joking around with each other on Twitter. This song came out in 2013. Back then, the Grizzlies were led by Gay, Marc Gasol andâŚJosh Selby? Gay has had a long and productive NBA career thatâs still going as of this writing. Marc Gasol is a multi-time All-Star and won an NBA championship in 2019. And Selby is from Baltimore, so his inclusion here makes sense geographically. ButâŚwell, heâs made a lot less money than those other two guys. Selby played just 296 minutes in the league and made $1,312,295 over two years. Thatâs actually a fantastic per-minute rate of making money, but I digress. Heâs probably one of the most obscure NBA players to ever be named in a song. Hopefully, he receives a royalty every time this jam gets played.
The line: Killers Born Naturally, like Mickey and Mallory/Not knowing the waysâll get you capped, like an NBA salary Black Star is a very good hip-hop duo consisting of Mos Def and Talib Kweli. The latter is the one dropping these bars. You also may recognize Common from every NBA Celebrity Game ever or those Microsoft AI commercials. When I was in college, Talib Kweli came to our campus to perform a show during homecoming weekend. Unfortunately, our neighborhood had a noise restriction that required all live music to cease playing by 10 p.m. every night. Was it a silly rule? Absolutely, especially since our campus was in a pretty sizable standalone spot. Yet the rules stood, and concerts had to start earlier to avoid running into trouble. However, in this case, the opening act (whoever it was) ran long. Note to any musicians out there: If you are the opening act at a homecoming event, please do not go over your allotted time. I have been in your shoes before. Itâs super cool introducing new fans to your music. But sometimes, you have to realize the majority of the audience is there to see the headliner. And when you go over your set time by close to half an hour, itâs not a good look. Someday, youâll be written about in an email, and the author wonât even remember your name. Being forgotten is worse than being hated. In any case, our school was SO into this noise rule that as soon as 10 p.m. hit, Talib Kweliâs concert ended. The only problem? He didnât know about this rule, so the sound shut off in the middle of the song. Note to any sound techs out there: Good lord, please do not cut a musician off mid-song. I donât care if itâs the 32nd verse of âWe Didnât Start the Fire,â let the thing finish before shutting the show down. As a result, Talib Kweli got upset and tried to say a few things a cappella, without the aid of his microphone amplifying the sound. Alas, the crowd, which was mostly full of drunken college students, started yelling and booing, and we never did hear what Talib Kweli had to say. Anyway, this is a really clever line. Talib Kweli drops a reference to the 1994 movie Natural Born Killers and then seamlessly references the NBA salary cap. Itâs one thing to slip a playerâs name into a rhyme. But giving props to the financial pool that allows teams to pay out NBA contracts? Thatâs some next-level work.
The line: Basketball is my favorite sport/I like the way they dribble up and down the court As its title suggests, this entire song is about basketball. And yes, there are better lines scattered throughout the tune. But about 40 percent of the time when I say the word âbasketballâ out loud, I add âis my favorite sportâ afterward. No other song has had that kind of pull on me. Well done, Mr. Blow. Also, please enjoy this music video, if only for the âcompetitiveâ basketball game going on behind Kurtis as he raps. |