Who’s the Best MC: Comparing Hoops and Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop and hoops are inextricably linked.  Ballers want to rap, rappers want to ball, and fans of one are often supporters of the other.  Why?  Both worlds share a common culture.  Pro and college basketball players today often hail from urban playgrounds where Hip-Hop has its roots.  Basketball as an art form is smooth, spontaneous, and the definition of cool, truly poetry in motion, just like Hip-Hop.  If you can’t think on your feet, you won’t succeed in either.  Free-styling is the same as breaking your man down off the dribble; you try to undress that man, expose him, and prove just how bad you are.

I've been thinking about the link between these two art forms for a long time now, and I wanted to do a piece that spoke to both.  They’re two of my very favorite things in life, and the parallels are too viscerally obvious to ignore.  So here I compare some of the NBA’s best players to some of my favorite rappers.

Kevin Durant is to Basketball what G.U.R.U. was and is to Hip-Hop

The pinnacle of smooth, both men could make women compete in a bra tossing competition, one with a silk jumper and the other with that melodious voice.

Listen to GURU, close your eyes, and I swear you’ll see Durant give a little in-out dribble, cross over, and splash the bottom of the net.  And if you have no imagination:

Both men are/were (RIP GURU) the best at what they do, but most people will never know that because neither man was a sellout or a self-promoter.  The game, the art; that’s what mattered to GURU and what clearly matters to Durant, who, on the flip side of the LeBron James bombast, very quietly signed a long term extension for the Thunder this offseason.

Both men possess prodigious talent: Durant as a string bean scoring machine and GURU as a 5’8” menace on the microphone.  But in the end, it’s mostly the voice (or the jumper) that gets you up.

LeBron James is Kanye West

When James and West hit their respective scenes, they were going to change the game.  Each was next big thing, the one to take the mantle and become the greatest of all time, LeBron with his astounding athleticism and throwback, all-court game, Kanye with his endless bag of innovative beats, gimmicks, and endlessly catchy production.

Hell, "Jesus Walks" may as well have been the theme song for James when he entered the league.

But now:

and

Fame and expectations are ugly monsters in either music or sports.  We caught a glimpse of the talent that both West and James possessed and immediately put them in our media overexposure machine that eventually drives everyone crazy (look no further than Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Tom Cruise).  James hasn’t come unglued like West, but we have seen him change.  He’s become more egocentric and increasingly less self-aware but more self-conscious, if that’s possible.  It’s a pity for both men.  Ego doesn’t come on its own; it’s augmented by those that enable it, and West and James deal with millions of enablers every day.

As a result, we see the confusion of both James and West.  They seem to be asking, “What do you want from us.  How can we get you to love us?”  But the truth is we didn’t want to love them.  We wanted to consume them, so we did.  It’s a shame too, because we may never see either man reach the full potential of his talents, the very same talents that drew so many of us to them in the first place.

Kobe Bryant is (sigh) P Diddy

I don’t like it either but just wait.  Listen.  Hear me out.  I know Diddy is a horrible rapper, and Kobe is an all-time great, but the parallels are there.

First let’s think about what each man is in his essence.  Kobe is a scorer; that’s it.  Diddy is a business man.  Both men share a singular focus in their respective realms.  Kobe just wants to put the ball in the basket, and Diddy just wants to put money in his pocket.

Second, each man is detestable to the majority of people that consume either hoops or Hip-Hop.  Without an affable bone in their respective bodies, neither man has a lick of charisma.  In fact, both have rather grating personalities.  When either attempts to look friendly, it couldn’t feel more forced (Alex Rodriguez fits this mold for baseball).

Third, neither guy gives a damn what you think.  If Kanye and LeBron have been weighed down by expectations or the ire of the public, Diddy and Kobe have been spurred on by them.  Kobe thrives when people question him and excels especially when he perceives others doubt his abilities.  Diddy, though roundly disrespected as an MC, could honestly care less what anyone thinks so long as he keeps raking in eight figures each year.  Diddy and Kobe both lack that natural human quality of wanting to be liked, or at least lost it somewhere along the way, yet both have been successful for it.

One last thought: Kobe started his career in the shadow of Shaq and Diddy began as Biggie’s sidekick.  See, pretty similar after all.

Shaquille O’Neal is Snoop Dogg

Okay, not stylistically, not by a long shot, but in other ways these men have had very similar careers.  Both Shaq and Snoop burst on the scene in the early 90s and were dominant right away.  Shaq was the biggest physical force since Wilt.  Snoop was the coolest, smoothest rapper maybe ever.  Both had incredibly impressive runs from the late 90s to the early 2000s: Shaq winning three rings and Snoop churning out hits and reactivating his prime on The Chronic 2001.

Both have since seen their skills diminish—either from wear and tear, or from cumulative cannabis use—yet both men have managed to stay relevant.  Shaq keeps switching teams and chasing rings with Steve Nash, LeBron, and now the Boston Three Party.  Snoop continues to record music, even if it sucks.

The most striking parallel though is in their crossover appeal.  Both started as somewhat of a mystery to us—Shaq mumbled and Snoop was downright shy—but since have become celebrities outside of rap and hoops, at times in spite of their primary careers.  Shaq has recorded his own rap albums, done movies, appeared on talk shows, made millions in endorsements, and become a sound bite machine.

Snoop is now mostly famous outside of his rapping career, appearing whenever a dorky studio show wants to add some pop culture relevance/street cred.

Both also had messy breakups (Snoop and Suge Knight, Shaq with Kobe) while in Los Angeles.  Though this doesn’t relate Shaq and Snoop, Shaq kind of looks like Suge Knight—just thought I’d point that out.  And both men really weren’t better after they split with their partners.  Shaq declined rapidly and D-Wade carried him to a title.  Snoop’s music got increasingly soft, and lost the gangsta edge so many of us loved.

Tim Duncan is Barry Manilow

Haha got ya.  But it’s kinda true, right?

Allen Iverson is Eminem

Oops, I just broke a cardinal sports rule: Never compare a white guy to a black guy.  But do you really think Nash and Eminem are all that similar?  I certainly don’t.

Here’s why the Marshall Matthers-to-Iverson comparison works.  At a certain point in their respective careers, both were considered the very best at what they do despite huge disadvantages (Eminem was a white rapper, Iverson a 6-foot NBA MVP).  Also because of these disadvantages both were considered some of the toughest, most bad-ass men to ever grace a mic or lace up the shoes.

Second, despite their rough outward appearances, both are great interviews, incredibly smart and articulate men, and not without sensitivity.  Even though both had to be the toughest men in their lines of work, both possessed a reflective, contemplative side.

Third, any time you watched either one of these guys live, you knew there was one reason they were great: Doubters.  Both men performed with Stonehenge-sized chips on their shoulders, and it made them great.  They always wanted the biggest challenge possible.

Michael Jordan is Rakim

Simply, these two are considered the best all time at what they did, and with good reason.  Both were all around talents.  Jordan: lock down defense, evolutionary athlete, biggest competitor in the history of the sport, clutch, possessed every move in the offensive toolkit.  Rakim: Smooth, great flow, incredible lyrics, smart, witty, great DJ (consider Eric B his Scottie Pippen).  And just like Jordan, Rakim knew he was the baddest man alive.

Tupac, Biggie, Big L, Big Pun, ODB, and The D.O.C. are Len Bias, Jay Williams, Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, Tracy McGrady, and Yao Ming

Either death or injury robbed us of these mega-talents who, if given more time, may have been the very best ever at what they did.  I would argue that Biggie still is the best, but I digress.

Now let’s see some clips of these short lived greats:

Tupac

Biggie

Big L

Big Pun

Len Bias

Jay Williams

Grant Hill (Sorry for the horrible song, just mute it and watch.)

Penny (And you’re welcome for this musical selection, back on the right track!)

TMac

Sorry folks, but Yao Ming highlights just aren’t that fun to watch, unless you love plodding centers that shoot nothing but baby hooks.  ODB and DOC don’t have great youtube clips because Ol’ Dirty is mostly incomprehensible and DOC emerged too early.  But go get DOC’s No One Can do it Better right now!  You won’t regret it.

The Celtics are the Wu-Tang Clan

Both clans are tight-knit, grimy, and run at least nine deep.  The Wu has respect from the entire rap community, but they aren't overly famous.  Every team in the NBA fears Boston, and yet there is no singular "superstar" on the team.  Rajon Rondo qualifies as a one of the best players in the game but for whatever reason hasn't attained superstar attention or treatment.

The Wu's style is all about the strengths of each individual member complementing the overall success of the group.  RZA brings the beats, GZA the thought provoking lyrics, Raekwon the crazy slang, ODB the cocaine and insanity, Inspectah Deck the wicked flow, Method Man the humor and style, Ghostface brings versatillity and I could go on.  The Celtics have the exact same approach.  No single player is more important than the team.  Rondo brings the vision and involves the rest of the crew.  Ray Allen is simply the pure shooter.  Paul Pierce is the slasher and the closer.  Kevin Garnett is the soul of the team and the rim protector.  The bench mob of Jeff Green, Glen Davis, Delonte West, and Shaq bring energy, experience, and size.

“Rugged” is the word that comes to mind when I think of either the Celts or the Wu.  Call me crazy, but when the Celtics are smothering people with their defense, I can think of only one song.

Just replace "Wu-Tang Clan" with "The Boston Celtics" at the beginning of that title and you have Boston's personal motto.  "The Boston Celtics ain't nuthin to..."  Well, you get it.

The possible comparisons between hoops and Hip-Hop are virtually endless.  You really can’t have one without the other.  The two push each other, because in both worlds creativity, innovation, and historical greatness are the end goals (and making an appalling amount of money).

--from Adam