Ever since Shaq Diesel made it big in hip-hop back in 1993, NBA started getting associated with R&B and hip-hop music fairly regularly. There have been many musicians who have gone all poetic on the NBA stars, bragging about their skills, love lives, fame and more, time and again!

Then there are quite a few NBA stars that have served as muse for famous musicians. Drake has been referred to as ‘greatest fake NBA coach ever’, Stephen Curry has featured in quite a few rap lyrics and Kobe Bryant has a Chief Keef song named after him!  On the other hand, there have been many ballers who have been vocal about their admiration for this genre of music. Below we tell you about some of the famous NBA players who have in fact tried their hand at rap, including some who even enjoyed decent success doing it!

Kobe Bryant

Black Mamba did a fairly good job proving his credentials as a rapper through his song ‘Kobe’ that went like ‘What I live for? Basketball, beats and broads’. It featured supermodel Tyra Banks too. Although Bryant is often given credit for five championships won by LA Lakers, over his 20 year long career, his rap career didn’t last very long.

Tony Parker

Tony Parker, the point guard for San Antonio Spurs tested his hand at rap back in 2007. He released a full-length album titled TP, featuring Soprano (the French rapper) and Jamie Foxx, the R&B singer. The album contained French lyrics through and through.

Shaquille O’Neal

24 years ago in 1996, Shaq was part of a film named Kazaam in which he played a charismatic genie for an introverted child suffering from daddy problems. However, long before world started recognizing him for Kazaam, Shaq acquainted everyone with his rhyming skills through his debut album titled Shaq Diesel, in 1993. The album quickly rose up the Billboard 200 charts and went up to No. 25 in no time, becoming a certified platinum. It was the most successful album he created till date.

Lou Williams

The Philadelphia 76ers player Lou Williams dabbled into hip-hop many number of times. He got featured in ‘I want it all’ by Philly Native and also free styled over ‘I’m a Boss’ single of Meek Mill. The Lakers’ shooting guard also created his own rendition of Desiigner’s hit number ‘Panda’.

Damian Lillard

Popularly known as Dame D.O.L.L.A, his rap moniker, Damien Lillard showed off his inclination towards rap after getting engaged in a ‘Sway in the morning’ freestyle version. He launched his debut album titled ‘The Letter O’ in October, 2016, and brought on board many artists including Juvenile, Marsha Ambrosius, Jamie Foxx and Lil Wayne. With this album, he proved that he is an excellent talent both off and on the basketball court.

Metta World Peace

Ron Artest, LA Lakers’ forward who is popularly known as Metta World Peace or MWP released his debut album titled ‘My World’ in 2006. Thereafter, he released multiple singles as well as couple more albums to prove that he indeed qualifies for the rap game, and is in it to stay.