50 Cent SPEAKS On Athletes Trying To RAP

by **J The Kidd** Wed Dec 17, 2008 12:02 pm

What do you think when you hear athletes try to rap? It seems like all the musicians want to be athletes and all the athletes want to be musicians.
I think a lot of the athletes come from a place of not having very much when they’re growing up, so they relate to the content of the lyrics. There’s also the competitive nature of the art form. Like fighters, like professional ball players, rappers condition themselves to be winners. Hip hop artists might not condition themselves physically, but they’re conditioning themselves mentally in order to feel like the champ. I think the professional athlete can actually identify with the competitive edge that’s actually involved in it. The music has an aggression and speaks a different language to a guy who comes from nothing.

I think their attraction to hip hop is seeing where they come from to seeing where they are now. The music sums up their lives. Shaq made an album. Kobe made an album. Kobe’s album sucked. It would’ve been better if he let me write it. A lot of professional athletes have attempted to do it. Ron Artest almost missed his season trying to do it. It’s a lot harder than it looks.