Comparing 5 NBA Superstars to Rappers
Comparing NBA players and rappers has been done plenty of times but the comparisons tend to be pretty lazy or outdated.
So here is an up-to-date and fairly well-thought out list of NBA player-rapper comps written by our pop culture expert, Bocephus M. Greene aka caineandguns.
Stephen Curry & Young Thug
These men are instrumental in the revolution towards efficiency in each of their respective professions.
Before the emergence of Young Thug, there was an overemphasis on enunciation and using big words in rap music.
What Thug’s breakout showed was that how you say things was far more important than what you were saying. Where other rappers would need 4 minutes to convey their emotions to their listeners, all Thug ever needed was a single word or a single adlib to convey those exact same emotions. Less talking, more feeling.
Before the emergence of Steph Curry, there was an overemphasis on mid-range jump shots and post possessions in basketball.
What Curry’s breakout showed was the importance of floor spacing. Having a perimeter-based offense took advantage of the disparity in value between three point shots and long-twos. It also opened up the court in a way that allowed all five players could get better looks around the basket. Less pounding the air out of the ball, more points.
They were both hated by old heads and closed-minded young folks alike for disrupting the status quo.
People thought there was no room for a gender-nonconforming Blood from Atlanta mucking up the rap game with his dresses bending the rules of hip hop fashion and his lyrics bending our perception of hip hop language.
And in basketball, people thought there was no room for a 6 foot 3 guard being the best player on a championship team. Nor did they think there was any chance that a 3-point-centric team like the Warriors could win a championship.
However, Thug and Steph both proved to be the victors in the end.
Over 5 years removed from Thug’s breakout, “mumble rap” is no longer a revolutionary stance against the laws of language as much as it is the norm for rapping. And over the course of his career, Young Thug has put together one of the most impressive discographies in rap history using the very methods he was once criticized for.
Over 5 years removed from Curry’s breakout, attempting lots and lots of threes is no longer an act of rebellion as much it is the new smart way to play basketball. And over the course of his career, Curry has established himself as one of the greatest players in NBA history. Thriving with the very style of play that many thought would be his demise.
Kevin Durant & Future
The starting point for the comp here is painfully obvious. They are both all-time greats who have a tendency to disappoint us — for reasons that have nothing to with their actual performance — because they are constantly in their feelings.
Durant could retire from basketball today and would be one of the 15 greatest players to step on a court. Future could never make another album and would go down as one of the 15 greatest rap artists to ever pick up a mic (in this man’s opinion).
They both have the quality and consistency that people look for in legendary athletes and legendary artists, but sometimes their antics can distract from their greatness and make people wonder how anyone could ever be fans of either of them.
“The Servant” and Future Hendrix have unresolved inner-turmoil and many times it manifests itself into corny outbursts.
Kevin has handled his move to the Warriors about as tactlessly as he possibly could have. He’s repeatedly hopped on social media (many times anonymously) to defend himself and throw his former teammates under the bus.
There have also been numerous occasions in which he has lashed out at reporters for asking benign questions in an attempt to fight back against this “Anti-Kevin” agenda he believes the media has despite years of the media coddling him more than any player of his caliber has ever been coddled.
Likewise, Future has handled his breakup with Ciara about as tactlessly as he possibly could have. Posting gun emojis pointed at football emojis in Instagram comment sections, insinuating that he wanted to bring harm to Russell Wilson for dating and later marrying his ex.
His jealousy also led him to drop one of the worst songs ever made, “P*ssy Overrated.” He and Wiz Khalifa thought it would be a good idea to team up and bash their ex-girlfriends (who they each allegedly cheated on) over Mike Will Made-It production. Long story short: It wasn’t a good idea.
However, there is one important distinction that must be made between these two gentlemen: Future is objectively a way cooler person than Kevin Durant is.
When Future has embarrassing moments of insecurity our response is usually, “Daaamn Fewtch, you wild bro lmao.”
Whereas when Kevin has embarrassing moments of insecurity our response is usually, “See, here he goes again!!!”
The difference is Future embraces his flaws just enough for them to blend in with the rest of his aesthetic. He’s made them a staple of his subject matter.
Compare that to Kevin Durant who has ran from his insecurities throughout his career until they grew large enough to become part and parcel of his reputation.
If Durant wants to continue to play the petty game like Future does, he could afford to be a bit more assertive about it like Future is.
Giannis Antetokounmpo & Playboi Carti
At the early onset of their careers, they each had a dedicated following of fans who swore up and down that they would eventually become superstars. But there was an equally large if not larger group of people who were resistant towards the idea of either of them ever reaching that level of success.
Some people saw Carti as a Chief Keef offspring that lacked Keef’s sincerity. Some people saw Giannis as a Kevin Durant offspring that lacked KD’s jump shot. But what we later learned is that each of these guys were self-aware enough to only take on the traits of their predecessors that suited them.
Carti saw the impact Keef’s adlibs and Keef’s succinct catchy lyrics had on people and decided, “I’m just going to stick to making incredible adlibs and all of my songs will be catchy and succinct. That’s it.”
Giannis saw how no man on earth could stop Durant from driving to the basket and decided, “I’m just going to take it to the rack every play. That’s it.”
And once they found their bread and butter, they became comfortable enough to expand upon their craft and add things to their games that took them out of the shadow of their influencers.
For Carti, the big changes he made to distinguish himself were teaming up with Pi’erre Bourne for more unique production and unleashing his signature Gerber baby voice flow.
For Giannis, the big change he made was literally becoming bigger. He became a far stronger and bulkier human being than Kevin Durant ever was and distinguished himself from Durant by becoming a dominant low post presence and an elite interior defender.
They both added to their repertoires at a methodical pace until they developed into superstars who are worthy of respect as their own individual entities.
Anthony Davis & Lil Uzi Vert
Both of these guys had decently high expectations from the jump.
Anthony Davis entered the league as the number one overall pick fresh off of winning a National Championship and becoming the 2nd freshman in NCAA history to win the Naismith Player of the Year award.
Uzi broke into the game with co-signs from the likes of DJ Drama, Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Mob and Young Thug and toured with Fall Out Boy; all before he had even made his commercial mixtape debut with Luv is Rage in 2015.
You could watch both of them early in their careers and see the vision. You saw how each of them could become stars. But very few people saw them becoming the forces they are today so early in their careers.
By age 21, Anthony Davis was averaging 25 points per game, 10 rebounds per game and 3 blocks on 53% shooting and was leading his franchise to their first playoff appearance in 3 seasons.
By age 22, Lil Uzi Vert was becoming a household name, dropped three huge projects in one year and was being enlisted heavily for feature verses.
However, despite all of their accomplishments to this point, they still have a couple flaws that I’m sure they’d like to overcome.
Anthony Davis has only made the playoffs twice in his career and his 3 point shot hasn’t come along quite like some may have expected.
Lil Uzi has only dropped 2 projects that have been universally well-received (Luv is Rage and Lil Uzi Vert vs The World) and he hasn’t expanded his subject matter as much as some listeners would have hoped.
With Anthony Davis turning 26 last month and Lil Uzi Vert turning 25 next month, it is clear that their best years are ahead of them.
Both of them are currently trapped in situations they hope to escape, but their freedom is near.
The Brow is currently stuck in New Orleans on a minutes restriction after a failed attempt at forcing a trade and hopes to be traded this offseason before he enters the final year of his contract.
Uzi is currently stuck with Atlantic Records/Generation Now and claims they won’t let him release his album. But it has been reported that Jay Z’s Roc Nation label restructured Uzi’s contract so that he only has to release one last album with Atlantic Records and then he would be free to drop music under Roc Nation’s management.
Hopefully AD and Uzi will be able to reach the peak of their potentials once they are settled in more comfortable situations.
Paul George & G Herbo
Started off as incredible prodigies, but after a while we stopped paying as much attention to them when they didn’t take as large of a leap as we expected them to.
What they had developed into were great performers who always found themselves a half-step away from being elite. And despite how young they were, we figured that was the level they were going to stay at for the rest of their careers.
But then out of nowhere, the leap came.
For Herbo it came in late 2017 with the release of Humble Beast, his most complete work and one of the more well-rounded rap albums that have been made in recent history.
For PG it came this 2018–19 season, as we finally saw his elite offensive potential catch up to his elite defensive ability and the end result has been one of the best two-way seasons in NBA history.
Now the question remains can they stay elite?
Herbo has since followed up Humble Beast with two great projects in Swervo and Still Swervin, so the answer for him thus far has been a resounding yes.
The playoffs start this weekend for Paul George so we’ll see if he can continue to lead OKC, partially torn rotator cuff and all.
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