Hip Hop and basketball have a lot of similarities between them. As people often say, every rapper wants to be a hooper, and every hooper wants to be a rapper. There are plenty of real-life examples of this as well. J Cole trying to play basketball professionally is one, while NBA star Damian Lillard making music is another. A lot of players and rappers are tight with one another as well, James Harden and Lil Baby’s friendship makes the headlines now and then.
There is also the similarity that stars in both fields are predominantly African American. Hip hop is an art form developed within African American communities, and the legends of the art are men like Tupac, Biggie Smalls, and Snoop Dogg, to name some. Basketball is also no different, with a majority of the athletes coming from African American communities, often the same ones that rappers hail from.
Snoop Dogg Said Eminem Is The Larry Bird Of Hip Hop
Larry Bird is a legend in the NBA, he’s on most people’s list of Top 10 players in history. Although not the most athletic, Larry was known for his killer instinct, elite shooting, and epic trash-talk. And according to Snoop Dogg, world-famous rapper Eminem is hip hop’s Larry Bird. Snoop Dogg made an appearance on Know Mercy with Stephen A. Smith recently and compared Bird and Eminem during the conversation.
“He’s like Larry Bird cuz. Remember when n****s used to act like ‘that’s white boy shit’ then all of a sudden that motherf***er put 40 on your a**. Hey man, you know what, Larry Bird is a bad motherf***er man.”
Snoop Dogg knows a thing or two about what Larry Bird used to do to opponents, the rapper was a Lakers fan during the great rivalry between them and the Celtics in the 1980s. He is well informed on both basketball and hip hop enough to make a comparison like this, even though a lot of people may look at it as just a take based on race.
Eminem and Larry Bird both have become legends even though people doubted them, and in that sense, Snoop’s comparison is quite valid. Em and Bird will both be remembered among the greatest ever when everything is said and done, and their talent and skill are what has helped them achieve that. There aren’t many basketball fans who would scant Larry Legend, and similarly, no hip hop fans would talk down too often on the Real Slim Shady.
