The Secret History of Kobe Bryant's Failed Rap Career....

[jjs07]

Long, but a GREAT read

The Secret History of Kobe Bryant's Rap Career
Whatever happened to the Lakers superstar's music dreams?
By Thomas Golianopoulos on April 12, 2013

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For three weeks during the summer of 1998, Kobe Bryant lived in the New Jersey mansion of hip-hop record executive Steve Stoute. Bryant was there to try on the role of rap star, but since he was also training to be the next Michael Jordan, basketball consumed most of his time. Every morning, he'd drive to nearby Ramapo College and shoot 2,000 jump shots. Sometimes, Stoute would shuttle in streetball players from New York to help Bryant brush up on his defense. By sundown every day, though, he was tasked with absorbing "the lifestyle," a kind of initiation into the late-'90s world of rap royalty.

That was the idea, anyway. At the time, Stoute was president of urban music for Sony Entertainment, and he'd recently signed Bryant and his group CHEIZAW1 to the label. He'd moved Bryant from Los Angeles to New York that summer to, Stoute says, be around the gilded hip-hop industry. Stoute, a marketing whiz and big-picture specialist, was reaching unseen heights in the industry, having recently orchestrated Will Smith's comeback rap album, the nine-times platinum Big Willie Style. He thought he could do the same for Kobe Bryant. Basketball came naturally to the 20-year-old. Hip-hop was going to take some work.

But Bryant was up for it. When he wasn't playing ball, he was recording at the Hit Factory with late-'90s producers par excellence the Trackmasters and their stable of artists, which included Nas, Noreaga, Punch and Words, Nature, and a young scrapper named 50 Cent. Bryant lived it up in New York. He routinely went clubbing with Stoute2 and dined at Mr. Chow,3 the Chinese restaurant favored by the nouveau riche.

None of that impressed him, though. Bryant was in love with the purest form of hip-hop, and he wanted a challenge: to battle the pros.

He got his wish one night at the Hit Factory, when he teamed with CHEIZAW member Broady Boy to take on Punch and Words. Bryant, typically unflappable, maintained his composure at the outset. Upon entering the fray, he rapped: "I quantum leap into the future and battle myself." After a few rounds, Broady ran out of lyrics and the sparring session wound down. Kobe then chided his teammate.4 "Yo, you got to be in lyrical fitness, man," Bryant told Broady, referencing a well-known lyric by the rapper Canibus.

Rest of Article in Link

 

[onewearz]

i remember when kobe was a rapper .. good times

 

[crazy ebw]

Kkkkkkkkobe doin work two four on my shirt.

Kobe's raps>Shaqs raps

 

[jjs07]

There were some crazy stories in there...the two that stuck out to me:

It's impossible to tell the story of Kobe Bryant's rap career without telling the story of Kevin Sanchez, the man responsible for molding Bryant into an MC.

On July 27, 1996, a man concealing his face with a Stroehmann bread bag robbed the 7-Eleven on City Avenue. The clerk told police the thief was 5-foot-8 and 120 pounds, with dark eyes. Sanchez, who is 6 feet and 185 pounds and green-eyed, says he was at the Jewish community center rhyming with Bryant, Bannister, and others at the time of the crime. Still, the clerk picked him out of a lineup. Sanchez was arrested.

Sanchez remained in contact with Bryant before his September 1998 trial; Bryant helped post his bail, according to Bannister, and appeared at a preliminary hearing. Sometimes, Bryant called him asking for "some energy" before games. Sanchez would then sit in his car and rhyme over the phone to Bryant. "For some dumb reason, I thought I had something to do with him scoring 30," Sanchez says. "I was silly like that."

Sanchez's trial lasted two days. Five eyewitnesses couldn't identify him, but he was found guilty of armed robbery and sentenced to five to 10 years in prison; Bryant paid for Bannister to fly in from Los Angeles to testify, but Bryant didn't appear at the trial. After the conviction, a juror told the Philadelphia Daily News that Bryant's testimony could have swayed the jury. Nearly 15 years later, Sanchez isn't bitter. "It wasn't Kobe's fault I went to jail. I don't blame him," he says. "We didn't think we'd need him. It was a false ID. There was no way we were going to lose."

Sanchez spent 15 months in prison before a judge granted his request for a new trial. Out on bail, he got his old job back working maintenance at a beauty salon, and had courtside seats waiting for him whenever the Lakers were in town. But the district attorney challenged the appeal and Sanchez returned to prison. He was released in early 2007 after serving five years. He's still a Lakers fan.

"No one can tell me nothing about my team," he says. "I ride and die for them." Kobe Bryant is his favorite player. And whenever he plays roulette in Atlantic City, he always puts his money on number 8 and number 24.

&

With Bryant camped out in the studio, Sony continued to emphasize the marketing campaign. The label sought ways to capitalize on his youth, NBA fame, and growing music industry ties — escorting Brandy to his prom and appearing in the Destiny's Child video for "Bug A Boo." (To secure his bona fides, Bryant was willing to take on all comers, including Toronto Raptors point guard Alvin Williams at All-Star Weekend.)9 The crux of the label's plan, however, was eliminating the group.

for the #9 footnote:

"It wasn't a battle," Alvin Williams says. "I was walking out of the Hilton and bumped into him as he and a couple of buddies were getting out of a limousine. I said, 'What are you going to do?' He's like, 'Go to my room and rap until my voice gets hoarse.' I go, 'You can't rap.' It was like straight out of a movie. He says, 'I can't rap?' Then he turned to one of his friends and said, 'Give me a beat.' His friend started beatboxing. Kobe then rapped for about 15 minutes straight. By the time we finished, I swear to God, there are like 150 people circled around. Then everyone expected me to rap. I walked away. I don't rap. They had their whole routine. It was straight out of Krush Groove. He wasn't that bad. And I'm a rap head."

To have only been there.....

 

[dt43]

From the vid they linked:

no wonder Shaq was so bitter.. he got murdered on his own track

Shaq also took shots at Kobe in 2001. "I'm at All-Star Weekend in D.C. and I ran into Shaq," Rick Nice says. "He's wearing a white fur and we're in the VIP section in the hotel. I am trapped in the corner. He has a radio with CDs and he's playing the beats and he's rhyming, freestyling, making **** up off the top of his head. 'Something something and I can't stand Kobe / Something something and I rap better than Kobe / Something something I flip skills better than Kobe / I score more than Kobe.' After a while, I'm looking at him like, 'Why are you going so hard at Kobe with these rhymes?' I didn't know what to feel. It felt weird. I'm trying to flirt with girls and Shaq had me in a headlock rhyming about Kobe. He said, 'I got bars. I got bars for Kobe.' He had this radio that looked little in his hand. He had beat CDs and was changing the CDs and rapping and wouldn't let you leave until you heard his rap. I was like, 'Wow, OK.'"

Seeing all this, it seems like the feud was deeper than we thought.


Anyways, this was a really good read. Probably the best article I've read on Kobe, because it actually gives you some insight into who he is outside of basketball (as opposed to the usual fluff pieces "Oh he works so hard at his craft, all he thinks about is the game").

Jordan, Magic, etc's personal lives were pretty much in the open. But for Kobe it seems like we haven't really been able to get a good read on the guy, for whatever reason.

 

[elpablo21]

no wonder Shaq was so bitter.. he got murdered on his own track

 

Clark Kent

Good read

 

[senorroboto2k5]

had no idea there was a Shaq x Kobe (x Sonja Blade) collaboration

plus that Alvin Williams story is hilarious... if they made a Pitch Perfect about rap battles, that's what it would look like...

 

[johnson1]

One of my favorite jamz..

Kobe and the GOAT of celebrity ballers, Brian McKnight

 

[knightngale]

 

[westcoastsfinest]

Interesting.

 

[Bert.]

K.O.B.E with Tyra was my jam


haters gon hate

 

[Deleted member 38182]

I love the many different faces of Kobe that he's had thru out his life.

 

[5am6oody72]

"Shaq also took shots at Kobe in 2001. "I'm at All-Star Weekend in D.C. and I ran into Shaq," Rick Nice says. "He's wearing a white fur and we're in the VIP section in the hotel. I am trapped in the corner. He has a radio with CDs and he's playing the beats and he's rhyming, freestyling, making **** up off the top of his head. 'Something something and I can't stand Kobe / Something something and I rap better than Kobe / Something something I flip skills better than Kobe / I score more than Kobe.' After a while, I'm looking at him like, 'Why are you going so hard at Kobe with these rhymes?' I didn't know what to feel. It felt weird. I'm trying to flirt with girls and Shaq had me in a headlock rhyming about Kobe. He said, 'I got bars. I got bars for Kobe.' He had this radio that looked little in his hand. He had beat CDs and was changing the CDs and rapping and wouldn't let you leave until you heard his rap. I was like, 'Wow, OK.'""

*DEAD* @ the thought of this

 

[pmatic]

How is Shaq going to let Kobe murder him on his own shhh.

 

[kdawg]

I nearly posted this a few years ago. Really interesting article.

 

[lyonbc1]

Just read it today, really awesome piece....Had me and at the same time at parts of it....I know dude still writes verses when he's not working on his game, curious about some of those earlier songs though that never saw the light of day, Bean sounds like he had serious bars Would love to see him battle AI back in the days of 40 Bars

 

[jjs07]

I nearly posted this a few years ago. Really interesting article.

How'd you nearly post this a few years ago?

 

[smangalang]

that tyra song was the worst

and this song is the gift that keeps on giving

 

[kdawg]

I nearly posted this a few years ago. Really interesting article.

How'd you nearly post this a few years ago?

Good spot. Brain fart. I was thinking days when I wrote it. Stumble upon gave it to me late lat week.

 

[pr0phecy718]

ehh

 

[nycknicks105]

Shaq was a rapper too

 

[mw2889]

Shaq actually had a career in rap though, Platinum album, Gold album, three top 50 songs

 

[scooterman87]

I remember kobe rapping on Brian McKnights joint 

 

[bangtcg]

From Shaq's Book

View media item 411366


Kobe in the lab at night.