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This story first appeared in SLAM 252.
There was a time when each hooper wished to rap, and each rapper wished to hoop.
Hip-hop and hoops is a wedding that may’t be divorced. In its truest essence, they’ve been companions because the musical style was first created within the early Nineteen Seventies. Hip-hop’s rhythm resonated from the Bronx and cascaded over hardwood surfaces and blacktops throughout the globe. It’s a dance that strikes via crowds and invitations contributors to sing alongside to the melody of its hook.
This inseparable union is why Shaq featured Biggie, why AI sparked a costume code, why Kobe took Brandy to the promenade. It’s Funk Flex DJing the Dunk Contest. It’s Drake’s dedication to the Raptors video games. It’s LeBron throwing up the Roc. It’s The Knuckleheads. It’s Stephon Marbury. It’s Jigga bringing the Nets to Brooklyn. It’s an AND1 Mixtape. It’s the Knickstape. It’s why SLAM exists.
It’s why a younger rapper named Dame D.O.L.L.A. would increase the bar by rocking a throwback Invoice Walton Blazers jersey and a mic round his neck for SLAM 205. It was 2017, and at only one album deep (one other would drop later that yr), he had confirmed that music was greater than a mere pastime. It had began from childhood when his cousin drove from New York to Dame’s boyhood residence in Oakland within the early ’90s, bringing hip-hop with him. Dame simply wished to be within the automotive. One other member of the family and gifted MC, Brookfield Duece, would show that music was in his blood. It could by no means go away.
Though Drake had damaged new floor by becoming a member of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan on a SLAM cowl the yr earlier than, SLAM 205 was the primary time that we’d ever had a solo cowl with a rapper entrance and heart. It was “The Music Problem,” a momentous celebration of the basketball/music crossover that was executed with an intentionality that had solely been alluded to beforehand.
Following this introduction to the basketball universe, Dame D.O.L.L.A. would go on to launch 4 extra albums and achieve ongoing respect in his discipline. He would work with the likes of Jadakiss, 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne. He would contribute to the soundtrack of NBA 2K and luxuriate in recognition on the indie album charts. And he reveals no indicators of placing the mic down.
There was a time when each hooper wished to rap, and each rapper wished to hoop. Dame is fairly good at each.
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