7 Pro Athletes who are also Rappers

Current NFL free agent has a thriving music career under the moniker, Juice. According to Genius, he released his first EP in 2017 entitled Post Interview, and followed up in 2018 with My Side of Things. His debut album, Life’s A Gamble was released in 2019. Unfortunately, his music doesn’t dive into his professional career, except the single, “Free At Last,” that alludes to him not resigning with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last year, he released “Icon,” and “G Code” featuring Lil Durk with both visuals surpassing 2M views on YouTube.

Whether you called him “Prime Time” or “Neon Deion,” you’ve definitely heard of the former iconic NFL player’s breakout album, Prime Time that came to be thanks to MC Hammer. Despite it being highly criticized, it managed to peak at No. 70 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums and spent 7 weeks on the chart. The single, “Must Be The Money” peaked No. 7. He and Hammer also jointly released “Straight To My Feet” for the 1994 action film, Street Fighter.

NBA superstar? Check.

Beautifully affectionate husband and father of two? Check.

Thriving rapper? Check. When he isn’t dominating on the court, he’s creating “superhero theme songs” with his single, “Hello” or channeling his inner D’Angelo on “Séance” or joining his wife, Teyana Taylor for an endearing gender reveal on “Wake Up Love.”

First introduced to the mainstream media through his former relationship with socialite, Lori Harvey, Depay is an international footballer. He began pursuing his musical passion in 2017 with “LA Debut.” Fun fact: he often raps in multiple languages. Towards the end of 2020, he released his EP, Heavy Stepper which reflects his “globetrotting lifestyle and draws on different genres and flavours from across the world.” Earlier this year, he revealed he was in the studio with Chloe Bailey, half of the dynamic, GRAMMY-nominated duo, Chloe x Halle. Knowing Chloe, only great things can come from this partnership.

If you were a child of the ‘90s, then you remember the rapping days of NBA legend, Shaquille O’Neal. He was perfect as the rapping genie in the 1996 comedy, Kazaam and appeared out of a boombox for goodness’ sake! Not to mention, he had bars and locked in features by Ice Cube and Michael Jackson. During his tenure, he released four albums, but it was his highly-anticipated (and unfortunately shelved) fifth studio album, Shaquille O’Neal Presents His Superfriends, Vol. 1 that included the likes of Dr. Dre, Nate Dogg, Ludacris, 112 and Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men. A lineup of this grandeur has some fans still demanding a Shaq Diesel reprise.

Son of former athlete and ‘Big Baller Brand’ co-owner, LaVar Ball, Lonzo always had dreams of being a rapper and luckily didn’t have to choose between that and being a professional baller. His song, ZO2 amassed over 14M views on YouTube and his debut album was reportedly streaming over 22M times. He released his sophomore LP, BBA (Bounce Back Album) last June, kicked off 2021 with a new single, “4ème conso,” and recently appeared on season 4 of the hit show, The Masked Singer. We won’t spoil it by telling you which character he was the face of.

Dame D.O.L.L.A. might be one of the most notable athletes/rappers. His moniker, D.O.L.L.A. stands for “Different On Levels the Lord Allows,” came long before he became an NBA phenom. The socially conscious emcee released his debut project, The Letter “O” in 2016 with features including Jamie Foxx, and Raphael Saadiq. His sophomore album, Confirmed stemmed from those doubting his ability to maintain longevity within music. Dame expressed, “...I’m also not new to music. I’ve always created music while playing at every level of basketball. But now this is no longer an experiment. This is my second album. I’m putting out respectable music yearly. I’ve invested in that. I’m settled in. I don’t feel the need to answer questions or address concerns. This is who I am and what I do.” Even the album cover pays homage to Biggie, Nas and Tupac. His third album, Big D.O.L.L.A. includes appearances by Lil Wayne, Jadakiss, G-Eazy and many more and he’s most recently dropped an EP about life inside the NBA Bubble. Not only is he an NBA all star, but he’s also constantly evolving as one of Hip Hop’s greats.