Basketball (song) explained

Basketball
Cover:Basketball by Kurtis Blow (US vinyl, side A).png
Alt:A generic label with the iconic "Polydor" logo on the top of the label. The rest on the label contains credits and factual information about the product itself.
Border:yes
Caption:Side A of the 12-inch US vinyl single
Type:single
Artist:Kurtis Blow
Album:Ego Trip
Released:1984
Recorded:1984
Genre:Hip hop
Length:6:22
Prev Title:Ego Trip
Prev Year:1984
Next Title:America
Next Year:1985

"Basketball" is a rap song written by William Waring, Robert Ford, Kurtis Blow, J. B. Moore, Jimmy Bralower, and Full Force and recorded by Kurtis Blow, released in 1984 from his album Ego Trip.

Song history

According to Blow, the idea for the song came from his then-girlfriend (whom he later married), who told him, "You need to make a song about basketball, it's the No. 1 sport for African-Americans and nobody has done it yet."[1] Twenty-five famous basketball players are mentioned during the recording.[2] Waring was primarily responsible for choosing which players would be mentioned in the song, but Blow specified that his favorite player, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, would be mentioned first.[1] Blow said in 2013, "We wanted the guys we grew up watching who were all out of the league by the time the song came out, and the best of that time."[1] The lyrics consist of rhymed couplets, a structure which has been described as "typical of early-1980s rap".[3] The song's hook was sung by Alyson Williams, who later had hit songs of her own on the R&B chart.[1] [4]

The music video for the song was directed by Michael Oblowitz, who had a $25,000 budget.[1] The video included cameos by rappers The Fat Boys and Whodini.[1] Although Blow had wanted the video to include footage of the players mentioned in the song, the National Basketball Association would only provide clearance for use of still photos of Micheal Ray Richardson (who is not mentioned in the lyrics).[1]

Nevertheless, the NBA later took an interest in Blow's song and played it at games, as well as creating its own video that featured clips of every player mentioned in the song.[5] Blow said, "When the song was peaking, the NBA started flying me around to do shows. ... I would do a live performance right after the game to fill the arena."[1]

The video game NBA 2K12 used the song during the introduction.

Charts

Chart (1984-1985)Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[6] 71
US Billboard Hot Black Singles[7] 29

Lil' Bow Wow version

Basketball
Cover:Basketball Bow Wow.jpg -->
Type:single
Artist:Lil' Bow Wow featuring Jermaine Dupri, Fabolous and Fundisha
Album:Like Mike: Music From the Motion Picture
Released:June 24, 2002
Recorded:2001
Length:3:18
Producer:Jermaine Dupri, La Marquis Jefferson

Lil' Bow Wow covered the song in 2002, featuring Jermaine Dupri, Fabolous and Fundisha for the Like Mike soundtrack.

Charts

Chart (2002-2003)Peak
position
US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks44
US Billboard Hot Rap Singles25

In popular culture

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sauer . Patrick . They're Playing Basketball . . 2021-01-08.
  2. Book: Jenkins . Sacha . Wilson . Elliott . 1 . Ego Trip's Book of Rock Lists . 1999 . St. Martin's Griffin . New York . 0312242980 . 204 . 2021-01-08.
  3. Adams . Kyle . Harmonic, Syntactic, and Motivic Parameters of Phrase in Hip-Hop . . September 2020 . 26 . 2 . 10.30535/mto.26.2.1 . 2021-01-09. free .
  4. Web site: Brown . Ann . Celebrated R&B Singer Alyson Williams Jazzes Things Ups . New York Trend NYC . 2021-01-09 . December 18, 2020.
  5. Book: Zirin . Dave . Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports . 2007 . Haymarket Books . Chicago . 9781931859417 . 107 . 2021-01-08.
  6. Kurtis Blow Basketball Chart History. Billboard. August 22, 2019.
  7. Kurtis Blow Basketball Chart History. Billboard. August 22, 2019.
  8. adamfgoldberg. We used Basketball by @KurtisBlow1. And then hired him to do a new version all about D&D.. Adam F.Goldberg. Adam_F._Goldberg. 7 April 2016. 12 April 2016. 717876292440301568.