When worlds collide, it can be quite jarring. It can also be a fantastic thing. Take for example when the realms of rap music and basketball come together. Sure, they’ve long been linked in a general sense with ballers enjoying hip-hop and lyricists often watching the NBA. But in a micro sense, the two came together in remarkable fashion with perennial All-Star Chris Webber and iconic rapper Nas.
Videos by American Songwriter
And, boy, was it a special moment. In a video that recently surfaced on social media, Webber, who was one of the famed Fab 5 at the University of Michigan in the 1990s before taking the NBA by storm, talked about working with the famous Queens Bridge rapper. Oh, to be a fly on the wall. Let’s explore the story here below.
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Naughty By Nature: The Origin Story
“After I left college,” Webber explains in the vid, which you can see below, “[DJ] Kay Gee from Naughty By Nature… he’s a crazy sports fan… I would just go to his house in New Jersey.”
From there, a musical relationship was born—and it was one that led to some pretty significant accomplishments. Webber, who was just about as famous as it could get in the 1990s, continues, “He had a studio and I could stay there for days. No one would come bother you. And in that time, I learned how to make beats.”
Meeting Nas
Not too long after, Webber says, he met Nas, who is one of the most famous rappers ever, thanks to records like Illmatic (1994) and It Was Written (1996).
“With Nas,” Webber says, “it was just—he was just somebody I admired from afar. I loved his rhymes. We became close. And he was just hearing some beats and he was like, ‘Yo, I’ma put that on the album.”
In telling the story, Webber says, he’s playing it cool, but really it was a huge moment for him as a human being. “I’m being calm about it,” he says in the vid. “But at that time, it’s still one of the biggest accomplishments of my life.”
Songs that Webber placed on Nas’ records include “Blunt Ashes” and “Surviving the Times.” The former track landed on Nas’ 2006 album, Hip Hop Is Dead. And the latter was on his 2007 LP, Greatest Hits. Webber was playing for his hometown Detroit Pistons around the time both songs came out.
“For me, as somebody who made beats and listened to music all the time, who grew up in Detroit where music was [king], that was just dope being a part of it.”
Basketball and Rap
Of course, along with this story, there has been many more crossovers when it comes to hoops and hip-hop. Famously, giant center Shaquille O’Neal earned a platinum rap album in the 1990s. Lately, multi-time All-Star Damian Lillard has become known as the NBA’s best lyricist—just to name a few instances. And rap music and beats are constantly being played in NBA arenas before, during and after games.
The Songs and Videos
Check out Webber telling the story, as well as the songs he produced for Nas, here below.
Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images
