“I like the pick n’ roll, I like the give n’ go / ‘cause it’s basketball with Mr. But don’t confuse Blow for some of these kids nowadays who only care about flashiness and athleticism he’s got respect for the fundamentals, too. He “likes slam dunks,” sure, but the best play? In his eyes, it’s the alley-oop, no question. It’s nothing but Kurtis Blow telling us everything he loves about basketball.
The whole first verse is just so wholesome. I could go on, but this is on pace to be five thousand words, so let's keep it moving. For him, at least, the way they dribble up and down the court? Impeccable. Blow with an ultra-relatable statement right off the bat.īut, says the philosopher in you, why do we love basketball? Why is it our favorite sport? Well, Mr. You already knew the song was gonna be about basketball, but now you know why it exists: because Kurtis loves basketball! Who doesn’t? Deep down, even on Twitter who swore off the NBA because it got “too political” loves basketball. “Basketball is my favorite sport/I like the way they dribble up and down the court” is the most perfect introduction to any song in human history. And then you hear from your speakers, which should be absolutely pounding by this point, “now rapping ‘Basketball,’ number one: Kurtis Blow,” and it gets TEN TIMES BETTER. So you listen to the intro, and you’re probably like, wow, this is a really good song. It is impossible not to bob your head to the song. Blow slaps you in the face again with some staccato electric guitar chords higher than Joe Rogan and brings it all together with some kind of synth-bass that you probably couldn’t find after 1993. The chorus shifts from acapella to a simple boom-clap beat, followed by the hi-hats and a snare drum so wet it would make Cardi B jealous. I gotta shift back to Music Writer Joe for a second.
That’s the contiguous beauty and mystery of Kurtis Blow. Who is this unnamed “they?” Hoopers? Rappers? Just everyone in general? We might never know. The masterpiece begins with a beautiful chorus of women explaining exactly what they are doing (playing basketball) and what “we” love (that basketball). So let’s dive into “Basketball.” I’ll try to stop myself from going line-by-line since I don’t want my EICs and Copy Chiefs to hate me more than they already will for my overly-long analysis. Songs like “The Breaks” and “Christmas Rappin" use classic tropes and repetition, and it’s no coincidence that those are two of his most popular songs.īut alas, no matter how much I pine to describe the arts, I’ve been cursed to be a sportswriter. He incorporates old-school hip-hop style with parts of pop music that, by design or not, make his music a lot more marketable. I mention this because, well, you can tell the superiority in every note while listening to Blow’s music. He was one of the first true originators of hip-hop to take the genre from parties in the Bronx to the recording studio - emphasis on “true” because the Sugar Hill Gang are frauds. Most historians will tell you that Blow was one of the first commercially-successful rappers and one of the first to sign to a record label. Bird was the Most Valuable Player, Michael Jordan was the Rookie of the Year and the Knicks, even with a rookie Patrick Ewing, went 24-58 - some things never change.Īnd then, one fateful day in the Bronx, hip-hop godfather Kurtis Blow decided to absolutely bless the world with, in my opinion, the greatest song of all-time in the aptly-titled, “Basketball.”īlow was an expert in selling his music before most hip-hop artists were.
#Kurtis blow basketball release date full#
The year was 1984, the air was crisp (probably, I wasn't there), spirits were high (again, probably) and the NBA was looking good with the Magic/Bird rivalry in full swing. The NBA wasn’t unpopular beforehand, but, for reference, it wasn’t until 1986 that the NBA Finals were shown live rather than on tape-delay. There’s even the song that tells the story of how former Backstreet Boy Aaron Carter beat 15-time NBA All-Star Shaquille O’Neal in a game of one-on-one, which to this day is nothing short of traumatizing.īasketball and hip-hop grew together in the 1980s as the foundations of hip-hop were laid out by Bronx natives like Grandmaster Flash and DJ Kool Herc, the NBA was truly breaking into the mainstream with Magic Johnson & Larry Bird. Rappers haven’t been shy to name-drop their favorite athletes or teams, whether it’s Kanye West mentioning LeBron James or the Beastie Boys referencing Anthony Mason (RIP). Music and basketball are forever intertwined specifically, hip-hop and basketball.
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