Kendrick Lamar’sDAMN. is still in heavy rotation for NBA hooper LeBron James, despite King James previewing the album before it was made available to the general public.
Following the Cleveland Cavaliers impressive win over the Indiana Pacers Thursday (April 20), LeBron was asked if he’s had the opportunity to give DAMN.a solid listen. He revealed that from the time he first got his hands on the latest from K-Dot to now, he hasn’t stopped listening to the album.
LeBron then offered some insight on where his Kendrick fandom stems from. He offered praise for the Compton wordsmith’s lyrics and wordplay, and also applauded the rapper for dispelling the notion that you have to play basketball or sell drugs to make it out of the hood.
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“I haven’t stopped listening to it since he sent it to me,” LeBron James said. “I don’t even know if that was last week or not. Before it came out. And the guy is an unbelievable talent. His wordplay and his lyrics is unbelievable. And it hit home for me at times because I was a kid that grew up in the inner city. And his story of the notion of you either play basketball or sell drugs or that’s it. There’s no out. You become a statistic. And as an African-American kid growing up in the inner city they don’t believe that you can get out and become something. So, that’s why I’m able to relate to a lot of his lyrics. And relate to a lot of his stories.”
Prior to last Friday’s (April 14) release of DAMN., LeBron shared video of himself vibing out to “ELEMENT.” and other tracks from the album in a video uploaded to Instagram.
Given that simply being LeBron James makes him privy to select TDE perks, he was reportedly partially responsible for the release of Kendrick’s untitled unmastered. album.
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Following Kendrick’s Grammy performance last year, LeBron requested that Top Dawg “release those untitled tracks asap.”
