With one week left in Kobe Bryant‘s NBA career, The Players Tribune asked some teammates of the Los Angeles Lakers legend about their experiences with Bryant during the team’s three-peat championship run in the early 2000’s.
Brian Shaw and Devean George liken the five-time champion’s legacy to that of Jay Z‘s. They say that the Black Mamba would outshine all of them not only as a player, but in team bonding activities as well.
“We would always freestyle on the back of the bus,” Shaw, who was with the team for four seasons, says. “Whenever a new Jay Z album came out, it was a big deal. Guys would get it Day One and be rapping their favorite songs. Maybe they knew the first few bars or the hook. Well, Kobe would be on the back of the bus rapping every single line of every single song the day after the album came out. I’m talking every lyric. It was genuinely amazing. Nobody could figure out how it was possible.”
During the time period of the team’s championship streak, Jay Z released Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life in 1998, Vol. 3…Life and Times of S. Carter in 1999, The Dynasty Roc La Familia in 2000 and his classic The Blueprint in 2001. George remembers trying to think of ways that Bryant would learn the lyrics so quickly.
“I would picture him sitting up all night with his headphones on, scribbling the lyrics over and over in a notebook like my kids do when they study for an English test,” he says. “The damn album just came out yesterday, and he knows it front to back.
“That’s when I realized, maybe this guy is a genius. Either that, or he was getting Jay to send him advance copies. Either way, that’s a little window into Kobe. He was obsessed with greatness.”
Bryant will play tonight (April 11) against the Oklahoma City Thunder and have his swan song Wednesday (April 13) when the Lakers host the Utah Jazz. The 37-year-old was drafted out of high school in 1996. He spent his entire career with the Lakers and went to the playoffs 15 times. He was named Finals MVP twice and won the league honor for the 2007-2008 season.
Read the entire story at The Player’s Tribune.
See Nas stans! When your favorite rapper disses an athlete, that athlete will not mention them at all and will compliment their rival and show them all sorts of gratitude. For those at are slow, Nas dissed Kobe on “These Are Our Heroes” and Kobe threw all of Nas’ albums in the trash (if he owned any). And he memorizes the classic work of King HOV the day his albums drop. That’s how you know you’re running the game. You Nas stans will never understand.
Facts!. Fukc NASqueer jones and his homosexual fans
These are our heroes was on Street Disciple which came out after every album Shaw listed, clearly he was already a Jay fan before Nas Dissed him go back and do your research bro
lol Jay-Z is a wack rapper. Nas is way better
the Camel got fans. lol
nas > the camel any day of the week
A Grown Man riding Camel’s dick, what an abomination. Jay-z isn’t even a lyricist so what exactly did he memorize? How Jay-Z got money and hoes, how he brags about his money and cars? Wack
Jay-Z isnt even top 10, Eminem and Nas are way better.
Lolz at the dude that says Jay-Z is a wack rapper. Nas is a legend but The only Album he has on Jay is Illmatic. If you compare the rest of their catalogues Jay-Z comes out on top. He is more consistent and has more classics.
Illmatic, Stillmatic & Life is Good
you are an idiot.
#facts.
nas > jay any day.
ask your mama. she’ll tell you the same.
Now I know who the anon Jay Z stans are in the comments. I see you Kobe!
Niggaz plz go back to skul,yo English is as wack as fuck you all……………….
Kobe and the lakers won titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002, not ’98, ’99 and 2000….
And after Kingdom Come, I forgot them the day they came out…TRASH!!!
Don’t they mean The Dynasty, BP1 and BP2?
Those albums came out 2000, 2001 and 02. and thats when the 3 peat was.
lol when the fuk did memorizing some wack ass lyrics make anyone a genius? i memorized drake’s new song, that means i possess a genius level intellect and poised to win two nobel prizes in economics and physics. lol watch out for me harvard!