It’s official: Kobe Bryant will not return to rap after retirement
Kobe Bryant’s upcoming retirement opens up a host of opportunities for a man interested in a wide variety of industries and areas of study. Will the Los Angeles Lakers legend opt to leverage his global brand into a large corporation? Will he buy and sell modern art? Or will the intellectual Bryant choose a life of study and contemplation?
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It’s an open question. But we now know that Kobe will not be returning to one of his earliest non-basketball pursuits — music. Here’s what Bryant said about his dormant rap career prior to Wednesday night’s 128-119 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies:
In case you forget, Kobe came of age with his high school rap group CHEIZAW, signed by Sony with the intention of producing a solo album for the young hoops star. Kobe briefly pursued that career and released the single “K.O.B.E.” with a hook sung by Tyra Banks. It was not well received and is remembered primarily as a goofy footnote to a tremendous basketball career. Listen here for a quick shot of nostalgia:
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In fact, maybe Kobe should have answered the question differently:
Naturally, no one expected Kobe to pick up where he left off back in the studio (although it doesn’t take too much imagination to see venturing into non-dance electronic music). We salute whoever asked this question for even bringing up the issue, though, because it would have been unfortunate for the retirement tour not to feature some reference to it. An era is coming to an end, but its music will never die.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
