(Illustration by Noga Ami-rav/Stars and Stripes)
There’s no shortage of songs about baseball.
Indeed, the Library of Congress estimates that more than 1,400 tunes have been written about our national pastime.
Yet, it’s an entirely different story when it comes to other sports, which have received comparatively little attention from songwriters.
That’s perhaps most surprising when it comes to basketball, given its long and synergetic relationship with hip-hop. Sure, there are a number of well-known references to certain players popping up in rap tunes.
But songs fully addressing and inspired by the game? Not so much.
As the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments conclude with Final Four matchups this weekend, it seems like the right time to fix our attention on the basketball music oeuvre and see what we could find. And we weren’t looking for anthems played at basketball games, or even necessarily songs recorded by NBA players, but rather numbers that lyrically address what happens on (and around) the court.
The result was relatively small in number — especially compared to baseball — but impressive in quality.
Because a full bracket of 64 songs would inevitably include some airballs, here’s a Sweet 16-song soundtrack, ranking the greatest basketball-themed songs of all time.
16. ‘Heart of a Champion’ (2004), Nelly
It’s definitely a nice stadium-style sports anthem, one that might rank a bit higher on this list if Nelly had stuck to hoops and not included football in the mix. As it stands, however, you get Lakers legends like Magic Johnson and James Worthy performing alongside such gridiron greats as Julius Peppers and Peyton Manning.
Key lyric: “I’m like Magic to Kareem, man you tell me I ain’t Worthy.”
15. ‘White Iverson’ (2015), Post Malone
Posty hit the jackpot with his very first single, a basketball-related ditty that climbed as high as No. 14 on the pop charts and put its author on the express bus to superstardom. The story goes that Malone had gotten some braids — somewhat similar to those the basketball star famously rocked — and thought he looked like a “White Iverson.” He actually didn’t look anything like Iverson, but let’s not let facts mess up a good origin story.
Key lyric: “I’m the answer, never question / Lace up, learn a lesson.”
14. ‘Hit ‘Em High (The Monstars’ Anthem)’ (1996), B-Real, Coolio, Method Man, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes
Michael Jordan was so phenomenally popular in the mid-’90s that he co-starred in a live-action/animation hybrid film with none other than Bugs Bunny. And that’s how we’ll explain “Space Jam” to future generations. (There is, however, probably no good way to explain the sequel — “Space Jam: A New Legacy” — with LeBron James.) This song — featuring some of the finest hip-hop voices of the era — didn’t prove to be a commercial success. Well, at least not in the United States. In Finland, for some completely inexplicable reason, it managed to hit No. 1 on the charts.
Key lyric: “Lightnin’ strikes and the court lights get dim / Supreme competition is about to begin.”
13. ‘Soul in the Hole’ (1997), Wu All-Stars
It’s an overall worthy soundtrack to the 1997 documentary film of the same name about basketball coach Kenny Jones and his street basketball team known as “Kenny’s Kings.” Yet, it’s the title track that truly sticks with a listener, painting a vivid picture of life in a community where basketball is so much more than just a game.
Key lyric: “’Til you get game, sport, hit the gym and train / Do some jumping jacks and sit ups, then maybe you can get up / But as for now, the scoreboard gets lit up.”
12. ‘It Was a Good Day’ (1993), Ice Cube
Fantastic song — clearly better than many of the ones higher on this list — but it only includes a short segment about hoops. Thus, it ranks no higher than 12th on our list. It does, however, rank No. 1 on our list of tunes that mention Fatburger.
Key lyric: “Get me on the court and I’m trouble / Last week, (messed) around and got a triple-double.”
11. ‘Kobe Bryant’ (2009), Lil Wayne
Wayne and Bryant were friends, with the hip-hop hero drawing much inspiration from the basketball legend and dearly embracing the nickname of “the Kobe of Rap.” This tribute came out right as the Lakers were wrapping up their 15th world championship (with Bryant as the Finals MVP). Yet, it’s most memorable rendition came when Lil Wayne paid tribute to his friend at the 2020 BET Awards, just months after Bryant died in a helicopter crash at the age of 41.
Key lyric: “Two-four so nice, my flow so mean / Catch me at the game sitting next to Goldstein.”
10. ‘Basketball’ (2002), Lil’ Bow Wow featuring Jermaine Dupri, Fabolous and Fundisha
Bow Wow, who is “Lil’” no longer, nicely remade/updated Kurtis Blow’s classic for whole new generation of fans and players — name-checking such contemporary NBA stars as Jason Kidd, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and Vince Carter. The tune was featured on the soundtrack to the 2002 film “Like Mike,” which the rapper also starred in.
Key lyric: “Taking cats to the rack / And I’m dunking on them like T. Mac”
9. ‘Space Jam’ (1996), Quad City DJs
The second of two songs to make the cut from the “Space Jam” soundtrack, the title song was appropriately fun and frivolous for a movie that, among other things, featured Porky Pig dunking the basketball.
Key lyric: “Wave your hands in the air if you feel fine / We’re gonna take it into overtime”
8. ‘Shoot Pass Slam’ (1993), Shaquille O’Neal
Shaq is a much better rapper than he is a DJ. Of course, that’s not saying much. Fortunately, he was working the mic, not the mixing board, on this true slam-dunk of a cut off the platinum-plus-selling debut “Shaq Diesel.”
Key lyric: “You better make way and stop ’cause I’m hostile / I get hype like church choirs singing gospel.”
7. ‘Roundball Rock’ (1990), John Tesh
It’s the sole instrumental to make the cut and it’s definitely one that old-school basketball fans have heard more than any other. That’s because Tesh wrote this energetic offering — built from synthesizers with added brass and string instrumentation — for “NBA on NBC.” It would serve as that show’s theme from 1990 to 2002, which means that everyone tuning into to see Jordan and the Chicago Bulls destroy the competition also got to hear Tesh play. Bonus! He also performed the song at the 75th NBA All-Star Game in February.
Key lyric: Didn’t we mention that this is an instrumental?
6. ‘The Game’ (2000), Jurassic 5
For our money, J5 is the second-greatest hip-hop group to come out of Los Angeles, trailing only, of course, the legendary N.W.A. And J5 would certainly display all the reasons why it deserves such a lofty ranking — the wicked smart wordplay, the mix of lyrical flows between the rappers, the catchy cool grooves, etc. — on this track, which uses basketball as a metaphor to describe J5’s prowess in the rap world.
Key lyric: “Pass the ball, final casting call / First of all, verbal basketball.”
5. ‘Above the Rim’ (1993), Bell Biv Devoe
Grab the soundtrack to the film of the same name and, nope, you won’t find this song on it. Instead, you’ll need to spin BBD’s second album, “Hootie Mack,” in order to locate the home of this R&B gem.
The trio of vocalists razzle-dazzle like Tim Hardaway (who is namechecked in the song) in his Golden State Warriors prime, passing out rhymes on what plays out like a three-minute fast break.
Key lyric: “Yeah, jump around, grab a rebound and pump the sound / Big Ron (DeVoe), big man’s in town.”
4. ‘I Wish’ (1995), Skee-Lo
You don’t have to be a hip-hop aficionado to be able to quote, from memory, the opening lyrics to the title track of Skee-Lo’s debut album. Indeed, you might know the lines even if you think you don’t. Check them out below and, chances are, you’ll be rapping along in mere seconds.
Chalk it up to the phenomenally catchy nature of this hit single, which finds the talented rapper daydreaming about how his success on the court might translate to success in the dating world.
Key lyric: “I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller / I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her.”
3. ‘He Got Game’ (1998), Public Enemy featuring Stephen Stills
Chuck D once again proves he’s an MC for the ages on the soundtrack to the Spike Lee joint of the same name. The album, which doubles as PE’s sixth studio offering, is full of winners. Yet, the way the title track uses the game as a jumping-off point to address social and political concerns is truly superb.
Plus, the groove, based on a sample of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” is the silkiest of cool. The fact that the track actually includes Stills — the Buffalo Springfield icon who penned “For What It’s Worth” — makes the whole thing a slam dunk.
Key lyric: “It might feel good, it might sound a lil’ somethin’ / But damn the game if it don’t mean nuttin.’”
2. ‘Basketball Jones’ (1973), Cheech and Chong
Sung with a memorably false falsetto, Cheech Marin unfolds the tale of Tyrone (as in “tie-your-own”) Shoelaces in what may well be the funniest skit this comic duo ever created.
The music is so over-the-top, surrounding Marin’s increasingly strained falsetto with stadium-rock-style instrumentation and a mix of harmonies from female backing vocalists and Tommy Chong’s droning voice. Thanks to a studio scheduling coincidence, a number of music stars working on a separate project wound up contributing to the song, including George Harrison, Billy Preston, Carole King and many more.
And the lyrics are comic genius throughout. Yet, there is one particular passage that surely ranks as the greatest lyric in the history of basketball songs. And, really, we might be underselling it a bit here.
Key lyric: “That basketball was like a basketball to me.”
1. ‘Basketball’ (1984), Kurtis Blow
In general, we feel that all music fans are entitled to their own opinions. That said, however, anyone who picks anything other than this rap classic as the greatest basketball song of all time is just plain wrong.
Released more than 40 years ago, Blow’s anthem remains the definitive hoops song. The beat bounces like a rock taken up the court by Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, one of the many legends of the game mentioned in this song.
But, mostly, it’s about Blow’s flow, as he moves through lyrics that are wonderfully straightforward and simple, selling us all on why basketball is such a great sport.
Key lyric: “I like slam dunks, take it to the hoop / My favorite play is the alley oop.”
