On Monday, The Athletic launched its first column for the hip-hop and NBA project.
In celebration of the 24-second shot clock, we’ve compiled our list of the 24 greatest NBA lyrics. This selection explores nearly five decades of music and lyrics, featuring artists from New York to California. Our judging panel—Shakeia Taylor, Jason Jones, and Tony Jones—assessed the significance, creativity, and historical context of lyrics that connect hip-hop and the NBA.
This segment of the project is particularly noteworthy. The diverse range of artists included and the varied mentions—from individual players to entire teams—make a meaningful statement. Our writers even engage in some friendly rivalries in their discussions.
The writers created their own rankings using a scoring system that assigned 24 points for their top lyrics and one point for those at the bottom. The numbers in parentheses indicate the points assigned by each writer. If two songs received the same total score, the one with the lower individual ranking was positioned lower.
Explore our rankings, share your thoughts on the lyrics in the comments, or add your favorites, as there are plenty of NBA-related lyrics beyond this list.
Let’s dive in and enjoy!
