Damian Lillard‘s growing hip-hop career is no secret. It’s something he’s passionate about, it’s something he’s worked on for a long time, and the best part is, it’s something he’s good at. Lillard has bars, and his success, along with NBA players-turned-rappers before him, have helped make it acceptable for professional athletes to step outside the lines and try something different. They aren’t sticking to sports anymore, so to speak.
Lillard dropped his new album, CONFIRMED, on Friday to cap off what has been a fascinating couple of weeks for NBA musicians. Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams dropped his debut album T.A.T.N.W. (The Album That Never Was) on Sept. 26th. Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo released Songs For You on October 6th. Lance Stephenson, yes, Lance Stephenson, debuted a preview of his first single Better Believe It on iTunes Friday.
Lillard’s success is well documented at this point. Dame D.O.L.L.A., which stands for Different on Levels the Lord Allows, dropped his successful first album, The Letter O, in 2016. With CONFIRMED coming a calendar year later, Lillard is basically a professional rapper now. He said as much in an Instagram post on Wednesday. Music is a huge part of who he is as a person.
Why did I name the album CONFIRMED? One of the definitions of confirmed is “fixed in habit and unlikely to change.” I named the album that because there’s always been something said about me spending time in the studio, even though I’ve always shown up and produced for my team every night. I’ve never had issues with stardom. I’m also not new to music. I’ve always created music while playing at every level of basketball. But now this is no longer an experiment. This is my second album. I’m putting out respectable music yearly. I’ve invested in that. I’m settled in. I don’t feel the need to answer questions or address concerns. This is who I am and what I do.
You’ve got to respect Lillard’s attitude here, and he’s right. Everyone goes through this in one way or another, but professional athletes, in particular, get put in a box where a lot of outsiders only want to see you how they want to see you. Lillard is a basketball player, he’s supposed to play basketball. I can’t understand this line of thinking for the simple fact that what Lillard does in his free time has nothing to do with anyone but Damian Lillard. You can like or dislike his music, that’s fine, but he deserves the right to make it. Besides, Lillard has features from the likes of Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz on CONFIRMED. If he’s got their stamp of approval, who are we to tell him what he should or shouldn’t do?
Oladipo is going in a different direction with his music career. You can listen to his new single here, and it trends more towards R&B than the type of music Lillard, Williams, and Stephenson are producing. He’s got some pipes on him, you’ve got to give Oladipo that.
Lou Williams had his album drop exclusively on TIDAL in September and his connections in the music world are almost as impressive as Lillard’s. He got Jahlil Beats to produce the single At Ease featuring none other than Jadakiss. Jadakiss! You can listen to At Ease here.
For now, all we’ve got from Born Ready Lance Stephenson is this pre-order preview from his iTunes page, but hey, it’s Lance Stephenson making music. You should give it a listen. You can expect more music from Lance on Oct. 13th.
All of this is great, and I don’t mean that as a review of the music. I’m the furthest thing from a hip-hop critic, but I love the future we’re living in where NBA players, or better yet, anyone, can try anything, at any time. Damian Lillard proves you can have successful side passions, and while it remains to be seen if Oladipo, Williams, or Stephenson can follow in those footsteps, I applaud them for trying.
