The Bay Area may have another hot-shooting tandem to watch out for with the release of Rexx Life Raj‘s inspirational new single, “Bounce Back,” on which he receives the assist from another NorCal superstar, G-Eazy. The nostalgic and motivational song find both Bay Area rappers looking back on rough times in their life and their eventual “bounce back” to being the flourishing entertainers they are today.
On G-Eazy’s verse, he remembers his first meeting with E-40, his first failures at breaking into the rap game, and his eventual glow-up, in which he “Steph Curry’d the sport, taking shots from half court.” Meanwhile, Raj gets personal, recounting his parents’ struggles with cancer and his work on the football field, which built up his vital internal strength to handle the challenges life threw his way.
There’s a lot of basketball imagery on “Bounce Back” — even its YouTube visualizer features a closeup shot from under a basketball hoop as shots fall in and planes cruise by overhead — but there’s a good reason for that. The song has been licensed by ESPN for use in the network’s NBA programming this bubble-bound season appearing in commercials and on flagship shows Sportscenter and First Take.
As Raj explains in the press release, “What’s crazy is initially the record was for G featuring someone else. I wrote the hook as a reference for a bigger artist to sing. About a year went by and then I heard G’s team played it for ESPN and they loved it. The rest is history.”
Listen to Rexx Life Raj’s “Bounce Back” featuring G-Eazy above.
