5. Nas
Nas is probably your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. The marriage between hip-hop and basketball has been long-standing but truly came to prevalence with the rise of the 1990s hip-hop including rappers such as 2Pac, Biggie and Ice Cube mentioning Jordan through their popular lyrics in the early ‘90s.
Many NBA players have rapped over the years such as Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson and more recently Damian Lillard.
However, many rappers are obsessive basketball fans as well whether spotted at games, referencing basketball players in their lyrics and by rapping one of the most iconic lines you could spit in the ‘90s: proclaiming yourself the Michael Jordan of hip-hop. Jay-Z did this calling himself the “Mike Jordan of recordin’”, on a regular basis.
Since Nas had arguably the most iconic hip-hop album of the ‘90s, which some even call the best rap album ever, “Illmatic”, and also had a feud with Jay-Z it will be fascinating to hear his cultural perspective on how Michael Jordan influenced the culture of hip-hop and what he meant to the musical landscape during his prime.