You could call LeBron James the Jay-Z of basketball and you wouldn’t be far off the mark. The 2 legends have unmatched longevity in their own fields.
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Jay-Z definitely foresaw the level of success that LeBron would go on to achieve during his career. After all, as a minority owner of the New Jersey Nets, he made an impassioned bid to sign James as a free agent in 2010.
Of course, James ended up going to South Beach that summer in a widely panned move. Nevertheless, the two have maintained a close relationship that goes beyond business.
LeBron James texted Jay-Z during an episode of Carpool Karaoke with James Corden
LeBron James was a guest with James Corden on his show called Carpool Karaoke a few years back. Corden asked LeBron how he felt about getting name-dropped in hip-hop were, and James said:
“It’s always surprising in terms of radio or satellite radio or whatever I’m listening to and I hear my name. It’s like ‘Rewind that! Lemme see what they’re actually saying.’ It’s humbling, it’s cool.”
James Corden then asked James whether Jay-Z name-dropping him in the lyrics to Empire State of Mind was his favorite, but LeBron didn’t have a real answer to that:
“Any time Jay-Z says my name, it’s humbling. He’s like my big brother, so he takes care of me.”
LeBron then claimed that he always gets a reply from Jay-Z whenever they text. At this point, Corden got LeBron to text Jay-Z with the following message: Hey Jay, Waddup? I’m riding here with my man James Corden.
Unfortunately for the purposes of the show, Corden didn’t get to see if Jay-Z texted back.
Jay-Z dropped a diss track to escalate LeBron’s faceoff with DeShawn Stevenson in 2008
In 2008, when the Wizards were facing the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA playoffs, DeShawn Stevenson, a player on the Wizards, made some comments in the media about LeBron James, the star player of the Cavaliers.
Stevenson called James “overrated” and said that he wouldn’t be able to guard him. He compared himself and LeBron to Soulja Boy and Jay-Z. Soulja Boy contributed to the feud by turning up to one of their games.
Jay-Z, who is a friend and business partner of LeBron James, took offense to Stevenson’s comments and responded by dissing him in a rap verse.
The verse was part of a song called “Blow the Whistle” and included the lyrics:
“I’m the franchise like a Houston Rocket, Stevenson/I’m on to the next one, on to the next one/He’s a nobody, I’m a made somebody.”
Needless to say, LeBron won the feud convincingly on the court after Jay-Z won it for him off the floor.
