The tales of Kobe Bryant’s insane competitive edge have added another chapter thanks to iconic music producer Jermaine Dupri. The Grammy winner shared a story of the Black Mamba that is so cold, you’d think he was an assassin. His victim this time? Bow Wow (fka Lil Bow Wow).
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That’s right. The famed rapper, who has a tie to basketball thanks to his Like Mike film that released back in 2002, went one-on-one with the now passed five-time NBA Champion. It didn’t go very well. And Dupri saw it all.
The 7PM In Brooklyn podcast hosted the legendary songwriter, where he recounted the day that he saw Kobe and Bow Wow play a pickup game. Of course, Bryant set the stage by creating a scary environment for Bow Wow to even compete in.
“Kobe said the craziest s*** ever to Bow Wow,” Dupri recalled. “He said, Y’all ****** be seeing Sharks with their little fins out in the ocean. It’s a whole lot different when you get in this water with em.'”
“Bow Wow’s like, ‘What that mean?’ He’s like, I’mma give you 15 points, we going to 16. I’m starting at 0. You got 15 already.’ Oh my God, Kobe dogged that *****.”
Dupri then walked Melo and the rest of the panel through the massacre, which saw Kobe score 16 straight points on Bow Wow, who couldn’t even make a single basket.
“That boy couldn’t breathe,” he added. “Couldn’t move the ball. He got in that water. I’m trying to tell you. And that’s when I was like, ‘Man, if Kobe plays, this is nasty.’ “He couldn’t get around him. He couldn’t get away from him. And Kobe scored 16 points.”
It’s not super shocking that the Mamba put a beating on someone whom he may have been even slightly intimidated by. The fact that it’s Bow Wow, someone who possesses not even an ounce of the same skill as a lower-tier NBA player, is a grade-A bully move by Kobe. And it’s hilarious.
Bow Wow hasn’t been shy of getting dominated by one of the best of all time. He shared his version during an interview with NFL legend Shannon Sharpe on his Club Shay Shay podcast.
“I left that gym and I said, ‘I will never play in the NBA, nor do I want to,'” said the now 38-year-old rapper. When Sharpe asked if he scored any points, Bow Wow proudly answered, “None. He smothered me.”
It definitely doesn’t seem like Bow Wow feels disrespected or embarrassed by the game. He shared it on his YouTube Channel over 14 years ago when it happened.
When the contest was over, Bow Wow fell to the floor, gasping for air. “He makes every shot,” he tells the media. It looked like something he would remember forever. And maybe that’s not a bad thing.
