My colleague recently spoke to Damian Lillard about his hopes and dreams off the court. The editorial is part of a series examining the influence of hip-hop in basketball, and vice versa. While he did speak about his creating process- in drafting his latest opus (with the help of Lil Wayne, Jeremih, and others)- in a later interview with TMZ Sports, he defined his end-goal as a recording artist in the following terms: he covets a Grammy more than anything else.
"I don't care about it maybe to the level I care about being the MVP or winning a championship," Lillard told the reporter. "But I care about it in the sense of how many NBA All-Stars or max contract players can say, 'I legitimately won a Grammy?'... 'I was really taken serious as an artist.'"
He'd also be happy with headlining performance at the BET Awards, or something of the like. Everything's on the table for Dame D.O.L.L.A., including an elusive NBA Championship with the Portland Trail Blazers.
"I not thirsty for it or searching for it," Dame added later in his conversation with the TMZ reporter. "But, I think like 10-15 years from now, I can look back and be like, 'I really won a Grammy.' Or, 'I really performed at the BET Awards.' Or, 'I really was [the] album of the year.' Stuff like that, I think about stuff like that."
For those of you who checked out his latest album- are Damian Lillard's aspirations conceivable? Hit us in the comments, and be sure to look out for supplemental material on the subject. We're just getting started.