Tonight's Jazz/Lakers game will mark the end of an era as the door closes on one of the most dominant careers in NBA history. In the 20 years Kobe Bryant's been in the league, he's shattered records, led some of the strongest squads of the 21st Century, and won five championships, making it clear that he'll be voted into the Hall Of Fame as soon as humanly possible. Before he takes the court for his 1,565th and final game, we're taking a look back on the influence his career's had on the rap game by weighing it against that of one of his heirs apparent, Golden State's Steph Curry.
Apart from Allen Iverson (whose popularity in hip hop seems to still be growing by the year), Bryant and Curry are two of the most-referenced ballers in the history of the genre, with their names synonymous with skilled excellence and utter dominance. Today we're restructuring our usual "Who Had The Better Verse" format to pit the two NBA stars against each other. Instead of listing songs that feature two rappers going head-to-head on the strength of their verses, each gallery here features one rapper who's name-dropped both players at some point in their career, and you'll have to decided which reference is stronger/more interesting.
Click on to decide who's got the better legacy in rap music, Steph Curry or Kobe Bryant.
Lil Wayne
"Kobe Bryant" vs. "Fat Albert"
As Weezy F. has an entire song dedicated to his favorite NBA team's star, it's gonna be hard to top Kobe on this one. The song, which leaked back in 2009, features a sampled intro from Kobe himself, as well as Stephen A. Smith, and plenty of slick references to actual facts. "I drops 40 on your double team/Then I drop 81 on another team" nods to the time he scored the second most points in a game for a single player, "I went to Beijing and came back with the bling" pays tribute to his stint as Olympic team captain, and who can forget the breakdown of his teammates at the time: "Properly dishing it to Gasol/Or give it to D-Fish on the wing, yeah/Or just let lil' Ariza do his thing, yeah." Lil Wayne's admiration of Bryant is on full display here.
"Fat Albert," a collaboration with Curren$y that Weezy dropped last year, may not be entirely dedicated to Steph Curry, but it does have a great winking reference to him. "Bad bitch stop and poppin' like Steph Curry/Rich n*gga laughin' at his bills like Bill Murray" he raps on one of his recent best verses, comparing the star's pull-up jumpers to the way his girl pops either pills or her pussy (you be the judge). It's in no way as admiring as the entirety of "Kobe Bryant" is, but it's still one of the more entertaining Steph references on this list.
Winner: Kobe
Your Vote:
Drake
"0 To 100" vs. "Stay Schemin"
Drake's "Been Steph Curry with the shot/Been cookin' with the sauce, Chef Curry with the pot, boy" lyrics from "0 To 100" still has to be the most recognizable Steph Curry lyric in hip hop, a deft little bit of wordplay that's as catchy as it is clever. That song was huge two summers ago, so it may be a little fresher in everyone's mind that the other we've highlighted here, but you can't deny the power of "Stay Schemin" either. A ridiculously enjoyable collab between him, Rick Ross, and French Montana from 2012, the track has Drake speaking on Kobe's wife's decision to divorce him and take $150 million in the settlement. Lucky for Bryant, the divorce was called off, but at least we still have "Kobe 'bout to lose a hundred fifty M’s/Kobe my nigga I hate it had to be him/Bitch you wasn't with me shooting in the gym" immortalizing that moment in time.
Winner: Tie
Your Vote:
The Game
"400 Bars" vs. "Made In America"
As a born and bred Los Angelino, Game may have referenced Kobe more than any other rapper, but lately, he's changed his tune. Steph Curry's name popped up no less than three times on last year's Documentary 2 and 2.5 double album, signaling his rise as the most dominant player in his state, let alone the league as a whole. When it comes to name-dropping Kobe, Game's best moment surely came on his legendary track "400 Bars," in which he painted a startlingly honest portrait of where he stood in the rap game by treating his "Top 5" list as a basketball team's starting lineup:
"They say Weezy Jordan, nigga I'm on my Pippen shit
They say Drake Lebron, I'm on my Moe Williams shit
If T.I.P. is Kobe then fuck it, I'm Derek Fisher, shit!
Long as I'm in the starting five, I'ma get it in"
Years later, on Documentary 2's "Made In America," Game nods to Curry as a metaphor for quick comebacks or turnarounds: "I had a dream I had bricks like transporter/Change my life like Steph Curry in the fourth quarter." Although he's given plenty of airtime on that more recent album, Curry is always just referred to in passing, acting as set dressing for the current California climate. In my mind, nothing touches that starting five breakdown.
Winner: Kobe
Your Vote:
"Jump Out The Face" vs. "I'm The Plug"
Future may not be as verbose as everyone else listed previously, but as we've witnessed in the past 16 or so months, you can't underestimate the influence on culture that his words will have. He's one of the best at distilling sentiments and moods into endlessly quotable quick phrases, and that extends to his sports references. On two songs from last year, he name-drops the ballers we're focusing on today. Meek Mill's "Jump Out The Face" has him pouring "an eighth of Kobe Bryant mixing yellow with the purple," referencing both Kobe's former jersey number, the Lakers' colors, and two different types of syrup; on his and Drake's "I'm The Plug," Fewtch raps "Franchise tag on me, Bron Bron/Steph Curry wrists n*gga Oakland" in reference to his Raiders-colored watch. Neither is as great as his Robert Horry reference on "Seven Rings," but both are skillful examples of the sports name-drop.
Winner: Tie
Your Vote:
"Kobe" vs. "Faneto"
Like Lil Wayne, Chief Keef has an entire track dedicated to Bryant. Unlike Weezy's "Kobe Bryant," Keef's "Kobe" contains very few references to the Laker's actual skills and career, instead using his stature, fame, and earnings as a symbol for the success Keef achieved when signing to Interscope prior to Finally Rich. Aside from the line "I swear I'm dunkin on these hoes/On these n*ggas I'm free throwin," it doesn't have many basketball references, instead opting for lines like "Watch me hit the strip club and make it rain like I'm Kobe."
Surprisingly, the one line he devotes to Curry on his 2014 megahit "Faneto" is more clever than the entirety of "Kobe." With double entendres conflating Curry's number with the number of rounds in Keef's clip, as well as Curry's last name to the dish that Keef enjoys getting at popular LA area Asian restaurant Wokcano, the line "Boy who you tryna to rob, bitch we 30'd up/Just like Wokcano, bitch I'm Curry'd up" is one of his best from the past few years.
Winner: Curry
Your Vote: