The NBA and hip-hop go together like peanut butter and jelly. Lots of rappers and artists are part of the fabric of various NBA teams. For instance, rapper Drake is an ambassador for the Toronto Raptors and is always on the sidelines of the Raptors’ home games. Singer Usher is a part-owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers; Nelly is a part-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats and who can famously forget the ownership stake that rapper Jay-Z had in the Brooklyn Nets, a move memorialized in the song “****** in Paris,” where Jay famously rapped, “what’s 50 grand to a (person) like me, can you please remind me…the Nets can go 0 for 82 and I’ll look at you like, this (stuff) crazy!”
The $50,000 Jay was referring to is the fine he received for being an owner of an NBA franchise but showing up in the locker room of the NCAA’s Kentucky Wildcats after they clinched a berth in the Final Four in 2011; team personnel are not allowed contact with players who are not yet draft eligible.
But ownership stakes aside, rappers from Wale to 2Chainz to Snoop Dogg (among many, many others) are ardent and active supporters of the NBA franchises based in their hometowns. Well, the Golden State Warriors are another team whose hip-hop and music bonafides are cemented. The Warriors, based in the California’s Bay Area (the San Francisco and Oakland area) have long had a strong relationship with music and hip-hop; rapper E-40’s song “Tell Me When To Go,” a Bay area staple, has become essential listening in the arena where the Warriors play. Well, the Warriors are leveling up that music connection in a big way.
Golden State is now the first (and so far only) NBA franchise with a record label and entertainment division, Golden State Entertainment. And to demonstrate just how hard Golden State Entertainment goes for the culture, they just released their first album, “For The Soil” — just in time for NBA All-Star Weekend this year in San Francisco. The album was produced by Bay Area rapper and producer P-Lo (who is featured on every track) and comes chock full of features from some of the area’s most vaunted artists. Both Too Short and E-40 appear on “Had To,” and Larry June, G-Eazy, LaRussell and Saweetie show up on “Players Holiday ‘25,” which samples Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day.” Singer Goapele features on the album’s closing song, “Suede.”
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The record label was spearheaded by Warriors executive David Kelly, who got the ball rolling on Golden State Entertainment before the Warriors won the NBA Championship in 2022. Kelly realized that the intersection of hip-hop and basketball just made sense.
“It’s just kind of authentic and natural to the culture,” he shared.
P-Lo was brought in to spearhead the project, which has been in the works for over a year. He used his connections to bring all of the artists to the project.
“P-Lo can produce, rap and bring all these artists who are like family to him,” said Kelly. P-Lo was excited to bring the project together.
“A basketball team with a record label is unheard of until now, which is a testament to the Warriors and the Bay…this is about innovation, bringing a new idea to the table,” said the rapper and producer of the project.
Even basketball players are excited about the idea. Golden State Warriors player Gary Payton II intends to check out the album.
“For me, to be the first team to have a music company, or production company, it’s kinda cool. P-Lo is running it, and getting it done. I know there’s a lot of talented Bay Area artists behind it, so it’s something to look forward to and be excited about,” said Payton.
“For The Soil,” is available now on all streaming platforms.
