For professional athletes, retirement is all about new beginnings.
For Kobe Bryant, it meant collecting an Oscar for his animated short Dear Basketball and launching the Mamba Sports Academy in order to guide and inspire the next generation of athletes.
For Dwyane Wade, it means becoming the Chief Culture Officer for CAA Sports, dropping a candid documentary and...rapping?
Once you’re done scratching your head in disbelief, you can get a taste here:
On Friday, he made his rap debut on Rick Ross’ new single “Season Ticket Holder,” and while the collaboration might sound bizarre, it’s actually not as far-fetched as it seems.
Last year, the two long-time friends joined forces for a limited-edition sneaker when the three-time NBA champion suggested that they hit the studio together to drop a track.
“I do have dreams. I wanted to get on one song, one day,” he recently revealed on Good Morning America. “Rick Ross, who’s a good friend of mine, reached out and said, ‘D, let’s do a track for the city.’ So my last year I filmed a song with Rick Ross called ‘Season Ticket Holder’ that actually comes out in a couple of days.”
Now is it any damn good? Twitter had some thoughts.
Earlier this week, Wade revealed on ESPN’s The Jump that Kobe’s brief foray into rap inspired his own decision to explore his creativity.
“I think what got me into it was watching all the old footage of Kobe,” he told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols. “Everything that Kobe did...As someone who was a fan of his, I got to see him in so many different facets of life. And I was like, ‘You know, what? I do want to do things that’s out of the box.’”
Listen to Wade put it down for Miami below.