The 30 Greatest NFL References in Rap History

Image via Complex Original

Year: 2009
Lyric(s): "I spoke to Michael Vick, I told him I'm happy he home/You tell them crackers sorry nigga then you get back on"

50 knows that money means everything. Mike Vick needs to build his empire back. Don't piss the Man off again.

Year: 2013
Lyric(s): "NFL investigations. Oh don't make me laugh."

Jay is talking about the NFL having issues with him being a sports agent. Now they require agents to have college degrees. One of the most realest and relevant lines on this list.

Year: 2010
Lyric(s): "Dudes is falling off doing all they can to save it/But everybody's run stops/Ask Brandon Jacobs"

Brandon Jacobs did get back on the Giants recently, but at the age of 31 and a member of a poor Giants rushing attack, Jacobs is far from running things. That's if we're talking figuratively. We highly doubt most people are capable of stopping a 265-lbs man who's running at you with full speed.

Year: 2001
Lyric(s): "Shine, glister, glisten, floss, floss, catch a beat running like Randy Moss"

Catching the beat running like Moss was a great thing to do when this song came out because he already had three consecutive 1,000-plus seasons and was on the verge of having his fourth. Fortunately, the Atlanta Falcons—OutKast and Killer Mike's hometown team—never got burned that badly by the wide receiver. By 2001, Moss amassed 99 yards and two touchdowns in his two games against Atlanta.

Year: 2011
Lyric(s): "Swag's Jerry Rice/SWAG!/I think I'm Jerry Rice/"Touchdown, touchdown, I think I'm Jerry Rice"

Could Jerry Rice have continued playing pass 45 if this song with his namesake came out during his career? Would NFL Films have used this song during his highlight reels if that was the case? The world will never know, but Jerry Rice+Lil B=Unattainable amounts of swag.

Year: 2005
Lyric(s): "I run the game like Walter Payton back in 1984/Imma pass you niggas like Peyton Manning/Play the field like Ray Buchanan/When I kick it like Morton Anderson it gets scary/Weight on my shoulder, refrigerator Perry/Hip-hop cops on me I dodge them like Barry/Sanders... John Madden hold your commentary/Keep the cameras on I'm primetime like the '95 Deion/Should I keep going?/Aw fuck it let me keep going/I'mma do it like the '97 T Owens/Not the ‘07 T. Owens/T. Owens with Jeff Garcia throwing the pigskin/Ya'll need to work on ya'll defense/I train like Warren Sapp on the weekend/Maneuver like Warrick Dunn I'm just having a little fun"

Kendrick made a slew of sports references but he really went in on the football ones. Who knew he would be running the game like a young Sweetness back then?

Year: 2011
Lyric(s): "My niggas never block, I think I'm Barry Sanders"

Wale also mentions Walter Payton and Deion Sanders, along with a bunch of other sports references. His previous line: "Pussy be all on me, we too young for romancin'" leads us into this Barry Sanders reference. Friends who don't cockblock are a blessing.

Year: 2008
Lyric(s): "So I stopped writing/Now I'm like lightning/And you ain't Vince Young so don't clash with the Titan"

As much as rapheads like to say Lil Wayne has fallen off, at least the man is still in the game. Young doesn't even have a job in the league anymore and even got dropped by the Bills. The Bills, fam. Where do you even go from there.

Year: 1993
Lyric(s): "I slam tracks like quarterback sacks from L.T." (Inspectah Deck)

NFL players were paid to go against the coke-using, athletic madness known as Lawrence Taylor. The lyric was spit almost a decade after the infamous career-ending injury to Joe Theismann, so it wasn't in bad taste.

Year: 2009
Lyric(s): "You know I'm a rap Giant, why Plax yourself?"

Joe Budden has a lot of sports references and this is one of his best. Plaxico played himself and ultimately ended his career when he shot himself in the leg. Don't be him.

Year: 2002
Lyric(s): "We smirked at the Simpson trial/Yeah, I guess the chase was wild/But what's all the fuss about?" (Pusha T)

O.J. Simpson brought America to a standstill when coverage switched from the 1994 NBA Finals to a low-speed police chase centered on Simpson's white SUV. The crazy turn of events was the pilot to a new soap opera, which is formally known as the O.J. Simpson Trial.

Year: 2001
Lyric(s): "Sharp like Shannon, Rich like Gannon I'm four deep at Brandons, and they ain't understanding"

Most listeners would consider this another football reference because of the Shannon Sharpe and Rich Gannon shoutout; two players who put defenders on burn notice on a consistent basis. Others shed tears because the latter marks the last time the Oakland Raiders have been good. Thanks for nothing, JaMarcus Russell.

Year: 2007
Lyric(s): "I'm a dog. I should rap wit a muzzle/Peyton Manning flow, I just go no huddle"

Back in his "Mixtape Weezy" days, Wayne was not to be fucked with. He went off on this "Throw Some Ds On It" freestyle. Our favorite line was this Peyton Manning one.

Year: 2003
Lyric(s): "Yo, I'm the Jerry Rice to this, much too nice to quit" (Guru)

The king of the slow flow, Guru shut everybody down with just one line. Him and Premier were the Joe Montana and Jerry Rice of their time.

Year: 2010
Lyric(s): "The epitome of greatness face it no one plays it close/Sweetness on the beat that Walter Payton flow/On track to be the best, what you pacing fo'?/Call plays, step back, pump fake and throw/Who dat? Drew Breezin' down the field?/The document is monumental shit, reel to reel."

Did anybody listen to the Walter Payton reference and think double entendre? Let's not forget that Sweetness did have some bars. Actually, that's if we're talking in the context of ironically bad rap. Do '80s NFL rap songs fit in that category or no?

Year: 2012
Lyric(s): "Now the bloods went Slauson, so niggas go get coffins/Compton like the NFL, niggas get hit often" (Game)

Somewhere out there, James Harrison is silently nodding as if to say "Preach!" He's doing so silently out of fear of getting fined again.

Year: 2011
Lyric(s): "Jerry Jones money nigga, you a running back/Herschel Walker, Bo Jack/Ricky Watters, better run that dope back"

The Bawse straight sonned whoever he was talking to in this rhyme. Go get him a dutch, youngin'. Or call the cops for him, whatever floats your boat.

Year: 2001
Lyric(s): Can I live? I told you in '96/That I came to take this shit and I did, handle my biz /I scramble like Randall with his/Cunningham but the only thing running is numbers fam"

The irony here is that Jay Z has a better knowledge of the art of winning. Cunningham is just 3-6 in the playoffs, while the album the reference is included in,The Blueprint, is a win in itself. Their offspring are doing pretty good though. Randall Cunningham II has accolades in multiple sports, while Blue Ivy was born into royalty.

Year: 2007
Lyric(s): "I started off starvin'/Now they got me out here Brett Favre-ing/Trying to see if I still got it"

A few years and a dick pic later, we believe "thirsty" would've been the better fit here. Also, after showing up and delivering on guest verses again and again, one would have to be a very serious doubter to continuously question if Andre 3000 still got it.

Year: 2010
Lyric(s): "Fuck that, I'd rather turn this club to a bar-room brawl/Get rowdy as Roethlisberger in a bathroom stall"

Every Eminem album post-Encore feels like a comeback moment. "Despicable," Em's "Over" freestyle before Recovery, remains one of the fans' most favorite "comeback" moment. You could imagine Big Ben sorrowfully shaking his head with despair when this song popped.

Year: 1993
Lyric(s): "Sit back and learn, come now watch the birdie/Your styles are incomplete, same as Vinny Testaverde"

Who knew Phife Dawg actually cared about the then-struggling Buccaneers and the still-terrible Cleveland Browns? By the time Electric Relaxation came out, Testaverde had never completed 60 percent of his passes in a season. That's pretty bad for all you non-football saavy folks our there.

Year: 1999
Lyric(s): "Dirty Dozen, naughty rotten rhymer/Cursing at you players worse than Marty Schottenheimer"

Em rhymed this line just for fucks sake. He's one of the best when it comes to wordplay. Can we get Marty a job in the league? Maybe with the Chargers?

Year: 1998
Lyric(s): "Never been to Sesame Street but I flip a big bird/And I know stealers and they not from Pittsburgh"

Easily one of the cleverest lines on this list, Cam let's you know about the life he's living.

Year: 2011
Lyric(s): "Who the fuck can stop me? Runaway freight train/Mike Vick's redemption, big doggin' like a great dane"

Not too many people can tackle the "Can I Live" beat and walk away. Being from Virginia, Push roots for Mike Vick and we do too. Lines like this kee Vick motivated to piece his life back together.

Year: 2007
Lyric(s): "Reportin' live from the booth/I'm killin' these bitches, Young Wayne Carruth"

Insentive? Yes. Great line? You betcha. For those not familiar, Rae Caruth played for the Carolina Panthers once upon a time. He was found hiding in a trunk of a car after going on the run for killing his pregnant girlfriend.

Year: 1991
Lyric(s): "Stop givin juice to the Raiders/Cause Al Davis never paid us"

Unlike Run DMC's adidas deal, Cube's former group N.W.A. were never rewarded for rocking Raiders gear. So being the militant he was at the time, Cube let it be known: "Fuck the Raiders."

Year: 2008
Lyric(s): "Put the hundreds in the bag/Or I'ma put the Eagle to your helmet and fifth to your chest, like you Donovan McNabb"

That's a pretty large amount of firepower to be using for an attempted robbery. Would some sort of wordplay involving getting washed and McNabb work? Get it? Because McNabb was on Washington in the later part of his career. #complexgotbars

Year: 1991
Lyric(s): Ayo Bo knows this (what?)/and Bo knows that (what?)/But Bo don't know jack/'cause Bo can't rap.

Bo Jackson was the first person to be an All-Star in two different sports, owns the best 40-yard dash time in NFL Combine history, and was the center of Nike's "Bo Knows." campaign. But can he rap? No? Then he isn't about nothing.

Year: 2005
Lyric(s): Entire song.

GZA incorporates damn near every NFL team in this tale of a girl he's chasing over soulful DJ Muggs production. If you don't own Grandmasters, reevalute your love of hip-hop. They don't call him the Genius for nothing.

Year: 2002
Lyric(s): "Met her in San Diego at the Super Bowl party/Had the Henny, sipped it up with Terrell Davis/MVP, we flicked it up from Sports Illustrated/I was silked out, flossing with Stoute, he had the gators/When she walked in, she lit up the room like Las Vegas/Terrell said her man's a fullback for the Raiders/A drunk who'd fuck cheerleaders and wind up in the papers"

Nas weaves a tale about a dangerous dimepiece. He met her while chillin' with Bronco great Terrell Davis. TD tried to warn him about her, but Nasir had to learn the hard way.