The Best Sports Commercials Featuring Rap Songs

We can go on for a minute about the parallels between sports and hip-hop. There's the superhero mystique that follows the best of the best from both professions. There's the need to sell their talents and just be interesting (side eye to swagger-less Kevin Durant) to connect with an audience—or a demographic in marketing-speak. But the similarities don't mean much of anything if they're not entertaining, and many have been enjoyable through the past two decades in which hip-hop in advertising have become prevalent.

It's especially fascinating how versatile associating sports and hip-hop in advertising can be as much as both professions have been stereotyped—they're both more complex than people give them credit for. They're bizarre (shoutouts to Rick Ross), inspiring (see: “Umi Says”/Air Jordan XVI), and adrenaline-pumping (JUST BLLAAAZEE). Allen Iverson was the first to provide a pure distillation of the hip-hop/sports advertising mixture when he famously appeared on the SLAM cover with the blown out ‘fro and the Mitchell & Ness jersey, but there have been a few other TV spots that played up the hip-hop aesthetic to humorous peaks and passion-appealing success. From Styles P rapping Kevin Garnett’s theme music to The Neptunes at their finest, here are the Best Sports Commercials Featuring Rap Songs.

Year: 2013
Company: adidas
Product: CrazyQuick

A$AP Rocky's spot here should have you excited for when he's aged about 40 years and is one of those smooth-talking elders about to tell these youngbloods how they just don't make ballers at Rucker Park like they used to. He'll be like Bill Russell in the Uncle Drew commercial. Except with grills, a deeper catalogue, and possibly a mink.

Year: 2002
Company: Nike
Product: Nike Basketball
Artist: Snoop Dogg

Snopp Dogg's contribution to Nike promotional lore focuses on fun rather than homage to the funk legends that influenced his early '90s sound. All he had to point to was the era's crazy visuals, from the crazy costumes (shoutout to the dude with the pimp hat and fake nose) to the excessive use of colors. There's random basketball moves being shown off, and a woman shaking her backside to close of the commercial. Everything was all right.

Year: 2001
Company: adidas
Product: adidas TMAC
Artist: Method Man

The perpetually drowsy Tracy McGrady ends up looking convincingly badass when he's selling product, and here, he looks like he's been doing badassery for a while. That's not just because he manages to beat a leaner version of Deebo either. To be hip-hop is to be confident, and T-Mac exudes it from his exaggerated abilities during the sage-like voiceover to when he walks off to that Method Man verse (Popa Wu - "Three Amigos (If It's On)" ft. Method Man, King Just, & Sic).

Year: 2008
Company: Nike
Product: LeBron James pretty much
Artist: Lil Wayne

Now, this commercial is a callback to simpler times when things relating to LeBron James and Lil Wayne were more black-and-white than complicated Technicolor. James was an amazing athlete playing for a weak franchise. Weezy F. Baby was making hits, rapping his ass off, and was fenominal. Before one declined and the other became a villain, they were two artists who were great to look at. And the chalk? That's simply a pretty good sight.

Year: 2013
Company: NBA
Product: NBA Playofs

"Oh! Is that 'Shook Ones?' Oh shit, that's crazy." That's just the immediate appeal of this spot that aired during last year's playoffs, and you don't need to look much further to see just why it fits. There aren't any teams that "Shook Ones"' pointedness applies to more—not the Heat, not the Thunder, not the Pacers. The Queensbridge spaghetti western guitar forms the backbone, and from there, Prodigy and Havoc sells the track through all action, no frills. "Speak the wrong words man and you will get touched," Prodigy warns and even though he already promised he wasn't fucking around in "The Infamous Prelude" (You will get "Shot, stabbed, or knuckled down/One out of the three." You best act right.).

Tim Duncan and company won't beat you up, but the lack of flash begets an emphasis on consistency. Shut up and show, and they have been doing so for the past decade for the most part—most notably except Game 7.

Year: 2010
Company: Nike
Product: Contact Sports

All Rick Ross needed was presence to sell in a year where "B.M.F." reigned, Teflon Don dropped, and the MMG empire was well on the way to its peak. Rozay's semi-absurd need to do things big is played up here, with talking jewelry images of his face somehow connecting with physical contact in sports. It's over before anything is endorsed, but you're sold anyways. It was easy to force Ross' powers at one point.

Year: 2001
Company: And1
Product: Sneakers

Someday And1 is going to make a comeback that might be as dramatic as Kevin Garnett's appearance. They have KG putting on his best Black Leonidas as he plays through the rain, dribbles through a crowd of ballers that comes out of nowhere, and jumps past paparazzi. And no one thinks to bring an umbrella. Styles P has to be the grounded force here. He uses little embellishments as he simply raps a synopsis of The Big Ticket's come-up. There's no such thing as a future ESPN 30 for 30 unless its Styles P narrating.

Year: 2002
Company: adidas
Product: adidas TMAC 2

Ask Shawn Bradley and the Spurs. Age ain't nothin' but a number when you're this good. You can still get schooled at any time. This commercial is also notable for two things. For one, you don't normally see the sleepy-eyed Tracy McGrady being this intense. Secondly, you're reminded of "What Happened to That Boy," which in turn reminds you of Pusha T's crazy verse. "I put this on my Lord: My niece was 4 when she felt chinchilla." "So quit your yappin' before I get to clappin'/And have your body parts mix and matchin', fella." Bruh...

Year: 2001
Company: Nike
Product: Nike Basketball
Artist: Afrika Bambaataa and Hydraulic Funk

Part visual and rythmic treat, part "Damn, I can't do 60 percent of those moves," this commercial was just enjoying to look at regardless of context. Hell, a lot of you probably still can't do half of those moves (to be fair, neither can I. Let's be basketball-impaired together!). It's still symbolic of Nike's classic rhetoric though. You know, for a fact, you can't do what the featured athletes do, but you will buy the brand just to be a part of that greatness.

Year: 2001
Company: Nike
Product: Air Jordan XVI
Artist: Mos Def

Nike cuts back on the idolatry of the athletes featured here for humanity, which makes sense given the song choice. "Umi Says" is about the now and how the physical is perishable and therefore must be cherished. "For you and me, life is not promised," Mos Def sings as Derek Jeter comes face to face with children. Part of the joy of sports is the human drama and the struggle that builds up to the on-the-court/field moments, and as the plot plays out, life goes on. Even if you're Roy Jones Jr. or Jesus Shuttlesworth. Not if you're Michael Jordan.

Year: 2001
Company: Reebok
Product: Answer V

Allen Iverson was as hip-hop as a sports athlete could get. He had the fashion, the world conquering confidence, and the background. That's why this Iverson/Jadakiss pairing worked so well: Reebok or Jadakiss didn't have to sell that aspect to the target demographic. So of course, you'd just let The Answer do his thing—break imaginary ankles, exude ferocity through his pitch black eyes, etc. Jadakiss is supplementary here as Iverson (and the camera angle) makes him look his height: 5'7".