Monday, August 8th, 2011 at 12:56 pm  |  26 responses

Jay-Z’s Best Bball References

The Mike Jordan of recordin’s 100 sickest basketball-related raps.

Compiled by Adam Figman / @afigman

At around 12 a.m. last night, the Internet went absolutely bonkers for something called Watch the Throne, a joint album by Jay-Z and Kanye West. Maybe you heard about it. And if you downloaded WTT on iTunes minutes after it was released—as we did—then you probably noticed Hov dropped a handful of basketball-related rhymes throughout many of his impeccably-crafted verses. Truth is, Jay’s been connected to the game for years—his part-ownership of the Nets being the latest proof—and, as you should’ve picked up by now, he’s been sprinkling hoops talk into his raps for a while. Roll through the gallery above to check out what we believe are his 100 best bball references—though, admittedly, there might not be too many others. Let us know what we missed and which you dig most in the comment section below.

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  • cramzy Posted: Aug.8 at 1:10 pm
    i didnt get that chicago centers line till years later. I thought dude was sayin chicago sinners

  • GotHandles? Posted: Aug.8 at 1:16 pm
    sick!

  • K boogie Posted: Aug.8 at 1:40 pm
    This here trumps Game’s ball reference piece from last week. This is tuff!

  • Charles Posted: Aug.8 at 1:58 pm
    Jordan looks wasted on a few of those pics

  • Riggs Posted: Aug.8 at 2:10 pm
    me and the boy AI got more in common than just ballin and rhymin, get it? more in carmen.

  • Spaceship Jay Posted: Aug.8 at 2:24 pm
    Good Lord.. I looked up and saw that he has a hundred… A HUNDRED. Learn children, learn.

  • T-Ray Posted: Aug.8 at 2:54 pm
    I like Jay-Z but too many people ride his jock. Everything he puts out isn’t great. Not hating at all just saying.

  • Steven L Posted: Aug.8 at 3:11 pm
    I think on #21 it’s supposed to be: High school crossover, waved away picks/

  • JTaylor21 Posted: Aug.8 at 3:15 pm
    The MJ of recording, says who?

  • Abe Schwadron Posted: Aug.8 at 3:17 pm
    LOL @ A-Rod in #21

  • LA Huey Posted: Aug.8 at 3:57 pm
    Will Perdue in the Phantom of the Opera mask needs to be playable in 2K11.

  • Enigmatic Posted: Aug.8 at 3:58 pm
    Jay-Z’s probably my personal favorite rapper of all time. I give him the nod over Biggie only because he’s put out more albums than Biggie, which is obviously no fault of Biggie’s.
    And even though Illmatic is my favorite album he gets the nod over Nas because Nas really only had like three dope albums out of I don’t know how many.
    T-Money’s right, not all of Jay’z stuff is on point, many of his songs are downright wack in fact, but I still ride with dude.

  • Slick Ric Posted: Aug.8 at 4:54 pm
    Gotta agree with jtaylor21 on this one, you can hate my opinion but I feel jay Z is one of the most overrated rappers ever, not saying he isnt good but with people saying mike jordan of recording, please!

  • Slick Ric Posted: Aug.8 at 5:07 pm
    …I think jay Z has just past skip as the biggest Mike jordan a** kisser. you can idolize the man but damn, he referenced him in almost everything.

  • Damir Posted: Aug.8 at 5:11 pm
    I still think it’s Pac..

  • coggie13 Posted: Aug.8 at 5:36 pm
    The watch the throne album is pretty crap to be honest. most of the beats are really annoying.

  • Brahsef Posted: Aug.8 at 5:55 pm
    Jay pre retirement was untouchable. I actually loved American Gangster too, but all his other post-black albums have been blehh. Lord knows why he changed his flow when he had the God flow and now its ehhh. But Reasonable Doubt, Blueprint, Black Album, The Dynasty. Reasonable Doubt and the Blueprint alone are two of the most important albums in rap.

  • Boing Dynasty Posted: Aug.8 at 10:03 pm
    “I planned to but dog they be takin me out of my zone like a n!gga with a handle” – Streets is watching

  • sean b Posted: Aug.9 at 1:30 am
    MJ of recording??!!! I’m not sure about that guys. Larry Bird of recording aka top five or ten would have been more appropriate.

  • L Posted: Aug.9 at 9:40 am
    It’s not even close, just leave it alone/I’m Michael Jordan, I play for the team I own”—”

  • Da_Real_JTaylor Posted: Aug.9 at 12:44 pm
    F*ck you Jay-Z

  • HAMMER Posted: Aug.9 at 2:52 pm
    Co-sign Brahsef. Jigga shoulda stayed retired. Everything he has brought out since he “came back” is just wack, especially “Kingdom Come”. “Bluprint” is my personal all-time fav of “Jigga man, trigga man”.

  • treetrunks Posted: Aug.9 at 3:33 pm
    yea, the dude is way overrated..don’t believe there’s a best MC of all time

  • Riggs Posted: Aug.9 at 4:42 pm
    lol @ overrated, jesus christ. lil wayne is overrated, dont even try to put jay in that category, you only come out looking idiotic as hell.

  • Question Posted: Aug.10 at 12:58 am
    Goin on my 8th ring, got Phil Jackson’s ZEN/Flow is black magic…

  • Jaamal Braithwaite Posted: Aug.15 at 10:38 am
    I didn’t realize how many ball references Hov dropped in his lines.

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