LeBron James has famously referred to himself as a ‘hip-hop historian‘ in the past. He’s teased new tracks from artists long before they released, even executive-producing a 2 Chainz album back in 2019. He’ll share unreleased lyrics from Drake or tell Kendrick Lamar and TDE to release Untitled Unmastered. Jay-Z often goes out of his way to find King James before basketball games he attends.
But like anyone involved in hip-hop, now he’s found himself in the middle of a beef. Drake has felt particularly scorned by LeBron James after he showed up to support Kendrick Lamar at The Pop Out in 2024. “I shouldn’t even be shocked to see you in that arena, because you always made your career off of switching teams up,” Drake raps on “Make Them Remember”. “Please stop asking what’s going on with 23 & me, I’m a real n***a, and he’s not, it’s in my DNA.”
Now, Jay-Z has entered the fray since Drake threw shots at him too on ICEMAN. “You boys got big on my name, that’s big enough … we know how you OGs rocking already my n***a, the jig is up,” Drake spits on “Janice STFU”. Consequently, Hov clapped back with a diss at Roots Picnic, telling him to get out of his bad record deal before talking to him.
LeBron ended up cosigning Jay during the whole spat. But their relationship goes back beyond just rap allegiance.
LeBron James Likens Hov to a ‘Big Brother’ Who Helped Teach Him Business
In an interview with Rich Kleiman on CNBC, the all-time NBA points leader recalled meeting Hov back when he was just a teenager. He remembered marveling at how he moved in business settings and the respect he commanded in rooms. Moreover, he saw how loyal his crew was to him, even decades later. It’s something he quickly grew to admire, especially the closer they became over the years.
“Jay is like my big brother,” LeBron James said. “He’s the one who’s given me so much game and has taught me so much. And I’m always thinking about him any time I’m doing something business-wise or making a decision or whatever, thinking like, is this going to make him proud or — because he gave me so much game as a 16-year-old kid.”
Then, LeBron James likens their upbringings, coming out of rough project home environments. After a while, it was like he spoke the same language as Hov. “So I know exactly what it means to scrap and claw for everything. It’s a mindset,” he added. “And when you know you got that, when you know you have the vision, and you start to realize the power that you possess, and now you could tap into these resources, you become unstoppable.”
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