"Basketball" is a

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

song written by William Waring, Robert Ford,

Kurtis Blow Kurtis Walker (born August 9, 1959), professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record/film producer, b-boy, DJ, public speaker and minister. He is the first commercially successful rapper ...

, J. B. Moore, Jimmy Bralower, and

Full Force Full Force is an American music group of hip hop and R&B singers and producers from Brooklyn, New York. Members *B-Fine (Brian George) - drums and drum programming, backing vocals *Shy Shy (Hugh Junior Clark) - bass guitar, backing vocal ...

and recorded by

, released in 1984 from his album '' Ego Trip''.

Song history

According to Blow, the idea for the song came from his then-girlfriend (whom he later married), who told him, "You need to make a song about

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, it's the No. 1 sport for African-Americans and nobody has done it yet." Twenty-five famous basketball players are mentioned during the recording. Waring was primarily responsible for choosing which players would be mentioned in the song, but Blow specified that his favorite player, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, would be mentioned first. Blow said in 2013, "We wanted the guys we grew up watching who were all out of the league by the time the song came out, and the best of that time." The lyrics consist of rhymed couplets, a structure which has been described as "typical of early-1980s rap". The song's hook was sung by

Alyson Williams Alyson Williams (born May 11, 1962) is an R&B singer who had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some notable tracks include "Just Call My Name", "Sleep Talk", "My Love Is So Raw" and "I Need Your Lovin". Career The daugh ...

, who later had hit songs of her own on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

. The music video for the song was directed by Michael Oblowitz, who had a $25,000 budget. The video included cameos by rappers

The Fat Boys The Fat Boys were an American hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York, who emerged in the early 1980s. The group was briefly known originally as the Disco 3, originally composed of Mark " Prince Markie Dee" Morales, Damon "Kool Rock-Ski" Wimbley, ...

and

Whodini Whodini is an American hip hop group that was formed in 1982. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, a.k.a. Ecstasy (who wore a Zorro-style hat as his trademark; J ...

. Although Blow had wanted the video to include footage of the players mentioned in the song, the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

would only provide clearance for use of still photos of

Micheal Ray Richardson Micheal "Sugar" Ray Richardson (born April 11, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. He played college basketball for the Montana Grizzlies. The No. 4 overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, Richardson played in ...

(who is not mentioned in the lyrics). Nevertheless, the NBA later took an interest in Blow's song and played it at games, as well as creating its own video that featured clips of every player mentioned in the song. Blow said, "When the song was peaking, the NBA started flying me around to do shows. ... I would do a live performance right after the game to fill the arena." The video game ''

NBA 2K12 ''NBA 2K12'' is a 2011 basketball simulation video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports. It was released in October 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360, and, ...

'' used the song during the introduction.

Charts

Lil’ Bow Wow version

Lil' Bow Wow Shad Gregory Moss (born March 9, 1987), better known by his stage name Bow Wow (formerly Lil' Bow Wow), is an American rapper and actor. His career began upon being discovered by rapper Snoop Dogg in the late 1990s, eventually being brought ...

covered the song in 2002, featuring

Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ. Early life Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael ...

Fabolous John David Jackson (born November 18, 1977), better known by his stage name Fabolous, is an American rapper. Raised in Brooklyn, he first gained recognition while still a senior in high school, when he performed live on American music executive ...

and Fundisha for the ''

Like Mike ''Like Mike'' is a 2002 American sports comedy film directed by John Schultz and written by Michael Elliot and Jordan Moffet. Starring Lil' Bow Wow, Morris Chestnut, Jonathan Lipnicki, Robert Forster, Crispin Glover and Eugene Levy, the film fol ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

Charts

In popular culture

* In 2016, the song was played during an episode of '' The Goldbergs'' entitled "Dungeons and Dragons, Anyone?". Kurtis Blow also recorded a new version of the song with lyrics about the game

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

for the episode. * In '' American Dad!'', season 13, episode 17, "Criss-Cross Applesauce: The Ballad of Billy Jesusworth", the song plays during a segment where Stan and

Roger Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

play one-on-one basketball. * In ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

,'' season 28, episode 17, "

22 for 30 "22 for 30" is the seventeenth episode of the twenty-eighth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and the 613th episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on March 12, 2017. In a parody of '' ...

", the song plays during the aftermath of the documentary.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1984 songs 1984 singles 2002 singles Kurtis Blow songs Bow Wow (rapper) songs Jermaine Dupri songs Fabolous songs Song recordings produced by Jermaine Dupri Songs written by Jermaine Dupri