Hip-Hop & The NBA: Meet Joe Beast

Cavs bigman Joe Smith apparently has put pen to paper for a "Playoff Rap" for his team. The former #1 pick under his rap moniker, Joe Beast, insists he is not to be compared with other NBA Stars that have tried stepping up to the mic.

"I'm not like the rest though, not like them," Smith raps. "I put my heart in this. I put my soul in this. So before you classify me with the rest - don't do it. I want you to be open-minded."

That got me thinking of who the best NBA hip-hop artist in the last 20 years is.

• Kobe Bryant had a couple of songs, most popular was this one with Tyra Banks.

• Ron Artest did a little something with his record label Tru Warier and even once wanted to take a break from basketball to focus on his rap career - what a character.
  

• Tony Parker released a whole album in his native tongue French.
  

• Chris Webber who once dated Tyra Banks, had a couple songs in the 90's and was also active in the studio - producing this beat on a Nas track a few years back.
  

• Everyone remembers his Kobe jive last summer, but Shaquille O'Neal is probably the most successful of these hoopers at rhyming. His debut album, Shaq Diesel, went platinum and released 4 more albums after that. He aslo had a decent song with Nate Dogg some years back that I actually became fond of.

I'd personally have to give the dge to Shaq cause of his longevity, but I'm curious to see what Joe Beast sounds like. At least would give him props for trying to rally his troops.

Ending on a totally different note - the funniest youtube video of this past week, Enjoy.