Basketball (song)

According to Blow, the idea for the song came from his girlfriend (whom he later married), who told him, "You need to make a song about basketball, it's the No. 1 sport for African-Americans and nobody has done it yet."^[1] Twenty-five famous basketball players are mentioned during the recording.^[2] 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.^[1] 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."^[1] The lyrics consist of rhymed couplets, a structure that has been described as "typical of early-1980s rap".^[3] The song's hook was sung by Alyson Williams, who later had hit songs of her own on the R&B chart.^[1][4]

The music video for the song was directed by Michael Oblowitz, who had a $25,000 budget.^[1] The video included cameos by hip hop groups The Fat Boys and Whodini.^[1] Although Blow had wanted the video to include footage of the players mentioned in the song, the National Basketball Association would only provide clearance for use of still photos of Micheal Ray Richardson (who is not mentioned in the lyrics).^[1]

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.^[5] 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."^[1]

Lil' Bow Wow covered the song in 2002, featuring Jermaine Dupri, Fabolous and Fundisha for the Like Mike soundtrack.