Rap Or Go To The League

About

Late into the evening of February 1, 2019, 2 Chainz and LeBron James were talking music. James was serving as A&R to 2 Chainz’s fifth studio album, <i>Rap or Go to the League</i>, and footage from that evening’s studio session features the Lakers star playing the role to a T—taking notes as the music play, offering suggestions about where to include feature, and scrunching up his face in reaction to some of the harder-hitting production. It’s hard to distinguish where exactly his fingerprints lie within the finished product, but as collaborator on a hip-hop album referencing two of the most visible (if unlikely) paths for young Black men in America to conquer generational poverty, LeBron i, in fact, the perfect teammate. But the story is 2 Chainz’s to tell. <i>Rap or Go to the League</i> is autobiographical in a way that has little to do with career aspiration. “I done some things I ain’t proud of/Like sold my mom drug,” he confesses on “Threat 2 Society.” On “Forgiven” he recounts the pain of hearing that friend and collaborator Lil Fate's son had been murdered, and then he delivers a detailed list of crimes he may or may not have once committed on “Statute of Limitation.” “NCAA” carries the album’s overt parallel of street life and sport with its chorus: “N-C-double-A/We the young and dangerous/We be balling hard/I just want some paper.” .

via Apple Music

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