The link between American football and rap culture has been long established. It is famously claimed that athletes want to be rappers, and rappers want to be athletes. With most American rappers enjoying the NFL growing up, and most athletes regularly blasting out the latest Lil Wayne or Drake on the way to training, the two worlds now enjoy a relationship that is firmly intertwined.
Ahead of the NFL Divisional Round, here are some of the best football bars in rap music!
Jay Critch – ‘I’m A Star’ – 2017
“Game on, took a loss but I stay strong
Super Bowl rings I just won the playoffs
Gotta go hard, I could never play soft
Giant in New York I run it back like Saquon“
Critch smartly talks about his fame in New York by stating he’s a ‘Giant’, using the NFL team to do so. He also pays homage to running-back Saquon Barkley, another famous face around New York.
Cam’Ron – ‘357’ – 1998
“Never been to Sesame Street, but I flip a big bird
And I know stealers and they not from Pittsburgh“
Cam’Ron with one of the more gangster lines on this list, he claims to know thieves, and he smartly uses the Steelers to demonstrate this.
Drake – ‘Paris Morton 2 / Pound Cake’ – 2013
“Uh, after hours of Il Mulino
Or Sotto Sotto, just talkin’ about women and vino
The contract like ’91 Dan Marino
I swear this got Michael Rapinos boostin’ my ego”
Drake compares his personal fortune to that of legendary quarterback Dan Merino. In 1991, QB Dan Marino signed a six-year, $23,950,000 contract with the Miami Dolphins, including a $3,500,000 signing bonus, which at the time was the biggest NFL contract ever.
Drake & J.Cole – ‘First Person Shooter’ – 2023
“Numero U-N-O
Me and Drizzy, this shit like the Super Bowl
Man, this shit damn near big as the-
Big as the what? Big as the what? Big as the what?
Big as the Super Bowl
But the difference is it’s just two guys playin’ shit that they did in the studio”
Drake and J.Cole explode on this track, hyping up their abilities on the mic and proclaiming that collectively they are just as big as the largest sports event in America, the Super Bowl, which had 115 million viewers in 2023. Drake boasts around 80 million monthly listeners on Spotify, so to be fair to the Toronto native, he’s not far off!
Lil Wayne – ‘Green and Yellow’ – 2011
“Once a Packer, always a Packer
Like Shakur, call me ‘two-pack’
I’m green and yellow”
Although he’s a New Orleans native, Lil Wayne is notoriously an enormous Green Bay Packers fan. In ‘Green and Yellow’, the Packers team colours, Wayne shouts out Tupac as well as affirming his allegiance to the Wisconsin team.
Lil Wayne at the Packers Cowboys game pic.twitter.com/Iko9PKoymD
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) January 15, 2024
A Tribe Called Quest – ‘Scenario’ – 1991
“A-yo, Bo knows this (what?) And Bo knows that (what?)
But Bo don’t know jack, ’cause Bo can’t rap“
A Tribe Called Quest shouts out the only person to be an All-Star in two sports. Bo Jackson is an All-Star in both baseball and American football after successful stints in both the MLB and the NFL. Jackson also ventured into academia, completing his degree in Family and Child Development at Auburn. What couldn’t this guy do? Well, according to A Tribe Called Quest, none of that matters because Jackson can’t spit bars like he can.
Nas – ‘Blaze a 50’ – 2002
“Met her in San Diego at the Super Bowl party.
Had the Henny sipped it up, wit Terrell Davis.
MVP, we flicked it up from Sports Illustrated.
I was silked out, flossing with stout, he had the gators.
When she walked in, she lit up the room, like Las Vegas.
Terrell said our mans a fullback for the Raiders.
A drunk who’d f*ck cheerleaders and wind up in the papers.“
Nas tells the whole story of how MVP and legendary former running-back Terrell Davis and he chopped it up and talked about sports and girls at a party. Elite. Sounds like a fun party.
Drake – ‘Draft Day’ – 2014
“Draft day, Johnny Manziel,
Five years later how am I the man still?“
Drake, a chronic sports bar user, compares his rise to Johnny Manziel’s. In 2014, Manziel had just broken every QB record at Texas A&M and was a first-round pick by the Cleveland Browns. Drake was also at the top of the rap game. Ten years later, Drake is still at the top of the rap game yet Manziel has been out of the NFL for eight years after poor performances and personal problems. The two remain friends.
And there you have it, the best NFL lyrics from rap music. This is a continuing phenomenon, so expect many more NFL bars in the coming years, from rap to country music. With Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift dating, the two fields are especially entangled. Prepare for Taylor Swift to roll out her own collection of Kansas Chiefs x Travis Kelce lyrics sometime soon!
In the meantime, read our favourite football lyrics in rap music and our favourite NBA lyrics in rap music as well!
By Nicky Helfgott / @NickyH3lfgott on Twitter (X)
