LeBron James and his image have taken a major hit since the end of last season aka his terrible summer. He acknowledged it all by warning people that he was taking mental notes and that combined with all the free time in the off season caused everyone to basically over react to any little thing he said or did.

Truthfully though, LeBron has always been a relatively fun guy, despite the evil image everyone’s thrown on him. One of the latest examples of that is this new commercial from him and music legend Dr. Dre.

The two have teamed up to promote a new version of Dre’s extremely popular “Beats by Dr. Dre” headphone line that emphasizes its mobility and ease of use for athletes without compromising sound quality. The new commercial features the two superstars alongside comedian Affion Crockett and has some very funny moments, including Crockett repeatedly bringing up Kobe Bryant‘s championships to LeBron.

Check it out below.

It’s cool to see LeBron silence some of the foolish people who think his ego wouldn’t allow Kobe to even be mentioned in the same room as him by letting Affion poke fun at a popular theme in the NBA (Kobe vs Lebron). Either way, I’m sure he can’t wait for him and his new Miami Heat teammates to suit up and chase a few rings of their own. With training camps across the NBA ready to start back up, most of the focus will thankfully shift back to basketball now.

-Will.

Will R. is a journalist/writer who covers sports, news and music for several websites. His music work can be found on www.WestCoastRydaz.com

Popular New Jersey rapper Joe Budden has been a very busy man the last few years. He formed the Hip-Hop super group Slaughterhouse with fellow MC’s Royce Da 5’9″, Crooked I and Joell Ortiz and released a group album, went on a national tour with independent heavyweight Tech N9ne, published a lyric book and also put out three solo projects (Halfway House, Padded Room and Escape Route).

All that helped grow his already established fan base, which includes a die-hard Internet following. He’s rumored to be signing to Eminem’s Shady Records soon with Slaughterhouse and is also about to release the fourth installment of his critically-acclaimed “Mood Muzik” series on the 24th of October. (Order it here)

If you think he’s be too busy to dedicate time to his fans though, you’d be wrong. He organized a series of summer kickball games that were open to anyone (that lives on the East Coast) and he’d publicize the location and time via his @JoeBudden Twitter page.

If you couldn’t make it, don’t trip. You can get it on the fun thanks to this video and photo recap from DaFamInk.com

It looks like fun and the all-access pass given to his fans by Budden is definitely a step closer than a lot of other rappers allow. It was the last game of this summer, but according to his Tweets, he expects to do it all again next year.

- Will.

Will R. is a journalist/writer who covers sports, news and music for several websites. His music work can be found on www.WestCoastRydaz.com

Tiger Woods and his infamous affairs led to a firestorm of media coverage, South Park parodies, Porn stars desperately trying to guzzle 15 minutes of fame like a money shot from one of their films and some of the most entertaining text messages ever. It also provided rappers an outlet to drop some Tiger related lines, something T.I quickly did.

Washington D.C. rapper Wale took it a bit further and just released a new song called “Eye of The Tiger” that not only samples a Tiger voicemail, but also tackles the whole issue itself.

The new song features Wale rapping from Tiger’s perspective, hence the title. He dropped it via his @Wale Twitter page and it’s quickly taken off. You can listen to it below.

Click here to download the song.

Say what you want about Tiger’s moral issues, but they’re definitely seemed to be a little extra satisfaction taken on the part of some people in punishing him for it. You can read between the lines when comparing it all to Ben Roethlisberger to see what I’m saying or just listen to the bars Wale drops in the song.

If the social and racial story lines are too much for you, you can always enjoy this more comedic Tiger-sampled rap video.

Regardless of all the stuff off the golf course, I can’t wait to see Tiger win again. Heck, even if he doesn’t win it’s still always worth a good laugh anytime he shoots a 69.

- Will.

Will R. is a journalist/writer who covers sports, news and music for several websites. His music work can be found on www.WestCoastRydaz.com

One of the many things I’ve learned watching sports over the years is that some star athletes just can’t get enough of the spotlight, leading to all kinds of branching out. Some choose to form management companies or clothing lines. That’s cool and all but it’s usually not that interesting.

The real fun starts when these talented sports figures try their luck at music. Based on what we’ve seen and heard through the years, there’s a reason why they have their day jobs. The latest guy to make headlines for his music is Los Angeles Lakers starter and NBA Champion Ron Artest. Ron-Ron is no newcomer to rapping and his hometown of Queensbridge, New York has been the birthplace of many rap superstars (Nas, Mobb Deep, ).

His latest song has been his most famous though, especially since he plugged it during the live postgame speech after game 7 of the NBA Finals. It immediately became a hop topic online and by the next day he released the song – appropriately called “Champions” – and it was a viral hit. Trey Kerby over at Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie called it the “best athlete rap song of all-time in the non-unintentional comedy division.”

After more than a few listens it’s hard to say it isn’t a good song. Artest covers all bases, using several examples of sports superiority throughout the lyrics and it’s actually missing most of the antics that earned him the nickname “Crazy Pills” among fans. It’s certainly better than his puzzling tribute to the late Michael Jackson.

Since it’s brought up the topic of rapper/athletes again, we thought we’d line up a few of the most well-known examples and let you decide. If you want to know what some of the NBA guys think, you can catch Artest’s list here or watch Amare Stoudemire and Brandon Roy break down their picks. Whether you think they are good, unintentionally funny, campy cult classics or just plain awful, enjoy.

The Good/Decent:

The Bad (yet still memorable):

The Ugly:

It seems like a recipe for some success on the mic involves the right mix of charisma (Shaq), originality (Da Bears), and a bit of craziness (Artest). It’s a delicate balance though, as we can see with overdoing the cheesiness (Deion, the Dolphins and Eagles) or just lacking any flow (Barkley was turrible). If the rumors about Delonte West and LeBron’s mom are true, I doubt he won her over with his rap lyrics. Iverson went a bit too overboard with the homophobia (safe to say John Amaechi wasn’t waiting in line to buy his CD) and Kobe just S.U.C.K.E.D.

Whether they end up being ridiculed or accepted for trying to cross over, it’s unlikely we’ll see a decrease in rapping athletes anytime soon, especially when looking at the long list of those who hit the booth.

- Will.

Will R. is a journalist/writer who covers sports, news and music for several websites. His music work can be found on www.WestCoastRydaz.com

Donovan McNabb was a polarizing figure in Philadelphia with the media, fans and in the locker room. Leonard Weaver supported #5 staying with the team, but DeSean Jackson and the youth movement got their wish with Kevin Kolb taking over the offense. Jackson denies leading the push for Kolb at QB although on his 97.5-FM “The Fanatic” radio show he said it was time for a change. Whether DeSean wanted to play with McNabb or not doesn’t matter now. Kolb is calling the signals now and it’s time to look forward.

In non-McNabb news Jackson hooked up with Gillie and Oschino to drop a few bars. He’s rapping under the moniker “Jack” but people think he’s Nino. Jack should stick to letting Snoop rap about him instead of picking up the mic. Listen to “Let’s Do It” below:

FFWD to 1:18 for DeSean’s verse. Song is NSFW.

You won’t find two bigger Chad Ochocinco fans than @haydenlindley and @reidb11.. They’re not big enough fanatics of eight-five to pay his $20,000 bribe fine but they put together “The Ochocinco Project” in his honor. Turn up your speakers.

Keep working at it fellas but I’m sure Ocho will send you some mustard, or deodorant for your effort.

For some reason NBA players, more than any other professional athlete, think they can rap. Guys like Gary Payton, Chris Webber, Dana Barros, Malik Sealy, JR Writer JR Rider, Jason Kidd, and Dennis Scott can be seen here getting their Hip Hop Hippie on. Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Allen Iverson, and Shaquille O’Neal have all grabbed the mic to show off their supposed skills.. I wouldn’t be surprised if George Mikan had a mixtape back in the day.

So who’s the best rapper in the history of the NBA? The folks at Hardknock TV asked Brandon Roy and Amare Stoudemire and they both agreed on the same player-rapper.

Shaq’s the best rapper in the NBA? That’s the only championship he’ll be picking up this summer. And if the Lakers don’t win it all we’ll be in for the “How’s my Ass Taste” remix.

It’s not a sporting event in Los Angeles if Snoop Dogg isn’t in the building. The D-O-Double spent Christmas afternoon courtside at the Celtics-Lakers game and spit a freestyle for ESPN’s Lisa Salters and crew.

New York Giants defensive end Usi Umenyiora joined Erik Kuselias on Mike and Mike in the Morning last month where he premiered his Tom Brady diss. In the spirit of Shaquille O’Neal, Usi Umenyiora ask Brady how something tastes.

As Kuselias points out Tom Brady has three rings, but it must have been the football gods, not Giselle and her boyfriend, that were pissed off at Usi’s rap. A month and a half after spittin’ “Tell me how my ring taste” Umenyiora injured his knee and was out for the season. Bill Parcells will have to amend his quarterback commandments to include ‘Thou shall not diss Tom Brady’.

C.J. Miles or “Jilla” is supplementing his NBA income by making a guest appearance on the mixtape of former teammate Dee Brown. The tape, “Unwritten”, was supposed to come out last year, but was put on hold until Brown handled some business in Europe.

C.J. Miles has a myspace page, but there’s not a lot going on there. Dee Brown’s website looks pretty good, as it should, with all of Dee’s free time. The mixtape will probably be pushed back indefinitely since Brown is still looking to catch on with a team, and a rapping fringe player doesn’t appeal to NBA squads.

Here’s another track from Dee Brown’s mixtape. C.J. Miles isn’t the only former teammate to rep on “Unwritten”. Check out the open by Derek Fisher.

C.J. Miles, Dee Brown, mixtape, NBA