Michael Jordan is the GOAT – and rappers have proved it on record
- Soundtrack to The Last Dance is heavy on rap but rappers have been much heavier on Jordan references over the years
- His whole career – even the gambling – has been documented in rhyme by some of biggest stars in classic songs
“I’m the GOAT – the Greatest of All Time.”
Not the words of Michael Jordan but those of rapper LL Cool J on the title track of his “G.O.A.T.” album, released in September 2000.
The debate over rap’s own GOAT has moved on in the two decades since, as has the same debate in basketball. In September 2000, Kobe Bryant was a month off starting his fifth season – which he would the second of three NBA Finals in a row, as part of five in his 20-year career with the LA Lakers.
Meanwhile, LeBron James was three months off turning 16 and three years off becoming a national high school champion – and then the No 1 pick in the NBA draft when he joined the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Jordan and LL have another link besides legitimately considering themselves better than those who followed. It is LL Cool J’s I’m Bad that soundtracks the highlights of Jordan’s 63 points against the 1986 Boston Celtics in The Last Dance.
Rap and hip-hop from the 1980s and 1990s provides most the soundtrack for the ESPN and Netflix documentary series that covers Jordan’s career from joining the league in 1984 to 1998.