The Intersection of Hip Hop Culture and Sports
by Will Brown,
August 14, 2025
Since the late 1970s, the intersection between hip hop culture and sports has had a massive influence on popular culture and social trends. With some of the biggest rappers rubbing shoulders with NFL and NBA stars, the relationship has had a knock-on effect that has transformed music, fashion, and business. In this guide, we’ve examined the emergence of this partnership, its suitability, and how icons from both fields have collaborated to create a lasting global impact.
About Hip Hop’s Sports Influence
The relationship between hip hop and sports dates back to the earliest days of the musical genre’s emergence. To launch this guide, we’ve discussed how and why hip hop’s relationship with basketball in particular developed, with both intersecting at the height of their popularity.
The rest of this guide explores how the crossover dynamics had an effect on culture, including fashion, language, politics, business, and wider society. As we will cover, the collaborations between icons from both fields have become cultural landmarks and billion-dollar industries.
- The History of the Pairing
- Sport’s Influence on Music
- Hip Hop, Sports, and Fashion
- Hip Hop and Sports Business
- Influence on Language and Expression
- Effect on Politics and Society
Hip Hop and Sports: A Background
During the early 1970s, hip hop culture emerged in the Bronx, New York City, with Black and Latin American youth spearheading a cultural movement that encapsulated breakdancing, DJing, and rapping. The movement was a response to the poverty, racism, and social conditions they were experiencing, giving voice to a culture that had long been disenfranchised and overlooked by wider society.
At the same time, Black athletes in major professional league sports such as basketball and football were beginning to gain wider exposure thanks to nationally syndicated games. With many of these athletes growing up playing sports in the same urban areas where hip hop emerged and spread, the relationship was naturally formed.
By the time that both hip hop and the NBA reached peak popularity in the 1990s, the new generation of athletes had long been exposed to hip hop culture. Sports were regularly referenced in rap lyrics, while athletes had begun to adopt the styles and public personas of hip hop giants.
The 20th century saw even deeper parallels between Black sporting icons and hip-hop stars reaching new heights in business influence, as Michael Jordan and Jay-Z became billionaire moguls. Stars of both regularly collaborate in creative and marketing endeavours, while hip hop stars such as Nicki Minaj and Snoop Dogg have become ambassadors for top NBA sportsbooks.
Sport’s Musical Influence on Hip Hop
The dynamic between hip hop culture and sports has long been exemplified in music. As early as 1979, the Sugar Hill Gang referenced watching the Knicks play basketball in “Rapper’s Delight”, while Kurtis Blow’s song “Basketball” was inspired by the sport being the number 1 sport for African-Americans.
Public Enemy’s “He Got Game” emphasized the connection between basketball and playing the “game” of life, while sports stars such as Kobe Bryan and Shaquille O’Neal ventured into recording hip hop tracks. One of the most successful hip hop artists, Jay-Z, has also long compared himself to elite athletes such as LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
It hasn’t been a one-way street, though. The tempo, energy, and bravado of hip hop lyrics and beats have made the genre perfect for pre-game locker room rituals. Drake has long used his influence to act as an ambassador for the Toronto Raptors, while Jay-Z once owned a minority stake in the Brooklyn Nets.
As hip hop is the most popular music genre in the US, major rappers’ endorsements of a team can have a profound impact on their marketability. Hip hop’s sports influence can perhaps best be distilled down to the shared attitudes around both: each celebrates perseverance, excellence, ambition, and triumph.
Hip Hop, Sports, and Fashion
Fashion was perhaps the earliest and most visible link between hip hop and sports culture. In 1986, Run-DMC became the first music group to partner with an athletic label with their release of the hit song “My Adidas”. The early 1990s saw House of Pain’s “Jump Around” music video feature Everlast wearing a Larry Bird Celtics jersey, sparking a trend that would continue with Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, and NWA.
The convergence of athletics apparel and streetwear stylings has become a signature look of hip hop fashion, and major athletes began to adopt the look. This was perhaps best exemplified by basketballer Allen Iverson in the early 2000s, wearing baggy clothing, custom sneakers, cornrows, ostentatious jewelry, and caps off court.
Since then, there have been countless partnerships between hip hop stars and major athletic brands. Drake and Travis Scott have partnered with Nike, Jay-Z is the Creative Director for PUMA’s basketball division, and Cardi B has partnered with Reebok. The partnerships have even been extended into high fashion, with A$AP Rocky collaborating with Dior and Gucci, and Pharrell Williams now the Men’s Creative Director of Louis Vuitton.
Hip Hop, Sports, and Business
One of the most notable examples of hip hop’s sports influence can be seen in Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports venture. Founded in 2013, the sports management agency represents major athletes in sports such as football, baseball, basketball, and boxing, including Kevin De Bruyne and Skylar Diggins-Smith.
The agency has brought Jay-Z’s music-industry marketing experience to help athletes secure endorsements, strategize media plans, and develop personal branding. This empowers athletes to gain more revenue streams off the field. Other instances where hip hop artists have backed professional sports include Nelly’s previous part-ownership of the Charlotte Hornets and Snoop Dogg’s stake in England’s Swansea FC soccer team.
Impact on Language and Personal Expression
The hip hop influence on American sports isn’t just aesthetic and creative. The bond has also had a profound impact on language and expression of identity for both athletes and rappers. It’s not rare to hear a sports star reference rap lyrics in interviews or conferences as a nod to both the tribulations and triumphs of competition.
Meanwhile, the term “G.O.A.T.”, or “Greatest of all Time”, which is attributed to boxer Mohammed Ali, was popularized in hip hop culture thanks to rapper LL Cool J’s album “G.O.A.T.” in 2000. The Game referred to himself as “rap’s MVP” in 2005’s “Hate It or Love It”, while the term “underdog” or “squad” is routinely thrown around by hip hop artists.
This shared language strengthens the connection between artists and athletes that is tied to the roots of modern basketball and hip hop. Many of these terms originated in African-American vernacular rather than being invented by hip hop artists and athletes. However, the public reach of these celebrities has introduced this terminology into the public lexicon.
As for personal expression, the shared storytelling of resilience, comebacks, rivalries, and confidence is exhibited in both hip hop culture and sports. No other music genre is characterized by feuds and diss tracks quite like hip hop, which elevates it into a new category that is akin to sporting competition.
The Influence on Society
Because of the ties between hip hop and basketball to America’s Black population, both artists and athletes have become powerful voices in the fight for racial equality. Artists such as J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar have become powerful voices in the fight for social change, especially in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In sports, NFL player Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racial injustice and police brutality sparked a fierce national debate, with his gesture referenced by Eminem and Meek Mill among others. The huge platforms available to the stars of both fields are often utilized to amplify support for marginalized groups.
The answer to “What has hip hop influenced?” is, like sports, most evident in its platforming of Black culture to wider society. The ability to communicate messages of excellence and perseverance is not only inherent in the intersection of major sports and hip hop but also hugely influential on society.