50 years of Hip Hop: When NBA stars and rappers have crossed over

In August 1973, a group of kids were having a back-to-school party in the basement of their apartment in the Bronx, New York, when a man called DJ Kool Herc created Hip Hop.

DJ Kool Herc was the first person to scratch records on turntables and use the mixer to switch between songs.

Since that night in the Bronx in 1973, Hip Hop has become widespread and global, influencing many cultures, with sports and specifically basketball being one of them.

We've had Jay Z talk about Jordan in game six, Nippsy Hussle saying 'Legendary baller like Mike like Wilt,' and Ice Cube dropping Triple Doubles on the track 'Today was a good day.'

Over the years, NBA stars have had their limelight behind the mic, while some rappers have played basketball professionally or been heavily influential in the basketball world.

NBA 75^th anniversary team star Damian Lillard took on the stage name 'DAME DOLLA' after showing off his rapping skills during a freestyle for 'Sway in the Morning.'

Since then, Lillard has dropped four albums, with features from Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, and Jamie Foxx. Lillard has over 200,000 monthly listens on Spotify and has a song with over 13,500,000 plays.

Rapper J Cole is one of the most influential Hip Hop artists of all time, with several songs having over one billion listeners on multiple platforms.

Despite his influence in music, Cole's first true love was basketball, playing professionally in Canada and Africa for the Scarborough Shooting Stars (2.4PPG) and the Patriots Basketball Club (1.7PPG).

Miles Bridges will return to the NBA this season after being given a second chance by the Charlotte Hornets due to off-the-court trouble with the mother of his children.

In his year off from basketball, Miles Bridges, known as RTB MB in the music industry, has grown his rap career, releasing six new songs and having nearly half a million monthly listeners.

Ice Cube is one of the originals of Hip Hop from his time with N.W.A. in the 1980s, creating some of the most iconic tracks in history and selling over 10 million albums worldwide.

In 2017, Ice Cube founded the 3X3 basketball league, the Big 3. The league is broadcasted nationally and has many former NBA stars competing, including Joe Johnson and Jason Richardson.

NBA Hall of Famer and four-time champion Shaquille O'Neal was the first NBA star to get involved in Hip Hop, releasing his album 'Shaq Diesel,' which went to number 25 on Billboard and went certified platinum.

O'Neal was known to mix it up with some of the biggest rappers in the 1990s and even had a feature with the Notorious B.I.G on a song called 'Can't Stop the Reign.'

Jay Z is one of the highest-grossing artists of all time, and with that fortune, he became a minority owner in the Brooklyn Nets from 2003 till 2013, being a major influence on their name change to Brooklyn from New Jersey.