Just days before the late great Kobe Bryant will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, a blast from his past surfaced online.
An unreleased Kobe Bryant album with features from 50 Cent, Black Rob, and Destiny’s Child suddenly leaked online.
According to a billboard article, L.L. Cool J once talked Kobe out of dropping a “gangster album.” L.L. said he heard the album and was “confused.”
“He played me this album, this gangsta rap album, and I was like, ‘Kobe.’ I said, ‘Come on, dog. That’s not what you need to be doing,’” the NCIS: LA actor chuckled as he recalled the moment. “He had a gangsta rap album. He played me that album, we’re sitting in a parking lot. I was confused. I was sittin’ there, like, ‘What are we doing? You got endorsements, what are you doing?’ It had to be the funniest moment of my life, listening to him do gangsta rap.”
Some fans might remember the 2000 NBA All-Star Game when he showed up on the court with Tyra Banks to perform his lead single “K.O.B.E.” from his debut rap album that was never released.
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“We’re not gonna pretend like we wasn’t laughing,” LL Cool J said in regards to the 2000 live performance. “The world was laughing. That was not… but, you know, he took a shot. He took a shot.”
You can listen to the long lost Kobe Bryant rap album here.
Kobe was tragically killed last year in a helicopter crash alongside his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant, and seven others.
