The Los Angeles Lakers drafted Lonzo Ball out of UCLA with the second pick in hopes that he would become the franchise’s next great point guard and leader. What they didn’t know at the time though was that Ball’s talent expanded past the basketball court.
Ball considers rapping a hobby of his, and he’s actually not bad. On Friday Lonzo released his first single as a hip hop artist titled “Melo Ball 1” featuring Kenneth Paige, a singer, songwriter and producer from Fresno, CA.
The song is a tribute to Lonzo’s youngest brother LaMelo, who just turned 16 and is one of the top prospects in the 2019 recruiting class. He is already committed to UCLA, though there are some potential eligibility concerns.
Before the draft, Lonzo released his first signature shoe with his brand, Big Baller Brand, which he called the ZO2s. LaMelo also recently released a signature shoe which shares the name with Lonzo’s song, Melo Ball 1, making him the first high school player ever with a signature shoe.
Lonzo almost got himself into a bit of trouble recently when in the first episode of his family’s reality show “Ball in the Family” he said that nobody listens to hip hop emcee Nas anymore and that real hip hop is Future and Migos, which led to Lil B threatening Lonzo with his “Based God Curse”. Luckily Lil B changed his mind, calling Lonzo and the Big Baller Brand ‘family’.
Although Lonzo has been spending a lot of time in the hip hop world recently, his focus will shift to basketball in a couple weeks when he reports for training camp. He will have the tough task of turning around the Lakers franchise that has suffered through its worst four-year stretch in franchise history.
Lonzo’s selfless play is infectious though so the Lakers should be playing a completely different brand of basketball this season with him at point guard, leaving the entire Lakers organization optimistic about what is to come in the future.