Who are 10 athletes with successful music careers?

LiAngelo Ball finally made it.

No, the middle Ball brother didn’t sign with an NBA team, but he did A $13 million deal with Def Jam following the success of his viral song “Tweaker,” which has taken over locker rooms across sports and is slowly climbing the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Ball isn’t the only athlete to make it in the music industry, but the massive popularity of his song puts him at an interesting place in the history of athletes turned musicians.

Here are the top 10 athletes who had successful music careers:

10. Barry Zito

Barry Zito didn’t just throw heat on the mound – his stuff was good in the studio, too.

Zito, a World Series champion with the award-winning San Francisco Giants and Cy Young of the Oakland Athletics, has released a six-song country music EP called “No Secrets.” The project didn’t receive any kind of critical acclaim, but it opened doors for Zito in the music world, such as co-writing a song for an Eddie Murphy film and getting a call to be on FOX’s “The Masked Singer” as “Rhino .”

Zito’s crowning achievement as a musician, however, might be his performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Athletics’ final home game at the Oakland Coliseum. How can you not be romantic about baseball?

9. Oscar De La Hoya

Oscar De La Hoya: world-famous boxer and … Grammy-nominated singer?

That’s right: In 2000, De La Hoya released a self-titled Latin pop record through EMI International that was nominated for Best Latin Pop Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards. De La Hoya lost out to global superstar Shakira, but the album still had huge success, even receiving platinum certification from the RIAA in 2006

Despite critical acclaim for the album, De La Hoya never released a follow-up. However, he returned to the stage in FOX’s “The Masked Dancer” as “Zebra” and finished in fourth place!

8. Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant has mastered almost everything he has attempted in his lifetime. He won five NBA championships and two Finals MVPs in his 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers; won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2017; and made his mark in the energy drink business as an investor in Body Armour.

The only thing Bryant missed was being a rap star. In 2000, Sony Entertainment planned to release Bryant’s debut album, Visions, but it was delayed due to the poor reception of his debut single, KOBE, despite performing it at All-Star Weekend and featuring supermodel Tyra Banks.

However, Bryant’s musical credits include Destiny’s Child and Brian McKnight. How many other athletes can say that?

7. Deion Sanders

Between Deion Sanders’ success as a player and coach, it’s easy to forget that he had a moderately successful rap career — but he did.

Sanders released his debut album “Prime Time” in 1994 on MC Hammer’s Bust It Records. The album didn’t reach notable chart heights, but the lead singles — “Must Be the Money” and “Prime Time Keeps on Ticking” — gained a cult following and even landed on “Saturday Night Live” when Sanders hosted the show in 1995. , after the San Francisco 49ers won the Super Bowl.

6. Roy Jones Jr.

If you’re not familiar with Roy Jones Jr., world champion boxer and rapper, you may be familiar with his rap group, Body Head Bangerz.

In 2004, three years after recording his solo album “Round One: The Album”, Jones formed a hip-hop group called Body Head Bangerz with Magic, Choppa, Snappa and Bone Crusher. The group released their debut album that same year, which featured several big names, including Juvenile and Petey Pablo.

However, the breakthrough singles from that project were “I Smoke, I Drink” and “Can’t Be Touched”, the latter of which left its mark on pop culture via recordings with athletes. “I Smoke, I Drink” peaked at number 25 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart.

5. Bernie Williams

In addition to being a four-time World Series champion and four-time Gold Glove winner, New York Yankees legend Bernie Williams is also an accomplished jazz guitarist.

Williams, who as a teenager attended an art school in Puerto Rico called the Escuela Libre de Musica, has released two jazz albums during his playing career. The second, “Moving Forward,” spent five consecutive weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and was nominated for Best Instrumental Album at the 2009 Latin Grammy Awards.

Williams got to play for his hometown fans at Yankee Stadium in 2014, when he performed “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” on classical guitar for Derek Jeter’s final game.

4. LiAngelo Ball

Aside from the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef, LiAngelo Ball might be the most talked about rapper in the world right now—seriously.

The Detroit Lions celebrated their historic finish in the NFC North with Ball’s hit song; The Cleveland Cavaliers blasted him in their locker room and over the stadium speakers at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse; three-quarters of the “Inside the NBA” crew know the words to the song; and the local news pulls it into their segments.

It’s a phenomenon, with 8.7 million views on YouTube and nearly 100,000 units sold. We’ll see if he can use that momentum to have a successful second single, or if he’ll be one and done.

3. Dana Barros

Dan Barros’ rap career was similar to his NBA career: it burned bright, but not for long.

Barros, NBA All-Star with Philadelphia 76ers In 1995 and the league’s MVP that same year, he was the breakout star of “B-Ball’s Best Kept Secret,” a 1994 compilation album featuring songs by NBA players.

Barros was featured on the track “Check It” and cemented his legacy as one of the greatest rappers in NBA history.

What started as a fun social media trend has turned into an impressive body of work for Damian Lillard, aka Dame DOLLA

Lillard first established himself as a rapper with his participation in “Four Bar Friday” on Instagram, and after gaining some popularity as an artist, he released his first full-length project, “The Letter O”, which reached number 7 on the Billboard charts. Top R&B and Hip-Hop Albums Charts.

Since then, he has worked with household names such as Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross and Ti Dolla $ign.

1. Shaquille O’Neal

Shaq wasn’t just the most dominant big man ever — he might be the most dominant athlete-turned-rapper of all time.

Shak has released five studio albums, the first of which, “Shak Diesel”, peaked at number 25 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the RIAA. His subsequent albums didn’t reach the same heights as his debut, but that didn’t scare any collaborators. His third studio album, You Can’t Stop the Reign, featured rap icons The Notorious BIG, Jay-Z, Nas and Mobb Deep.

Oh, and did we mention it was featured on a Michael Jackson album?

Shaq’s rapping days are (mostly) over, but his music career is still going strong as DJ Diesel, which has taken him to some of the biggest music festivals in the world, including Coachella.

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