Hip hop didn’t exist the last time the New York Knicks won an NBA Championship.
On May 10, 1973, Clyde Frazier and Willis Reed’s Knickerbockers finished off the Los Angeles Lakers in five games to claim their second NBA title in four seasons. Three months later, on August 11, DJ Kool Herc hosted a back-to-school jam in the rec room at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, an event now commonly recognized as the birth of hip hop (although the exact date of the party has been subject to debate).
Since then, hip hop and hoops have been linked as twin pillars of the city’s culture. New York, from Rucker Park in Harlem to the Cage on West 4th, is a basketball town—and hip hop is the soundtrack to its streets. Some of the best to ever do it on the hardwood were born and raised within the five boroughs, while the list of rappers from New York is even more impressive.
So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise when New York rappers name-drop the team or some of the greatest players in Knicks history. These are the 25 Best Knicks References by New York Rappers.
Action Bronson, “103 and Roosy”
“Grab a barracuda higher than a parachuter / Pair of shooters: Anthony and Harper / Caciocavalli dog, I'm sharper than the archer”
Cuban Link ft. Terror Squad, “All Around the World”
“I be the nasty Cuban, slammin' like I'm Patrick Ewing / Pass me a bag of weed, a brew, and the track that we're doing”
Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, “Ice Cups”
"Ice Cups/ I tilt this one up for Anthony Mason./ In the end, it's paper even over friends/ Ice Cups/ This one for number 14 from the Knicks."
Salt-N-Pepa, “Independent”
“Like Oakley from the Knicks, yes, I'm havin' a ball / You think because you're leaving that I'm gonna take a fall?”
Fat Joe, “Sunshine”
“Throw your Rollies in the sky, my guys'll take those / Lower East Side, I'm up in NY / See me on the floor with Obi courtside”
A Tribe Called Quest, “One Two Shit”
"Money on my mind so never mind a trick / New York is the town and the team is the Knicks."
Jay-Z ft. Cam'ron, "Welcome to New York City"
"I ain't hard to find, you catch me front and center / At the Knick game, big chain and all my splendor / Next to Spike and the pen left to write."
Marlon Craft, “JULIUS RANDLE”
“Too groovy to handle / Write what they don’t want, my duty is vandal / Who need a sample? / Put in work in the pandemic, Julius Randle”
Action Bronson, “Auntie Maria’s Crib”
“Rosemary toast paddle for the marrow / Got women of the streets straight emerging out the shadows / 2 piece like Chris Childs did to Kobe / Catch me in the corner store, quarters for Shinobi”
Cormega, “The Come Up”
“My movement's like the automatic top on a coupe / Smoothness, like Allan Houston got when he shoots”
A Tribe Called Quest, “Baby Phife’s Return”
“Kid, you know my flava, tear this whole jam apart / Fuck around and have your heart, like Jordan had Starks' / While you playin' hokey pokey, there's no time to be dokey / 'Cause I come out to play every night like Charles Oakley”
Heltah Skeltah, “Sean Price”
“Sean sparks like John Starks in the fourth quarter / Oughta meet my peeps, deep like the Torah”
Pop Smoke, “Hello”
“I like my bitches redbone, ass fat, Jell-O / Lightskin, yellow, iced out, hello / I'm the king of New York, Melo / Black hair by the Regis and Pello”
Beastie Boys, “B-Boys Makin’ With the Freak Freak”
"I got my hair cut correct like Anthony Mason / Then I ride the IRT right up to Penn Station"
Fabolous, “F vs. J Intro”
"All a sudden, thunder, it mighta been Hoodie Melo / You soft as pudding Jell-O, we'll come to your hood and "Hello"
Noreaga, "Our Way”
“From New York, but still I be hating the Knicks / And fuck Jordan, but still I be rocking his kicks”
Busta Rhymes, “New York Shit”
“Yeah, I'm on my New York shit! / I rep the Giants, the Jets, New York Knicks / Tailor-made clothing with my New York stitch / My chick bangin', don't you see my New York bitch?”
Kurtis Blow, “Basketball”
“I used to go to dinner, then take the girl / To see Tiny play against Earl The Pearl”
“Basketball has always been my thing / I like Magic, Bird, and Bernard King”
“Clyde, Rick Barry, and Pistol Pete / Now these players could never be beat”
"Or when Willis Reed stood so tall / Playing D with desire, it's Basketball."
Beastie Boys, “Get It Together”
"See I’ve got heart like John Starks / Hitting mad sparks / Pass me the mic and I’ll be rocking the whole park."
Pharoahe Monch, “Official”
“Blaze a trail like Portland on a track that'll amaze ya / Omnipotent on the D like Clyde Frazier”
Fat Joe and Remy Martin, “All the Way Up (Remix)”
"This wasn't me, this was God's doing / And this time I won't finger roll; Pat Ewing."
Jay-Z, “La-La-La (Excuse Me Again)”
“Don't confuse me with Marbury out this bitch / Run up on me at the light, you could lose your life”
Big L, “98 Freestyle”
“Yo, fuck all the glamours and glitz, I plan to get rich / I'm from New York and never was a fan of the Knicks”
The Notorious B.I.G. “I Got a Story to Tell”
“The shit she kicked, all that shit's legit / She get dick from a player off the New York Knicks / Nigga trick ridiculous, the shit was plush / She's stressin' me to fuck, like she was in a rush / We fucked in his bed, quite dangerous / I'm in his ass while he playin' against the Utah Jazz / My 112 CD blast, I was past / She came twice, I came last, roll the grass”
A Tribe Called Quest, “8 Million Stories”
“I got the tickets for the Knicks and she cold stood me up / I need to hit a honey off, Jarobi, pass the phone / Pulled out my book of hoes, oh, yo, Sheila's home / Steady smilin' like a mother, yo, I'm read' to bone / Went down on hun, she's in the red zone / Stressed out more than anyone could ever be / Forever tryin' to clear the samples for my new LP / Everybody knows I go to Georgia often / Got on the flight and I ended up in Boston / With all these trials and tribulations, yo, I've been affected / And to top it off, Starks got ejected”
