Kawhi Leonard has had a big week.
First, Leonard was named as one of the 75 greatest NBA players of all time. He became one of only 11 active players to make the list. Then, on Friday, Leonard dropped the first half of his rap project "Culture Jam."
Culture Jam Vol. 1 (Part 1) OUT NOW! Streaming on all platforms. pic.twitter.com/3Bpdm3rVgF
— Culture Jam (@culturejam) October 22, 2021
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Leonard's goal with his rap album is to celebrate basketball and hip-hop together. He also wants to give back to underserved communities. Some of the proceeds from the first song he released in May titled "Everything Different" featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Rod Wave went to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, which honors Kobe and Gianna Bryant.
When Leonard announced the project, he said in a news conference why he thinks the album is important.
"It just merges basketball and music together. It's always been something on my mind that I wanted to do," Leonard said. "It's just something that could uplift our community. And, you know, a portion of each stream is gonna go to the Mamba & Mambacita [Sports] Foundation. It's just something good for the community, you know what I mean?"
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Kawhi is working on a music project with NBA Youngboy and Rod Wave
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 5, 2021
He says part of the proceeds will go to the Mamba and Mambacita Foundation
(via @BallySportWest)pic.twitter.com/84sLMjaz0R
Leonard helped produce the album, which was produced by Virgin Music. There are seven songs included in the first half of the project, and it features 13 well-known rap artists. There is no drop date for Volume 2 right now.
Yeah I’m all here for this 🎤 pic.twitter.com/ZTn4PUswdS
— Overtime (@overtime) October 21, 2021
Leonard's been all over the rap scene this year. In early September, he was featured in Drake's "Way 2 Sexy" music video dancing alongside Drake, Future and Young Thug.
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If you want to know more about Leonard's album or future projects, his team created a "Culture Jam" Twitter account (@culturejam), which posts about Leonard's basketball updates, information about the album and rap opinions about artists featured on the album and some who are not.