Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard has more than the start of the NBA season to look forward to as he announced his debut rap album will drop Friday.
The two-time All-Star announced the release Thursday via Bleacher Report.
Lillard’s album, titled "The Letter O," is a tribute to both his jersey number (0) and the places that shaped his basketball career (Oakland, Calif., Ogden, Utah, and Portland, Ore.).
Though most know Lillard’s rap abilities from the State Farm commercial in which he’s “dropping dimes, dropping dimes,” he’s been recording for years — and he’s pretty talented.
MORE: Top 15 NBA point guards for 2016-17
Just take a listen to this preview of the song “Growth Spurt”:
#BRmag Exclusive: Dame D.O.L.L.A. (@Dame_Lillard) presents "Growth Spurt," announces debut album "The Letter O" pic.twitter.com/s8nGoiFCOg
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 20, 2016
The release of his debut album is meant to garner him even more credibility in the music industry.
“We are never going to change the fact that he is a basketball player first, nor do we want to,” said Derrick Hardy, a former music exec at Motown who helped Lillard with the album. “But we do, however, want Dame to get respect in the music industry by his peers. I think ... better yet, I know we accomplished that.”