Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Music 360: Hip-Hop's Negative Influence on Playoffs! JAY-Z OFFICIALLY ENTERS DESHAWN/LEBRON FEUD


*The Washington Wizards are preparing to fight for their playoff lives tonight in a do-or-die Game Five against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The battle, however, will not just be on the basketball court. 

      A pre-series beef between the Wizards' DeShawn Stevenson and the Cavs' LeBron James took a left turn through rapper Soulja Boy in Game Three and has now landed in the lap of Jay-Z.

      The drama began before Game One with Stevenson calling James "overrated."  James responded: "With DeShawn Stevenson, it's kind of funny. It's almost like Jay-Z [responding to a negative comment] made by Soulja Boy. It doesn't make sense." The Cavs went on to win the first two games of the series in Cleveland.

      For Game Three in Washington, Stevenson tracked down Soulja Boy and sat him courtside to heckle James. The Wizards win by a huge margin.

      Leading up to tonight's Game Five, Jay-Z has responded with a dis track against Stevenson. Borrowing the beat and title of Too Short's "Blow the Whistle," Jigga raps: "Ask my n*gga LeBron / we so big we ain't gotta respond / When you talking to a don / Please have respect like you talking to your mom." 

       LeBron's teammate Damon Jones reportedly had local club DJs play Jay-Z's track while adding his own anti-Stevenson rhymes.  Upon hearing about the track and Jones' freestyles, Wizards player Caron Butler brought it to Stevenson's attention.       

       "He says he has a lot of swag, but I don't think that's something to do," Stevenson said of James. "This is basketball. I'm not worried about the song. I'm not worried about what he did. But for Damon Jones to get on the mic. And I heard he was saying foul stuff about me and stuff like that, they're taking it beyond basketball to me."       

       Stevenson added: "Everybody is saying the bad things that I'm saying nationally, but they don't understand why I'm mad. That stuff doesn't come out. I'd rather be the bad guy. People think I'm going at him, but they don't see the little stabs that he's doing."       

       "When I had Soulja Boy here. It was on the court," Stevenson said. "It was nothing disrespecting him or his family or even foul language."       

       As for Jay-Z's contribution to the situation, Stevenson said: "Jay-Z is a legend. He'll go down in history. No disrespect to Jay-Z. I take it as a compliment. I like his music. I like everything he does. I would never go at a legend."

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