Jaylen Brown had plenty of time to clean the champagne and confetti off his NBA Finals MVP trophy this offseason, and along with preparing for a title defense with the Boston Celtics in 2024-25, the 27-year-old tapped into his creative side and released a debut single in collaboration with A$AP Ferg -- "Just Do It."
Although the music video has raked up nearly half a million views on YouTube, Brown, who's accustomed to on-court scrutiny, has now opened the door for music critics to insert their two cents -- or former New England Patriots quarterbacks. Cam Newton, an on-the-record hip-hop aficionado, gave Brown's studio work a chance and followed up the first listen with an honest review along with a piece of advice.
"Are you listening to this (expletive) in the club, bro?" Newton said on the "4th&1" podcast. "... This is no disrespect. This is just keeping it a big buck, bro. People ain't consuming (Brown) in that type of regard. The best rapper I ever heard rap that was a athlete: Dame (Lillard). He's a basketball player, bro. A lot of people can rap that are athletes. But we're talking about numbers. They're not gonna do no numbers, bro."
Brown subliminally fired shots at Nike -- the three-time All-Star's arch-nemesis corporation -- while presumably directing a few verbal strikes toward Los Angeles Clippers guard Kevin Porter Jr., the former partner of Brown's current girlfriend Kysre Gondrezick. It wasn't the first time we've seen an NBA player -- which Newton mentioned -- step foot into the hip-hop scene, however, stirring the pot with the NBA's uniform and apparel producer (Nike) and Porter, who's been arrested for allegedly attacking Gondrezick in a hotel room in 2020, is more than just a studio-experimenting project.
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The Celtics are 42 days away from raising their record-setting 18th banner at TD Garden and opening up the season against the New York Knicks. Brown's first swing at a music career might not produce a platinum track, but the soon-to-be nine-year veteran is poised to chase a second consecutive championship, which no team has accomplished since the Golden State Warriors (in 2017, '18).
Featured image via Kiyoshi Mio/Imagn Images