Beats and Basketball: A Dynamic Duo

The Oklahoma City Thunder helped the city gain an identity that it did not have before. Hosting an NBA game in a city brings more than just ticket sales. It becomes something for the community to rally behind, and even rap about.

“We couldn’t have made it this far without the Thunder,” Oklahoma rap artist Trip G said. “They have an invested interest in highlighting our community, and that’s dope.”

The state of Oklahoma is recognized nationally for The Gap Band, Garth Brooks, Toby Keith and too many others to list. The vast majority of these acts are all based in country music. Oklahoma historically does not have a good track record of producing notable artists in hip hop.

The NBA is a player's first league. Teams like the Thunder try to utilize members of the community that both the players and the fanbase can get excited about to promote the organization. The Thunder utilized local artist Jabee Williams to record an intro song for the team’s playoff run in 2012.

This created a relationship between the growing hip hop community in Oklahoma City and the Thunder.

“A scene can’t grow without a national point of interest for everyone else to grab on to,” YouTube Music artist relations consultant Rachel Jackson said. “Before there was a major pro sports team there, nobody was talking about OKC. Talent can come from anywhere, and I’m glad Oklahoma is getting that recognition.”

According to okc.gov, the televised games during the regular season contribute to 215 countries and 85 million viewers from those countries seeing Oklahoma City on their screen.

An overwhelming majority of hip hop artists come from the west coast, New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Houston. These are large metropolitan areas that most people know about or even have visited. Before the arrival of the Thunder, few people were talking about OKC and even fewer were visiting.

The infrastructure already exists in the previously mentioned hotspots to start a career in hip hop. Smaller artists have the burden of persuading people to care about and follow them through their music and social media presence. Now artists are free from having to legitimize their hometown.

“I used to get laughed out the room when I said I was Oklahoma,” Trip G said. “Now I have dudes from Dallas and other big towns asking me for advice.”

It is not news that an NBA team moving to a new city creates new revenue and increased tourism. The Thunder have been in OKC for 13 years. The boom to the local economy changed the city, and gave a voice to a community that had been kept silent for too long.