Kobe Bryant Recorded An Unreleased Song With Run-D.M.C.

Kobe Bryant is known as an NBA icon with endorsement ties to Nike. But the late basketball player also had a budding rap career in the late ‘90s, and he once recorded a song called “My Adidas” with Run-D.M.C.

In a recent interview with Yahoo Entertainment, founding Run-D.M.C. member Rev Run recalled the unreleased collaboration:

We met at the studio [in L.A.], because Kobe at the time had a relationship with Adidas, and we had that big record, ‘My Adidas.‘ So we hung out all night and discussed options of how we should make the record… He liked to rap, we knew he was a good basketball player that wanted to rap with us, and we had a great night, took pictures. He was excited to meet us, and we were excited to meet him. It was just beautiful hanging with Kobe—and starting to record a record that we never finished.

Before switching over to Nike, a young Bryant worked with the Adidas team—and he ended up releasing signature shoes for the brand, including the KB8, KB8 2, KB8 3, and the Kobe 2.

“‘Somebody asked me, ‘Where is the Kobe track?’ I don’t know,” Rev continued. “We were running around, doing things, and maybe it’s in the archives of some studio, or a demo that we made in our house that we was going to give to them to download their vocals. But somebody will find it.”

Bryant’s hip-hop group CHEIZAW was signed to Sony Entertainment in the late ‘90s. However, his debut album, Visions, would be shelved—and he’d be dropped from the label by 2000.

On January 26, the five-time NBA champion was killed in a helicopter crash at the age of 41. The 18-time All-Star spent his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, retiring after 20 years in 2016.

His NBA legacy made him an in-demand reference in hip-hop, and several high-profile artists have paid tribute in the wake of his passing. Lil Wayne’s “Bing James” ends on 24 seconds of silence in honor of the late baller’s jersey number. Alicia Keys joined Boyz II Men to perform “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” at the Grammys. Run-D.M.C. and Lil Nas X also held up Bryant’s jerseys during their performances.

“Honoring Kobe at the performance, my DJ [Charlie Chan] held up a Kobe shirt,” Rev Run told Yahoo. “It was pretty cool.”

Catch up on all the lyrics to Run-D.M.C.’s biggest hits on Genius now.