Dwyane Wade talks Jay-Z, Kanye West song references

NBA star Dwyane Wade recently commented on the fact he’s been referenced in hip-hop song lyrics from Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Nicki Minaj.

For professional athletes, one of the crowning moments of a career (beyond winning awards or championships) may be hearing one’s name dropped in a hip-hop song. Even the “White Mamba” Brian Scalabrine has that. Dwyane Wade recently said he felt as if he “made it in pop culture” when his name was dropped in a popular song by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.

LeBron, Kobe, Jordan have been among the basketball superstars to receive reverent mention from hip-hop lyrics. The newest member of the Chicago Bulls has also been mentioned by several high profile hip-hop artists during the course of his career. Among them are Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Nicki Minaj.

According to Bleacher Report, Wade first heard he and his wife Gabrielle Union’s names dropped in the Nicki Minaj song “Want Some More” with a line that said, “They want that union, they want that D. Wade.” The former Miami Heat star was also mentioned in Kanye West’s track “The Glory,” which also mentioned Dwayne Wayne from the hit sitcom “A Different World,” in addition to Kendrick Lamar’s lyrics on “Blood Sport.”

However, Wade admits that when he first heard one of the greatest rappers of all time, Jay-Z, drop his name in the hit song “Empire State of Mind,” he realized he had “made it in pop culture.” Not only will his basketball career stats and championship rings tell his story in the future, but D-Wade is also immortalized in the lyrics of hip-hop forever.