A few weeks ago I heard Kevin Durant rap and I thought he was good. I asked my timeline if there were any other good “rapletes” and a few people replied me saying Stephen Jackson of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs who raps under the name Stak5 was really talented. So I went and listened to some of the songs off of his “What’s a lockout” mixtape and really liked what he was doing (my favorite songs on the mixtape are Say Now and Where I’m From). I could also tell he takes it seriously and it’s not just something he’s doing for fun on the side. He’s clearly passionate about it.

I was glad to have Stephen stop by the More Than Football podcast and talk about his upcoming album. We talked a lot about music, how his life inspires his rhymes, Texas influences and support among musicians, and the guest stars on his album (one of them is Kevin Durant!). Stephen also made some really thoughtful comments regarding the infamous Malice at the Palace, and talked about Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich who I mentioned has become some sort of cult hero on the internet. Bonus: I also asked him what he thought of Tony Parker getting injured in the Drake/Chris Brown fight!

If you haven’t heard the “What’s a lockout?” mixtape you can get it here.

Highlights from the interview include:

[To read highlights from the interview and listen to the audio version click Read More]

On the song “Where I’m From” which covers Stephen’s ideas about loyalty and explains his perspective on the infamous “Malice at the Palace…” 

I never got a chance to express my opinion about the brawl and why I decided to help Ron and why everything happened the way it did. The song was easy for me to explain cause that’s how I was raised. I was taught to be there for my brothers. I was taught that if me and three of my friends go out to a restaurant and one of them gets into an altercation to be there for him regardless of what it was. We’ll worry about the consequences when we get home.

(continued…) 

Playing AAU ball and growing up with these guys…a lot of guys I play basketball with we’ve been on the same team for years. So when the situation happened in Indiana I didn’t think twice. I knew it was a dumb situation for us to be fighting since we were up 15 points already. The game was basically won. But it was still my teammate…I was taught to be there for him.

On internet cult hero Greg Popovich…

He knows how to coach defense. He coaches great offense. He knows how to pick the right players the right guys that can jell as a team. He can coach a crazy guy like me and keep me focused. He has all these talents to be a hall of fame legend coach. Just the way he goes about handling his day to day job of being the coach of an nba team is not like any coach I’ve ever seen.

On athletes that rap… 

Off the top we don’t get respected cause we’re supposed to be athletes and I guess already wealthy and already set for life so a lot of people feel like why rap? Well who says if you’re successful in one thing you can’t be successful in another one.

On his upcoming album “Jack of all Trades” and why other rappers respect him…

I have a lot of collabos and features from guys in the game who respect me. Trill recognize trill. they don’t look at me as just being an nba player. I’ve always been a guy who prided myself not just being an NBA player. I’m just a regular guy whose been blessed and is multi talented. I don’t like to be singled out as a basketball player.

More Than Football Welcomes Stephen Jackson - NBA player, Rapper and Jack of All Trades from Playerperspective on Vimeo.

“Jack of All Trades” will be released in EP version hosted by DJ Scream with livemixtapes.com and the No-DJ Deluxe Version through ITunes with a clean version suitable for all ages. Stak5’s music can best be described as a southern “Trill” (True Real) sound of music that all fans can relate to. “Jack of All Trades” will feature impressive collaborations with artists such as Bun B, Scarface, 2Win, Paul Wall, The Game, Jim Jones, Young Chris, Lloyd and more.

To view the official video released for Save the Day visit: http://youtu.be/L2QSqlZfaUg