Looking Back At Kobe Bryant’s Failed Rap Career

If you're a rap or basketball fan who came of age in the early aughts, you missed the beginning -- and ending -- of Kobe Bryant's rap career. Yes, his rap career.

In the late 90s, Kobe Bryant was signed to Sony and the label had big plans for him to become a breakout star, pairing him with producers like The Trackmasters, and keeping him in the company of artists like Nas, Noreaga and 50 Cent.

Grantland has just published an exhaustive but incredible look back at what went wrong with Kobe's rap career. It's definitely worth a read.

Spoiler alert -- Kobe was actually a good rapper but basically let his label make him go pop and everyone saw the basketball player as rapper thing as a gimmick.

The end result? He decided to focus on winning NBA championships instead. Not a bad move.