Jay Electronica, Rap Game Lamar Odom? Posted by Nathan S. on 08/19/13 | Filed under Top Stories, Opinion, Sports, Rap Game

Some people go through their entire lives not really knowing what their true calling is, that thing they were obviously put on Earth to do. Not me. For good ol' Nathan S., I was clearly created by sweet baby jesus to compare rappers and basketball players, and it's not a duty I take lightly.

So as the next in my Rap Game series, I thought we'd take a look at surprisingly overlapping venn diagram that is Lamar Odom and Jay Electronica. This one was inspired by @therealjsolo and 20some.com, who to my knowledge are the first to come up with the Jay Elec = Lamar Odom comparison. But while they focused more on that comparison in regards specifically to "Control", I wanted to zoom out and look at their careers (so far) in total.

Enjoy...

The Similarities:

Despite having played only one season of college ball at the not-exactly-powerhouse Rhode Island, Lamar Odom came into the NBA as the fourth-overall pick to the Clippers, drafted largely on potential; guys that tall, agile and versatile just don't come along very often, and when they do, teams often feel like their talent justifies taking a chance on a relatively unproven prospect. Right out the gate it looked like the gamble had paid off for the Clippers as Odom submitted a stellar rookie year, averaging nearly 17 points and 8 rebounds a game and making the 2000 NBA All-Rookie First Team. But he would never really live up to that promising start again, completely disappearing at worst and settling into more of a high-end role player status with the Heat and Lakers at best, someone with the talent to take over games for small stretches and contribute across the board, but not a true franchise player, superstar, or even an All-Star.



Damn, that sounds pretty familiar. Despite having no real catalog to speak of - I'd say Elec's "Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)" mixtape is equivalent to Odom's one year of college ball at Rhode Island - Jay Electronica was signed to Roc Nation largely because of his talent and potential. He may to turn out to be a bust, but even if it's a 1-1000 chance that he turns into the next greatest rapper alive, do you really want to be the guy who passed on the next greatest rapper alive? Elec quickly proved that he did indeed have that sort of potential, lighting up his rookie rap season with the "Exhibit" series, but since then has been either completely out of the game, or has shown up as a valuable supporter player ("Suplexes", "Control"), but has yet to truly dominate a track like he did early on.



All of that works well, but the real kicker is Odom's personal life. While I'd caution against making too direct a link, it has to be pointed out that Odom's marriage to Khloe Kardashian, and his subsequent entry into the world of reality TV and 24 hour a day TMZ coverage, coincided pretty neatly with a noticeable decline in his play. He was married in 2009, and by 2012 was playing in the D-League in the midst of a frankly disastrous season with the Mavericks.

When he broke into the game Electronica was with Erykah Badu, but his involvement with Kate Rothschild - who I think you could easily call the Khloe Kardashian of obscenely wealthy Illuminati families - coincided neatly with his near complete disappearance from the game. Who can focus on rap (or basketball) when you're traveling the world on yachts and fending off TMZ everywhere you go?

The Differences:

On a small note, Odom being drafted by the Clippers in '99 just isn't Jay Elec being drafted/signed by Roc Nation, but Odom was with the NBA Game Roc Nation (Heat/Lakers) within a year, so I'd ultimately count that as more of a similarity than a difference.

However, it has to be acknowledged that, at this point, calling Jay Elec the Rap Game Lamar Odom is more of an insult to Odom than vice-versa. While it's inarguable that Odom has never lived up to his early hype, the man's now got 14 seasons under his belt, the vast majority of which he played at a high level, and has an integral part of two championship teams. Elec, on the other hand, had yet to even put out a mixtape in the last two years, let alone an official album. Say what you want about Odom, but until things went South for him the last two years, that man showed up season after season, averaged over 10 points a game in each of his first twelve seasons, and has played in 108 playoff games.

If Elec ever finally puts this album out, and it's anywhere near a classic, and then stays in the game at least a few more years, drops a couple more album, puts in some steady guest verse work...then maybe he'll have the full Odom resume. But until then, realistically I'd have to say that Jay Elec Lamar Odom is the best case scenario for him, and something like Rap Game Jeremy Lin (unlikely success story, light the world on fire for a minute, then settled into the role player role) or even Rap Game John Wall (extremely talented, has yet to really put it together) might more accurately describe him at this point.

Discuss...