There are very, very few music/sports crossovers that are not exceedingly embarrassing. Take, for instance, the terrific "Just Say No" rap by the 1987 Los Angeles Lakers, featuring the best in '80s casualwear and some fresh rhymes by everyone from James Worthy to Pat Riley. It's an artifact of another time, the sort of thing that must have seemed like a good idea 25 years ago but now just seems like the product of different sensibilities and, ironically, too many drugs.
So, if I were to tell you that the New Jersey rap trio Naughty by Nature produced a full promotional video using adapted lyrics of their hit "Hip Hop Hooray" for the 1993-94 Washington Bullets, it's a fair assumption that it would be totally ridiculous. I mean, the combination of Treach, Tom Gugliotta dancing, and lyrics about the on-court exploits of Harvey Grant would seem to prove as much. It should be instant laffs, right?
Oddly, this video has aged quite well. In large part, that's because "Hip Hop Hooray" is still a damn fine song. On top of that, though, this clip limits the contributions of the Bullets, showing them mostly in highlights and not showing their feet whatsoever when it comes to dancing. Googs dances, yes, but we also don't see him do too much. And yet the video isn't boring — it actually makes the 1993-94 Bullets seem like a fun team worth watching. (Forget, for a minute, that their 24-58 record suggests otherwise.)
NBA teams don't go for these kinds of crossovers very often these days, but let this serve as a lesson to them all. Web virality does not require a piece of crap. Sometimes it can be cool, too.
Video via TBJ