NCAA Basketball: Famous celebs who played high school and college hoops

Notable rap artists

As mentioned above all of these individuals played basketball at some level of college and some had much more prolific careers than the other. The following players were all part of the college basketball community at one point.

J. Cole

During his high school days, Jermaine Lamarr Cole had different aspirations. As he raps on his “The Warm Up” mixtape “you looking at the Lebron James of the game”  He obviously was talking about how his rap career has taken off and as any avid Cole fan will tell you there is not much he can’t do with a beat and he is considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest rapper of his generation by many.

At one-point Basketball was the only thing that drove and motived the artist.  Cole’s basketball career didn’t last much after high school, and Cole himself admits that he was not nearly as good of a basketball player as he thought he once was. His work ethic though may have been better than most, as he wanted to be one of the greatest on the court. He has taken that work ethic with him to the studio.

The artist tried out for St. John’s Red Storm in his sophomore year of college and was one of the final 10 players to be given a second tryout. Cole never played a game in college and was never “officially” on a roster as he decided after the tryout that he should turn his sole focus to his rap career.

The Game

Born Jayceon Taylor, the rapper was a star at Compton High School in the late 90’s. The game averaged 14.6 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists per game his senior year. The Compton High School team may have been one of the best teams ever as Game was the only player in the starting lineup that didn’t end up in the NBA. He played with Baron Davis, Tyson Chandler, Gilbert Arenas, and Tayshaun Prince.

Game much like J. Cole never played a single minute of NCAA Basketball but he did earn a scholarship to play at Washington State University. He was only at the school for one semester before a drug charge derailed his basketball career, and he decided to focus solely on his music.

Mase

Mason Durell Betha known by his stage name as Mase has a great career as a rapper with 6 top 10 hits, and his album Harlem World was quadruple Platinum and had two other albums that went double platinum, before all that though Mase was starring on the basketball floor with fellow New Yorker Cam’ron.

Mase would have absolutely played Division 1 basketball had his grades been good enough. Instead, he had to settle on a scholarship from SUNY Purchase. He only attended the Division III school for a few semesters before he decided to leave school and focus on his music career.

Cam’ron

Cameron Giles was a huge rapper in his heyday and was also one of the best high school basketball players in New York. As was mentioned above Cam’Ron and Mase starred on the same team in High School and both were able to turn those into basketball scholarships. The rapper missed a huge shot for a state championship and then left New York City to go live with his sister in Albany, he never graduated High School and because of that, he was never able to follow up on his recruitment from Syracuse and Georgetown.

Instead, the rapper earned his GED and enrolled at Navarro Junior College in Texas. He quickly tore his ACL and was expelled from school following a weapons charge. Cam’ron was a guard who many compared to Allen Iverson because of his quickness and his willingness to get to the rim. The rapper had real game and could have played a role on a major college team had he not chosen the rap game.

Stalley

Kyle Myricks grew up in Ohio and played alongside LeBron James. In fact, the two of them are good friends. Stalley like so many other guys on this list aspired of playing in the NBA and some believe that he could have played overseas and potentially the NBA. After high school, the rapper earned a scholarship from Long Island University to play basketball.

The rapper suffered an injury during his freshman year and never played for the Sharks, which were then the Blackbirds. He decided to forget about basketball and start his rap career where he was noticed by Rick Ross and later signed to be a part of the Maybach Music group.

The next set of rappers all played at least one game for their college and all were a member of a Division 1 basketball team.

Romeo

Percy “Lil Romeo” Miller gained his fame as the young son of rap superstar Master P. Miller first gained his fame as a 12-year-old with his platinum single “My Baby.”  Romeo already had the fame, and many knew who he was when he entered college on a basketball scholarship to USC in 2007.

Many have speculated that had Demar DeRozen not been Romeo’s best friend, and the notion those two came as a package deal, that Miller never would have earned the scholarship. The rapper only played nine total games in his career at USC and left after his sophomore season. He averaged under 1 point per game and averaged about two minutes per game.

Dave East

David Brewster Jr. had a three-year career at two schools. He was a basketball savant and prodigy growing up in New York. He grew up as the stars of his AAU teams alongside players like Greivis Vasquez and his best friend Kevin Durant. East was able to turn that into a scholarship to Richmond where he was a part-time starter.

In his freshman year at Richmond, he scored 4.5 points per game and was a great athlete. He then transferred to Towson where he would play for two years and average just over four points a game. East then left and decided to focus on his rap career but has hinted at the thought of coming back to try out for the NBA.

2Chainz

Tauheed Epps is one of the biggest rappers in the game. He has a certified gold album and three billboard top 50 hits, he also has a very successful show on Vice called “Most Expensivest “that has aired for three seasons. If you asked anyone to rank the rappers who were hoopers 2Chainz would be near the top of everyone’s list.

At 6’5” he successfully played three positions in high school and showed he could run the point, play off the ball and play on the wing. He earned a scholarship to Alabama State University.

The rapper played in 35 games over two seasons in the SWAC. He only averaged a little over two points per game but showed positional flexibility and was an okay shooter for the shots he did take. He ended his career as a 42% shooter from the floor. He ended his career after two seasons to focus on his music career.

Master P

Percy Robert Miller is the dad of former USC basketball player Percy “Lil Romeo” Miller.  Master P is a rap mogul starting one of the most successful record labels in the game with No Limit records. He has released many albums and has had singles appear all over the billboard top 100 charts. Master P is the one rapper who could have had a successful career in the NBA had he just stuck with basketball.

Have started his career at Houston but leaving just a few months into the semester he transferred to a community college at Merritt College. While Master P didn’t have much of a college career, he is the only one on this list to have played and scored in an NBA game. While it wasn’t the regular season he did suit up and play for two teams in the preseason.

Those two teams the Raptors and the Hornets both cut him before the season started. He also averaged 24 points per game in the Continental Basketball Association. Master P is by far the most talented hooper who chose a rap career.