Cleveland Cavaliers' Iman Shumpert is proving to be a multifaceted player both on and off the court as the NBA Finals guard took to Soundcloud this week to give a basketball themed remix of Drake's "Hotline Bling," fittingly titled "Highlight Reel."
The remix isn't just some copy of Drake's song, he makes the lyrics personal focusing on his devotion to the game, the Cavaliers and giving his fans that highlight reel.
"Try to contemplate my mental pain/ When I took that L from Golden State," Shumpert raps referring to last season's NBA finals.
He also comments on his recent four-year $40 million contract with the Cavs saying, "I signed for 40 now I'm cool."
Billboard points out that Shumpert's girlfriend, R&B singer Teyana Taylor, may have influenced him to tap into his creative side on this new remix.
However, Shumpert certainly isn't the first to cover the popular song. "Hotline Bling" rose to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week and has been highly covered this year already by artists such as Erykah Badu, Alessia Cara and Sam Smith with Disclosure.
Listen to the remix below.
Shumpert has one other, arguably stronger, song on his Soundcloud called "290 West," which is the expressway he takes on his way home. On the track he raps about the problems a number of young athletes face, which is the difficulty of balancing a newfound sense of fame and wealth while many of his friends and family back home continue to struggle and ask him for money.
The NBA regular season starts in less than two weeks as LeBron James hopes to lead Shumpert and the entire city of Cleveland to its first sports championship in 50 years. LeBron is probably too focused on basketball right now, but he's so talented a future rap album alongside Shumpert might not be out of question.
