The Grizzlies in the NBA Playoffs highlighted some of the best things about the Grind City. The people, basketball and Memphis hip-hop.
“It’s the culture. It’s the time,” said legendary Memphis rapper, MJG. One half of game-changing duo 8Ball and MJG. They started out in the 90s and have seen Memphis go through it all. They also helped put the city and it’s music on the map.
“Memphis, Orange Mound, Memphis, Tennessee. It’s going down,” MJG said. “Take it all around the world. We’re very prideful. It’s like Memphis, to us, they way we express it to other people, is like another planet.”
8Ball and MJG use music to describe Memphis. The Core Four showed it on the court during the Grit ‘N Grind era. Grizz Next Gen did the same in the post-season.
“People were able to see, you know, how talented we actually were and I felt like we opened a lot of eyes,” Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant said.
According to both 8Ball and MJG, and Grizzlies players, there’s more parallels between Memphis music and basketball than it may seem.
Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. described it as, “A match made it heaven.”
