LiAngelo Ball is making it clear—he didn’t quit basketball because he lacked the skill. He just saw a better life on the other side of the mic.
In a raw and candid interview with the Bag Fuel podcast, Ball opened up about leaving the G-League grind behind to pursue a career in rap. He explained that while his brothers, Lonzo and LaMelo Ball, were landing major NBA contracts, he was stuck making just $3,000 a month.
“As a grown man, that s***… I was getting mine and throwing it,” Gelo said. “When I got paid for music, it wasn’t a hard decision. I wasn’t contemplating like, ‘Damn, I gotta hoop.’ I was like, ‘At this point, I gotta live now.’”
Ball said that his pivot to music wasn’t inspired by anyone in his camp—his dad didn’t push it, and while his brothers occasionally join him in the studio, it was his own confidence in his sound that made the move feel natural. “Nobody talked about music like that in my s***,” he said. “I always had high confidence in my music… I want all my music to be like stamps.”
Though he believes he still has the talent to hoop in the league today, Ball felt boxed out of real opportunities. From injuries to politics to being underused on teams like the Charlotte Hornets, it became clear he wasn’t going to be handed a real shot. “If the coaches say I’m not playing, I’m not playing. It’s that simple,” he said. “But I always made music. I really tapped in when I started writing and thought, ‘Hold on, this might gotta come out one day.’”
His leap of faith is paying off. Gelo's music has been getting love from NBA players and beyond. He said Kevin Durant showed him support early on, and several NFL teams have even been bumping his tracks. “All the homies that was rocking with my s***, they was like, ‘Bro, I didn’t know your s*** was this hard.’ It just felt good,” he shared.
Gelo's already got tracks in the works with Miles Bridges, and hinted at Brandon Ingram and Damian Lillard as other potential rap partners. But unlike most athletes-turned-artists, Ball isn’t treating music like a side hustle. “I’m trying to cover the rap game, bro. I’m trying to sell records.”
At the heart of it, Gelo says music gives him a freedom the NBA couldn’t. “Your rapper could do so much more s*** than a NBA player. When I was over there, you can’t be all out. You can’t be loud like that. You can’t say what you want to say,” he said. “When you a rapper, you ain’t got no team or people over your head. Everything’s on your own time.”
Source: Bag Fuel
