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Footballers at the highest level are some of the most popular people in the world. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr., to name a few, are all household names. The beautiful game is followed by people all across the world and it's discussed everywhere.
As such, it's not rare for athletes to be referred to in pop culture. The more popular the figure you're talking about, the bigger the audience that understands the reference.
Hip-hop is one of the most popular genres of music in the world right now. Rappers constantly use references to people or things happening around the world within their verses to make things interesting and relatable.
Without further ado, let's take a look at five times rappers called out footballers.
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#5 Stormzy - David Moyes
The line goes:
"I come to your team and I f--k s--t up, I'm David Moyes."
British rapper Stormzy is a Manchester United fan. It's not hard to understand what the 29-year-old is talking about here in his song 'Know Me From' that was released in 2015.
Following Sir Alex Ferguson's departure from the helm in 2013, Manchester United appointed David Moyes as his successor. But Moyes took charge of Ferguson's Premier League title-winning team and led them to a 7th placed finish that season.
Stormzy, just like other Manchester United fans, was none too pleased with that outcome. So he put that emotion it in a line in one of his tracks. Although it comes off as a threat to a rival gang member, it's also hilarious at the same time.
#4 Drake - Ruud van Nistelrooy
Ruud van Nistelrooy is widely regarded as one of the best strikers of all time. He absolutely tore it up for Manchester United in the early 2000s. Way before Drake started being regarded as one of the greatest rappers alive, he was still writing some excellent bars.
In his 2007 track 'Presentation' produced by Rich Kidd, Drake raps:
"Can't miss the boy. Me and Rich 'United' like Van Nistelrooy."
Here, Drake talks about his connection with the music producer of the track Rich Kidd by using a clever pun.
#3 Navy Blue - David Edgar, Ronaldo Nazario and Carlos Tevez
Sage Gabriel Carlos Atreyu Elsesserm, popularly known as Navy Blue, is one of the most promising young hip-hop artists on the scene. In his 2021 song 'The Ritual', he made a number of football references in one line. It goes:
"Heads up underwater, David Edgar with the goggles, A 9 like Ronaldo, Navy been a baller like Carlos Tevez."
That's a shoutout to Edgar Davids' iconic large protective goggles, Ronaldo Nazario and Sage's namesake Carlos Tevez in one line. Ronaldo and Tevez are two of the greatest strikers of the modern era and Navy Blue is comparing himself to the greats.
#2 Drake - Cristiano Ronaldo
By the time Drake dropped his fifth studio album, Scorpion, in 2018, he was already one of the most successful artists on the scene. The Canadian rapper refers to Cristiano Ronaldo as he described his life at the time. Drake raps:
"Way this s--t set up, I live like Ronaldo. But I never been in Madrid, woah."
At the time of the song's release, Ronaldo was still playing for Real Madrid. It's also not just a shout-out to how lavish his lifestyle is. Drake is indeed drawing parallels between himself and Ronaldo, who is an all-time great.
He is suggesting that his position in the rap game is similar to the Portuguese legend's status in football.
#1 Chance the Rapper - Lionel Messi
Chance the Rapper is one of the most technically sound rappers of his generation. He made a clever reference to Lionel Messi in his featured verse on Justin Bieber's track 'Holy'. The line goes:
"When they get messy, go lefty like Lionel Messi."
We are familiar with how much Messi favors his left foot. 'Going left' means breaking out of one's habits to try new or different things. So Chance cleverly uses the legendary Argentinian's name, a homophone of the word 'messy', to get his point across and we have to say that we're very impressed.
