Artest Samples Alicia Keys, End Result Isn’t Bad

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↵The musical careers of NBA players make for one big running joke, and Ron Artest’s -- which he proposed taking time off from the NBA for, and then talked up on The Today Show the morning after The Brawl -- is another kind of funny altogether. That’s like two levels of funny, all for one man’s fairly unremarkable attempt at following his dream, when he’s already living a dream that’s far less easy to get in on.↵
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↵But that’s all changing, and fast. At Gowhere Hip-Hop, you can download an exclusive freestyle over Alicia Keys’ ever-uplifting “No One.” And you know what: It’s actually pretty good. Ron Ron’s flow doesn’t sound nearly as garbled and unmedicated as it used to. The lyrics take us through Queensbridge and touch on larger social issues in a fairly coherent manner; the crazy is there, but it’s like he’s learned to channel it into the actual goal of making music. As opposed to making music as a platform for Artest. If only dude could once again do the same thing for his game.↵
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↵Anyway, consider me impressed, even if that bar was set pretty low to begin with.↵
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↵(Hat tip: Ball Don’t Lie)↵