Damian Lillard makes his own warmup music

“Everybody used to make a joke out of it… and now they come back ten years later and they like it”

October 22, 2019

He may be a perennial NBA MVP candidate and a low-key destroyer of worlds, but Damian Lillard — a.k.a. Dame D.O.L.L.A — would still rather play in a WWE tournament with Steve Austin than play a Rucker Park tournament with NBA players. “I’m like the biggest wrestling fan ever — Stone Cold is my favorite of all time," the Portland Trail Blazers star guard and now-established rapper explains in the latest installment of The FADER’s Would You Rather series. Still, you'd never catch Dame drinking alongside Austin: “I would be the one throwing the beer because I don’t drink beer.” That sober declaration might be because when asked if he would rather never play pro basketball again or never rap again, Dame axes the later, stating “I gotta hoop… that’s how I take care of my family.”

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Later on in the segment, Dame reminisces about how he got his start rapping, confessing that “in high school, my coach was a producer. He had a studio at his house and after practice, he’d take us to his house… to record. For warmups for games, we came out to our own music.” While that split-occupation may seem like a High School Musical dilemma, they seem to inform each other. Now he makes his own warmup music. "Everybody used to make a joke out of it," he says. "And now they come back ten years later and they like it”

You can listen to Dame D.O.L.L.A.’s third studio album, Big D.O.L.L.A below and watch the full Would You Rather video at the top of the page.

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Damian Lillard makes his own warmup music