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Starstruck by $2,500,000,000 Rich Jay Z, Ex-NBA Star Recounts Bizarre Backstage Encounter

Published 10/25/2023, 3:13 PM EDT

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Jay-Z is an avid basketball lover who is often spotted in the regular season cheering on his favorite team, the Brooklyn Nets. Considered by many as a trailblazer in the music field, he is a cultural icon who symbolizes the “The American Dream” in modern times.

In a recent interview, a recently retired NBA veteran recalls his bizarre backstage encounter with the music legend.

When a young Lou Williams met Jay-Z in high school

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In a recent episode of Trae Young’s podcast channel, one of the co-hosts asks Lou Williams, “Didn’t you meet Jay-Z in high school too?”.

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The recently retired NBA veteran responds, “I did”. Lou Williams explains, “As a high schooler, that whole setup was cool for me because I met Jay-Z through LeBron.”.

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Lou Williams further explains, “Bron was in his rookie year (in NBA), he had a game in Atlanta. Jay-Z had a concert on Thursday in Atlanta and LeBron told Mav to take him to the concert after the game.”. He states, “I got there early, 2-3 hours. Walked out to the stage with him, went up, then went backstage after the concert.”.

Lou Williams states that immediately after his performance, he met up with Jay-Z backstage and the rapper was the first one to leave the stadium. He said, “He jumped in a sprinter. He was the first person out of the Arena. That was the first time I ever seen it.

 

This bizarre experience was truly one of a kind but how did Lou Williams (who was in high school) know LeBron and end up backstage with Jay-Z?

Lou Williams’s unique journey to the NBA 

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Lou Williams is part of an exclusive club of NBA players who have directly entered the NBA straight from high school along with the likes of NBA greats like the late Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett. He played for the South Gwinnett High School in Georgia, where he finished his high school career as the second all-time leading scorer in Georgia high school basketball history. 

He was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers as the 45th overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. A year after that, the NBA stopped recruiting players directly from high school. Lou Williams went on to have a fairly good NBA career with a phenomenal 3 NBA ‘Sixth Man of the Year’ trophies. He retired from the league in June of 2023.

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What are your thoughts on Lou Williams’s first time meeting JAY-Z? Let us know in the comments below!

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Written by:

Akhil Chakravarthy

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Akhil is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. Having represented his state at the National level, he combined his knowledge of basketball with his keen interest in the intricacies of the NBA, delivering in-depth coverage of the teams and players. To hone his understanding of the inner workings of the game, he closely follows the analysis of popular NBA insiders and reporters like Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania.
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Edited by:

Caroline Joseph