Rappers and Athletes: Settling?

 Have you ever look through your timeline on Twitter and noticed the "everybody wants to be a rapper" tweet? Yeah, so have I. While that is far from the truth, it is safe to say that a lot of black youth in today's age are trying their hand in the rap game. The same can be (sort of) said for athletics. This is nothing wrong with this at all except...this seems to be the only two careers they are trying to reach for.


There are roughly 900 teams in college basketball, with an average of about 12-13 players per team, not included inactive players, which means over 10,000 players per year. There are roughly 360 active NBA players. That is far less than 1%. Statistically, of the 100,000 high school seniors who play football every year, only 215 will ever make an NFL roster. That is 0.2%! Even of the 9,000 players that make it to the college level only 310 are invited to the NFL scouting combine, the pool from which teams make their draft picks.

I can't make those numbers up. These stats are straight from the NBA and NFL. If you do not have the skill set of an NBA all-star or the intangibles of an elite quarterback, chances are you will NOT make a roster spot, let alone be a draft pick. Rappers are sort of the same. From a business point of view, if you do not bring anything new and/or different to the game or cannot be marketed to a specific target audience, you will more than likely not be signed to a major record label.

To get to my point: Am I the only one noticing that kids don't seem to have the same passion when it comes to being a doctor? Or a lawyer? Or a CEO of a Fortune 500 company? Are they oblivious to the fact that these careers are accessible to them? Or do they know of these careers and simply just think that being an athlete or rapper is the "quicker" and "easier" route to the money (in other words, "settling")? If it's the former, then that is something we need to change. We must let them know that these careers exist and they have the potential to have one. If it's the latter, then maybe we need to give these guys (and girls) a reality check. Kobe Bryant rode the bench for nearly 3 years before becoming a superstar and the highest paid player in the NBA. Many of our favorite rappers had been in the rap game for YEARS struggling to get signed before they got that multimillion dollar record deal. Doesn't sound like a "quicker" route to me.

In that same amount of time, a person can get their medical degree and make at least six figures, or move up the corporate ladder and make millions of dollars every year. And don't get me wrong: I am NOT saying we should stop someone from striving to be a rapper or athlete, especially if either career is their passion, and most especially if they have an incredible flow and delivery or they have a solid jumpshot and eye-popping crossover. It's just that, there are far more careers out there that have the same (or possibly even greater) benefits, and, more noticeably, not everyone is cut out to be a rapper or athlete.