Like many players today, whether Damian Lillard, Aaron Gordon or even Lonzo Ball, Tony Parker launched into rap alongside his sporting career. He could also have had a duet with Grand Corps Malade on his album, but the latter refused…

Grand Corps Malade | Mon plan B est exceptionnel


Tony Parker is a man of many functions and that’s not new. Indeed, the man who is currently president of ASVEL, advisor to Olympique Lyonnais and many other things, was already multiplying his activities during his career in the NBA. Everyone remembers him, he notably released a legendary rap album in 2007.

If he is often mocked for the questionable quality of the project on a musical level, we must still recognize that he did things very big with featuring Booba, Soprano or even the American superstar Jamie Foxx. We could also have found the name of Grand Corps Malade, but during his appearance on the Skweek channel , the latter explained why he had passed his turn:

The feat refused to Tony Parker by Grand Corps Malade

Grand Corps Malade: It’s true that I refused to do a feat with Tony, but what’s more, at the time I didn’t just refuse him. I had just arrived on the scene, I was identified as the star of slam, it was still a slightly strange concept. As my album did well, I was lucky to receive a lot of offers, including from guys much more established in music than Tony, but even I refused them.
 

Tony Parker has always dreamed big en route to the Basketball Hall of Fame — Andscape

 
I explained it to Tony in fact, I was angry at the time I refused to record with him. I was a fan of his, he told me he liked my music, we had a good feeling when we met. I said no because my team and I had a guideline. We didn’t want to spread ourselves too thin and pile on projects. We didn’t get fired up, and I stuck to my course, even though it hurt.
Tony Parker: Afterwards he still made up for it, because he wrote the most beautiful sound of my entire album.
Grand Corps Malade: The first time we really met was in the studio, after a match at the Stade de France. You had a problem with your driver and I took you back to the hotel in my Clio 2.
Grand Corps Malade could have recorded with Tony Parker, an athlete he respected and appreciated on a human level. But in a rather crazy modesty, he and his producer refused to grant featurings to their debut, for fear of losing themselves artistically speaking. He still participated in the album by writing “Génération Movitée”, which TP loves.

Tony Parker didn’t take a rejection from Grand Corps Malade because he was bad at rap or not established enough, he simply had to accept the course of action of a then-emerging artist. They remained very good friends, that’s the main thing.