Brian McKnight just dropped his brand new album titled EXODUS and while promoting it, he also discussed the incredible musical talent of the late basketball legend, Kobe Bryant! The topic came into discussion during an interview for HollywoodLife and that is when the R&B singer suggested that the basketball player had enough talent to pursue a hip hop career as well, if he so wished.
It makes sense that Brian McKnight can see true potential in people!
After all, he is an experienced artist who has worked with many of the industry’s most well-known names such as Mariah Carey, Boys II Men and Celine Dion, to just mention a few!
So when asked during the chat with the news outlet if Kobe Bryant could have been a big rapper, Brian did not hesitate to respond: ‘Oh for sure. For sure. But knowing Kobe the way that we had gotten to know him, anything that he puts his mind to that he’s really passionate about, he’s going to give it 1000 percent. He was completely locked in and he was doing his thing.’
Unfortunately, while that really seems like it could have been a possibility at some point after retiring, Kobe Bryant’s life was cut short in January of this year.
As you might know, Kobe and his 13 year old daughter as well as seven other people died in a helicopter crash while heading to the girl’s practice for her juniors basketball team.
But his musical talent was no surprise since he had signed a deal with Sony Records in 1999.
A year later, he dropped his first album, proving he had what it takes to become successful in the industry.
Brian and Kobe even collabed on Hold Me in 1997.
The basketball star showed off his talent both vocally and in the music video and Brian recalls that ‘I didn’t really need to give Kobe advice. He sounded great, his flow was great. I think the world lost a fantastic rapper when Kobe became an NBA champion.’