As you may recall, Brandon Lloyd was a former aspiring rapper even while he was a former aspiring wide receiver. On his debut album "Training Day":
After practices, on his days off, even between workouts, Lloyd has been writing lyrics, polishing his flow and preparing to release his debut rap album, "Training Day," this summer.
"I'm a football player, first and last," Lloyd said. "But I love music, too."
Athletes have a long and embarrassing history of musical dabblings, but Lloyd believes he can do better. This 23-year-old, who's also an aspiring sports broadcaster, is an amateur historian of this sub-genre who can cite every significant crossover athlete and the reason he failed.
BLloyd, as he's known behind a mike, is determined to learn from the musical misadventures of Deion Sanders, Allen Iverson, Ron Artest and others P all while never forgetting he's a football player first.
O R L Y?
Your Washington Redskins may have given up on Brandon Lloyd, but they didn't give up on rappers. First, I give you Malcolm Kelly per Mr. Irrelevant:
Whatever the reason for picking Kelly, we can no longer be too upset about it after seeing this video of him "freestylin’" (although it seems written) after Oklahoma won the Big 12 title back in ‘06
Video follows:
I don't have sound at this computer, so listen at your own risk.
Moving to Fred Davis, who also happens to be an aspiring rapper per the Bog, emphasis added on clever remarks by attorney girlfriend Jean:
* His girlfriend? Jean F. Kuei, an employment attorney for Reed Smith LLP and a graduate of Georgetown Law.
* His mom? Yeah, she can talk. "Something's gonna happen in this city," she said of her son's arrival. "Watch out."
* His hobbies? Among other things ("American Idol" video games), Davis has set up a freestyle rapping studio with his home computer.
"He thinks he's a rapper," said his brother. "He freestyle raps everywhere he goes."
The reviews?
"You know, I think he should stick to his day job," Jean said.
"He's getting better," his brother said, kindly.
"After four years," Jean pointed out.
"I'm very critical, you're asking the wrong one," his mom said. "Maybe he can come out with a rap song for the Redskins."
"I rap a little bit," Davis said. "I'm pretty decent. I'm not bad at all. If I wasn't playing football, I might go platinum, you know what I'm saying?"
Although he assures us he is not a baller later on.
Let me just say that I was skeptical about the pick from the beginning, because I didn't know if bolstering one of the few positions where we have a pro bowler and decent depth wasn't the best use of day one draft resources, especially considering other areas of need (such as o-line and d-line and secondary). That said, there is no question that Fred Davis was one of the, if not the, best tight ends available in the draft. And from the print available within 48 hours of his selection it is apparent he's going to be great for the written word as well. I like that.
I also like comments made by TexSkins:
Think about the options: spread the field with Kelly and Moss on one side, with ARE and Thomas on the other. Hell, go five wide with Cooley out there. The perfect combination of speed and size. And then when that turns into a first down, the next play you could have a 3 TE set with Cooley, Davis, and Yoder. Power running. Zorn's got options and options are always good.
I also appreciated the comments by Conquest Chronicles contributor DC Trojan that I hope were not overlooked:
Davis essentially saved SC’s season in 07 when most of the wide receivers decided that they didn’t want to catch the ball. He came pretty close to several TE records for the team because they were leaning on him so much. IIRC, he actually started out at SC as playing at both WR and TE, but they moved him to TE because of his size and decent blocking. He’s not a precision route runner like Steve Smith is, but it was very unusual to see him off the pace… again, unlike some of the WRs.
I don’t know how he’ll fit into the new coach’s scheme for all of you, but he’s a good player and stood out on a team full of them. Good luck to him.
And he'd know infinitely more about Davis than I would at this point, so I appreciate those thoughts.
Which is all to say that I'm coming around on this Fred Davis kid, especially if he doesn't quit his day job.