Bucks Fans Taunt Damian Lillard with “SoundCloud Rapper” Chant

Damian Lillard is currently the NBA’s most prolific rapper, having recorded several tracks in recent years and releasing his full-length debut album, “The Letter O,” in October. He has gained league-wide acclaim for his artistry, recently enjoying a two-part (perhaps more?) video series about his interest in music, courtesy of State Farm and iHeart Radio.

He has even performed on popular radio show “Sway in the Morning” multiple times and had his first ever music video, “Bigger Than Us,” air during TNT’s NBA coverage of the Cavaliers-Warriors game on Martin Luther King Day, 2015.

But for all his attention and accolades (and features), Lillard is plagued by “haters,” as the kids say these days. Lillard takes himself and his work quite seriously, so it was admittedly clever of Milwaukee Bucks fans to taunt him with his own passions on Wednesday night.

As the first quarter of what would eventually be a Bucks victory drew to a close and Lillard approached the free throw line, he was met with chants of “SoundCloud rapper!” from the stands.

Credit to /u/furple on reddit.com/r/nba

SoundCloud is the online platform through which Lillard releases most of his music for free, as do a variety of people including aspiring artists hoping to have their work appreciated. The Bucks fans were poking fun at Lillard’s perception of himself as a professional, when his work could be considered relatively unremarkable in an amateur hip-hop vacuum.

This raises questions of whether or not Lillard’s music would stand on its own if he were unable to push it with his status as an NBA star. Clearly its reach would be greatly diminished, but would the perception of its quality remain unchanged? File that under “pointless hypotheticals,” but it is interesting to meditate on.

Regardless, Lillard has been killing the game on and off the court. You can visit his SoundCloud account by following this link, and you can catch him on TV by looking for the guy dropping 30 points on a team near you (ideally followed by a Trail Blazers win in the future).

Lillard responded to the video light-heartedly on Twitter, not noticing the heckling at the time.