Most Hip Hop aficionados have heard the infamous stories about the legendary Quad Studiosin New York City’s Times Square, however, Oakland A’s outfielder Lawrence Butler may just be the very first professional baseball player to grace the booth in the studios on 7th Avenue.
Following a game against the Yanks in New York, Butler heard about the location of Quad from his agent Amber Sabathia and took advantage of the opportunity to tour the swank studio known to have been the home of recording to superstars such as Michael Jackson and Beyoncé. It’s also a well known hub for Hip Hoppers, boasting recording sessions with the likes of Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole. Quad is also well known as the location where late rap icon Tupac Shakur was shot and robbed in 1994 while the late Notorious B.I.G. and his manager Diddy were in the studio, igniting the East Coast/West Coast beef in the late 90s.
“I didn’t really know much of Quad until they told me,” Butler said. “I was with Amber Sabathia and she was telling me a little bit more of the history and stuff of it. It’s a pretty cool studio with all those legends that have gone through there.”
Check out Butler’s tour and recording session at Quad Studios in New York HERE
The history in itself was more than enough to motive the 23-year-old right hander to jump in the booth and record his own piece of Quad history.
“I was freestyling,” Butler said. “Did the whole thing in 20 minutes. They sent me the song. I had a producer in there mixing it. It was a pretty cool experience.”
Being from Atlanta, Hip Hop is a huge part of the culture, especially in Buitler’s SWATs(Southwest Atlanta) neighborhood, where rappers such as Young Thug, Lil Baby and even Outkast grew up and launched their careers.“Music is a huge thing in Atlanta,” Butler said. “It’s the number one rap scene right now. All we listen to down there is rap music. Everywhere you go is rap music.”
Butler made other stops during his visit to the Apple, including a trip to Fat Joe’s clothing store UP NYC and even sat courtside at Madison Square Garden for Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs series between the Knicks and the 76ers.
When asked if he was going to possibly puruse a rap career after his days on the diamond, to which Butler responded, “I usually just do [music] for fun. I’m not going full rap mode or anything. … If that stuff comes, it comes in the future. Right now, I’m just trying to focus on baseball.”
***This aerticle was excerpted from Martín Gallegos’ A’s Beat newsletter***
Source link
