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From Allen Iverson to Kobe Bryant to Shaquille O'Neal to even Jason Kidd, there have been several NBA players who have tried their hand at rapping. Many, like Bryant and Kidd, have failed miserable but O'Neal was quite successful and his debut album "Shaq Diesel" actually reached platinum status.

O'Neal was the anomaly though as nowadays players don't experiment with their musical inclinations perhaps due to the failures of their predecessors. That is except for Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, who has been steadily releasing rap songs for the last couple of years. Lillard has enough material for a full-length album, which he will be releasing on Oct. 21.

Paying homage to Oakland (his hometown), Ogden, Utah (where he went to college) and Oregon (the Blazers' home state), Lillard's album is entitled "The Letter O." Artists like Lil Wayne, Raphael Saadiq and Jamie Foxx appear on the album with Lillard.

The album's debut single "Growth Spurt," was released on Thursday:


Music is not just a hobby for Lillard. He takes it very seriously and clearly has the talent for it. And you never know, perhaps Lillard will follow in O'Neal's footsteps and become the next NBA player to have a platinum selling album.