This is the second part of a three-part series on the Los Angeles Lakers and their place in pop culture history. If you missed part-one, you can find it here.
The 1980s were a golden era for the Los Angeles Lakers. They made it to the NBA Finals in every year of the decade except 1981 and 1986 and were victorious in five of their eight appearances. Following a loss to the Phoenix Suns in the 1990 playoffs, Pat Riley and the Lakers parted ways. The team would make it back to the NBA Finals the following June with new head coach Mike Dunleavy, but the era of Showtime was coming to an end.
Five months after the Lakers were defeated in five games by the Chicago Bulls, Magic Johnson retired from basketball after he had contracted HIV. The three seasons following Magic’s first retirement (the third of which included a comeback attempt by Magic) ended with back-to-back first-round eliminations and the team’s first failed playoff appearance in 18 years. Those were definitely the franchise’s darkest days. But savvy draft picks and the hiring of new coach Del Harris helped the team change course and move back towards becoming media and pop culture darlings again.
As a collective unit they began to win over the city with their energy and enthusiasm — led by rookie Eddie Jones, sophomore Nick Van Exel, third-year man Anthony Peeler, and the newly-acquired Cedric Ceballos. With no marquee face to splash on billboards and bust stops, the team’s marketing department decided to brand them “The Lake Show” and market them as a collective unit.
Ceballos was the team’s All-Star in those early-to-mid 90s teams and led to him getting cast as himself on TV shows like Hang Time, Sparks, and Living Single. Van Exel got a chance to win some money for charity when he went on Wheel of Fortune. Head coach Del Harris was on an episode of Diagnosis: Murder as well as in the movie Space Jam. Even athletic trainer Gary Vitti had a part in Blue Chips. Chick Hearn continued filling up his resumé on shows like Dharma and Greg, Life With Louie, and in the movie White Men Can’t Jump.
But even without having one of the league’s top-10 players, the Lakers were never irrelevant. Lawrence Kasdan’s 1991 film Grand Canyon includes a scene that was filmed at a Lakers game at the Great Western Forum. In 1993, there was an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 when Ian Ziering’s character, Steve Sanders, made a half-court shot for $10,000. I was at the game when they filmed it and I can tell you that he missed the basket by at least 15 feet.
But in 1996 the Lakers would sign a one-man media machine as well as draft another guy who would make his mark on pop culture. The first was, of course, Shaquille O’Neal. Even before Shaq ever wore a Lakers uniform, he had already been mentioned on songs like the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Gimme The Loot”, when Biggie rapped:
I’m slamming ni**as like Shaquille, shit is real
When it’s time to eat a meal I rob and steal.”
Shaq had already appeared in hit movies like Blue Chips and recorded hit songs, like the Fu-Schnickens’ “What’s Up Doc? (Can We Rock)”. But living in Los Angeles only increased Shaq’s profile tenfold.
There were commercials like this one with Michael J. Fox for Pepsi:
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZakyWpAbd0
Or this hilarious one for 5-A-Day Vitamins:
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF7aJkWwMhU
Shaq was still putting out music but now had the Notorious B.I.G. appearing on his records:
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWw2PHQEWTg
My favorite Shaq record was an unreleased version of his song, “No Love Lost” that featured Lord Tariq, Peter Gunz, Jay-Z, and Nas. The album version was missing the Nas verse:
httpvhd://youtu.be/krfxWmiZZhc
Check out this performance I found of Shaq and Peter Gunz performing “The Way It’s Going Down” on the Tonight Show in 1998:
httpvhd://youtu.be/2LQ9KDrsrjQ
Biggie name-checked Shaq again in 1997 on “I Love The Dough,” this time as a member of the Lakers:
We hit makers with acres
Roll shakers in Vegas, you can’t break us
Lost chips on Lakers, gassed off Shaq
Country house, tennis courts on horseback”
httpvhd://youtu.be/G6HLi4oCebc
Shaq also played himself in movies like Good Burger (1997):
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iShufdM1lFM
Here’s Siskel and Ebert destroying Shaq’s film Kazaam, even calling it a “waste of time”:
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN8dU_IQjBI
Next Page: Kobe Bryant Hits Hollywood
But it was the rookie, some kid named Kobe Bryant, who burst onto the scene almost immediately. The first time he was name-checked on a record was on The Alkaholik’s 1997 song “Hip-Hop Drunkies”, when Tash rapped:
I’m def-da-fyin, you rappin like my client
Tryin to scrape me for the style that slam harder than Kobe Bryant
BE QUIET! This is Likwidation from the West
Motherf*ck ya boozy show, I got my own special guest”
httpvhd://youtu.be/RJZj0qD_vPc
It didn’t take long before Kobe started appearing on television. There was the time he played high school basketball star Terry Hightower on his prom date Brandy’s show Moesha:
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYh-IoQvHSg
And the time he played himself on Arli$$:
httpvhd://youtu.be/3xjB3R_QiFo
How about his little cameo in the Destiny’s Child video for “Bug A Boo”?:
httpvhd://youtu.be/AVz8q8CbRhI
As you’ll see in Pt. III, this wasn’t Kobe’s only association with Destiny’s Child. Before the turn of the century, Kobe would also appear as himself on shows like Sister, Sister, alongside Del Harris and fellow rookie Derek Fisher on LL Cool J’s sitcom In The House, and on something called Electric Playground.
There were also commercials, like this one for Spalding’s new Infusion ball:
httpvhd://youtu.be/lxfpw6yw3LE
Not to be outdone by Shaq, Kobe embarked on a career in music as well. He first appeared on the 1998 remix to Brian McKnight’s “Hold Me”:
httpvhd://youtu.be/4jUTbKsLqyc
Then in 1999, he released his first single “K.O.B.E.” featuring Tyra Banks, that only left us wondering which was worse, Kobe rapping or Tyra singing?:
httpvhd://youtu.be/cl_WkTiH6-Q
You can’t mention pop culture and the Lakers in the 90s and leave Rick Fox out of the conversation. Fox joined the Lakers in 1997 and found a way to balance his basketball and acting careers simultaneously. Since retiring from the NBA in 2004, Fox has done a number of projects. But he’ll probably be remembered best for his portrayal of Jackson Vahue, an NBA player-turned-prison inmate on the HBO series Oz; a role Fox played from 1997-2003:
httpvhd://youtu.be/S8mpbFmVUxA
But it wasn’t as if the Showtime Lakers had been forgotten. In 1997, the first bar of EPMD’s “Never Seen Before” had Erick Sermon rapping:
They go ohh and ahh when I jump in my car
People treat me like Kareem-Abdul Jabbar”
Also in 1997, James Worthy appeared on an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. And how could we forget about Magic Johnson’s ill-fated attempt at hosting a late night talk show, The Magic Hour, in 1998?:
httpvhd://youtu.be/BAtmgxwBUQg
Kurt Rambis was getting roles as an actor on TV shows like The Sentinel, Malcolm & Eddie, Roc, 7th Heaven, and The Commish. A.C. Green had a part in Space Jam also.
The 21st Century would bring a lot more attention to the Lakers. Three consecutive championships and the popularization of the Internet would help. Stay tuned for Pt. III.