Iman Shumpert Says He'd Be A More Respected Musician if He Pursued Violin, Not Rap

Iman Shumpert authored a first-person piece for Bleacher Report on Thursday in which he lamented the criticism he receives from fans for moonlighting as a rapper, which by definition means not focusing one-thousand percent of his attention on basketball. Shumpert wondered if he’d get more respect if he played an instrument instead:

" I’ve been rapping my whole career. I have hundreds and hundreds of songs, but no one would know unless I release them. Sad thing is, if I were to be a violinist, I would be more “respected” and “praised” for my “talent” off the floor. The flip side is being a violinist takes hours and hours and hours of preparation to become anywhere near good. It’s not something you can do during the course of a basketball season. "

Shumpert touched on an interesting paradox here. He acknowledged that becoming a recording-worthy violinist requires more time and effort than his chosen art, rapping. Perhaps, then, that talent should be more worthy of praise and respect. But, as Shumpert also notes, how would this then resonate with the ornery stick to sports crowd?

" For some reason, fans want me to be one-dimensional. Maybe being successful in two fields when most can’t accomplish one makes people feel threatened. It’s good to know that my teammates rather enjoy my music. They can’t wait for me to make the crossover and do a record alongside a mainstream artist so they can hear a verse from the “hooper” perspective. But people will continue to hide behind computers, criticizing, instead of being successful their own damn selves. "

Read his whole piece here.

[H/T BSO]