If ever there was an athlete who could be a spokesperson for middle-child syndrome, it’s LiAngelo Ball – basketball’s black sheep. Nearly a decade ago the 6ft 5in forward was touted as an NBA inevitable with his brothers, Lonzo and LaMelo; most of that promotion came loud and direct from paterfamilias LaVar, who parlayed the acute national interest in the boys into the family-owned Big Baller Brand apparel company.
But while “Zo“ and “Melo” have since realized the father’s prophecy – running point, respectively, for the Chicago Bulls and Charlotte Hornets – “Gelo” morphed into an object of ridicule as he bounced around minor leagues at home and abroad. Just when it seemed LiAngelo couldn’t be any more pitiable, he reemerged at the beginning of this year on a popular stream belonging to an internet personality named N3on to share a rap song he made called Tweaker. “I might swerve, bend that corner / whoa-oh-ohhhh,” he drones on the chorus. “You wanna tweak? / Get up with me and Ima show you how that go.”
But instead of covering himself in more disappointment while joining Kobe Bryant and Metta World Peace in the ignominious tradition of hooper-turned-rappers, the 26-year-old is gaining newfound respect as an artist on the rise – a leading voice in a new era of rapper-influencers, perhaps. “That shit’s hard,” said music tastemaker Joe Budden in praise of the song. “I might request [it] at the strip club.”
It would not be an exaggeration to call Tweaker the song of 2025 so far, a swagger track that has become a viral sensation – overshadowing even the latest mixtape offering from Drake. The Detroit Lions blasted it in their locker room after clinching a top seed in the NFL playoffs. Shaquille O’Neal, the epitome of hooper-turned-rapper, was bopping along as the song played Inside the NBA back from commercial. But it isn’t just NBA arenas that are turning Tweaker into a jock jam to rival Swag Surfin’; on social media, the song backs everything from workout videos to weather reports.“I’ve never heard a song take off that fast,” said Inside the NBA’s Kenny Smith – who is admittedly a 59-year-old dad – as the show took an extended time-out from basketball analysis to discuss the song.
Meek Mill and T-Pain are among a growing roster of established emcees to express an interest in collaborating with Ball – who goes by the stage name G3. This week, on the heels of Ball making his debut on the Billboard Hot 100 and joining the bill for this year’s Rolling Loud LA festival, NBA scoopmeister Shams Charania broke the news that Ball had agreed to a $13m recording contract with Universal Music Group’s Def Jam label – the skunkworks that produced Jay-Z, the Beastie Boys and other hip-hop royalty. Among other incentives, the deal gives Ball full ownership of his masters and a green light to publish under his own imprint. “God works in mysterious ways,” Ball said by way of appreciation. And in the echo of his music miracle, there has been plenty of head scratching to go along with the bopping.
Tweaker bears scant resemblance to the hip-hop music out now, the catchy chorus in particular borrowing from a lower-fi music-making formula that was all the rage when Ball was in short pants. Also ripped from the past is the song’s bouncy beat and flow, which has listeners of a certain age (ahem) marveling at how clearly Tweaker resembles the Louisiana-born tones that defined hip-hop at the turn of the century. “You sound like you was down with Cash Money,” said Cam’ron, the rapper turned sportscaster, in defense of Ball – after criticizing his playing career in the past.
But where Birdman et al came up from the New Orleans projects and built Cash Money into a hit factory that put the city firmly on the rap map, Ball was a spoiled LA rich kid who wore diamond earrings and drove a quarter-million dollar Ferrari – and no one questions his credibility. If anything, the few who have prominently registered their contempt for Tweaker – ex-NBA journeyman Patrick Beverley, a perennial naysayer, called it “weak” – say more about themselves than the song.For the hoops fans cheering Tweaker, a not-insignificant share of the song’s appeal lies in how it redeems LiAngelo – the Ball brother all but left behind.
Ten years ago, the Ball brothers were basketball’s Kardashians, reality TV darlings whose Chino Hills high school highlights fueled speculation about their NBA prospects on cable sports TV. No one did more to stoke the hype than their father, Lavar – an NFL washout who made a new ambition of becoming the first father to have three sons drafted into the NBA. When Lavar wasn’t making a great show of the homespun training sessions he put the boys through (starting with them as toddlers), or otherwise channeling the spirits of Richard Williams and Earl Woods, he was appearing on any TV show that would have him to proclaim that all three sons – eventual clients of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation sports agency – would eventually start for the hometown Lakers and usher in a new championship dynasty. (All the while Tina Ball, the family matriarch, remained a laconic support.) Infamously, Lavar broke from basketball custom and steered his sons away from signing with the big shoe companies to launch Big Baller Brand, launching with $495 Kobe knockoffs. Not surprisingly, the business hasn’t exactly taken off.
But even amid Lavar’s big talk, there were moments when he’d make an example out of his reserved middle child – the least likely to reach the NBA, by his reckoning. In a GQ interview Lavar suggested modeling as a possible backup plan for LiAngelo, the “handsomest” of his boys. “He’s going to be taken care of either way,” Lavar promised the magazine.
In a way, the guarantee of a soft landing helps explain why LiAngelo – more so than his brothers – is prone to bold risk-taking. While Lonzo was picked second in the 2017 NBA draft by the Lakers and LaMelo was taken third by the Hornets three years later, LiAngelo gained infamy for sparking an international incident in college after being caught shoplifting in China while on a trip with his college team, UCLA. (He was said to be facing a maximum of 10 years in prison before then-president Donald Trump intervened.) The incident, which occurred before LiAngelo’s freshman season had begun, culminated in his indefinite suspension from the team. A month later he quit school, turned pro and went on to play for developmental teams in the G League and Lithuania with LaMelo (who skipped his last two years of high school), but never mustered enough NBA interest to earn much more than invitations to a few training camps.
In early 2024, a ligament injury would send Ball home from a Mexican league after he had played in just two games – a death blow to his dreams of stardom, seemingly. The current NBA season tipped off with him beefing with Cam’ron over whose career was more pathetic. (“I only know you because your father’s a great marketer,” Cam’ron said.) All the while Ball was plotting his crossover into the rap game and borrowing the playbook once again from big brother Lonzo – who dropped a full album, Born 2 Ball, in 2018.
Still, for all the people who are saying LiAngelo is finally keeping up with his brothers, it should be noted that he still needed Lonzo to write the song – although Lonzo, ever the selfless floor general, only seeks credit for designing the single’s faded cover art. After a recent Bulls victory, Lonzo kicked off the locker room party with an ear-splitting preview of LiAngelo’s yet-to-release follow-up single – and early online reactions already have him going two for two from the field. The past few weeks have caught LaMelo rapping along to Tweaker during the Hornets pregame shootaround and LaVar bumping it on a road trip. In the end, the family black sheep – a proper musician with two infant children to support, is taking care of himself. Even those who once doubted LiAngelo can’t help taking a degree of fatherly pride. “Lonzo Ball got over $100Ms in NBA career earnings so far, LaMelo Ball currently on a $200M contract extension, & now LiAngelo Ball finally broke through & made a lane for himself,” one X user remarked. ”Lavar Ball is on Mt. Rushmore of Fathers.”
Of course there’s no telling where LiAngelo winds up in this new career – what, with the music industry being such a cold-hearted game. But if the rave reviews of LiAngelo’s initial work make anything plain, it’s that he’s clearly the favorite son now. Talk about a swerve.
