Fat Joe and Jack Harlow have been tapped by Major League Baseball (MLB) to serve as musical headliners for their upcoming All-Star Weekend party.
According to Variety, companies Lids and Topps are collaborating with the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) to bring both entertainers to the annual event in Seattle.
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“Baseball’s biggest and brightest stars are going to be in Seattle for All-Star Week, so I’m looking forward to pulling up and putting on a show,” Fat Joe said in a statement. “The Players Party will be an absolute movie and I appreciate the MLBPA, Lids and Topps for organizing such an incredible event that bridges baseball, entertainment, and culture together.”
The party is scheduled to take place at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture on July 10.
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Both Fat Joe and Jack Harlow aren’t the only Hip Hop acts who have been involved with America’s pastime sport recently. In May, Travis Scott played his highly-anticipated Utopia album for the Houston Astros while paying a visit to the MLB team.
At the time, La Flame provided an update while speaking to reporters inside the Minute Maid Park dugout after playing the album for the squad.
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“We fresh from Utopia. Live from the Utopia. It’s on the way now, Mark,” Scott told Fox 26’s Mark Berman while lacing up his Air Jordan 1 Low “Black Phantom” sneakers. “Had to come and play the Utopia for the boys in the locker room. Had to get them right for the game.
“Now we on. Do what we do best, Mark. Finish the master, Mark. You know how we do, Mark. From the clubhouse to the [studio].”
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Also, in January last year, Chuck D linked with the MLB Network to create a Hip Hop single for the 2022 Hall of Fame Election.
The Public Enemy leader wrote the song and recorded it exclusively for the MLB Network and Hall of Fame announcement program. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Andruw Jones, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Jimmy Rollins, Gary Sheffield, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa are some of the high-profile names that were on the ballot that year, and Chuck made sure to mention them all.
“In many ways, this the most important HOF announcement to date,” the MLB Network said in a statement. “We asked Chuck D to make people question their votes and their opinions on the HOF ballot.”
While speaking to HipHopDX during that time, Chuck D explained how the collaboration evolved based on his pure love of the sport.
“I’ve been involved with Major League Baseball for the last year and a half,” he told DX. “It all started from my relationship with Harold Reynolds. He’s a baseball analyst, commentator and former Major League Baseball star. C-Doc and I look at rap music and Hip Hop like new folk music, telling stories that probably are rarely told and bringing back music that has been left alone to the side and even forgotten. We like to bring a resurgence to it.
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“So the first song I did with Major League Baseball, I told Harold about it and Harold said, ‘Well, we could get involved with this and make this a thing, man.’ He was blown away. That was my first relationship with Major League Baseball.”