- LiAngelo Ball’s song ‘Tweaker’ is a massively popular rap hit
LiAngelo Ball’s new song ‘Tweaker’ has become a viral sensation – and now the former UCLA and G-League basketball player has scored a massive new record deal.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Ball has inked a deal with Def Jam and Universal Music Group for a guaranteed $8million – with the deal potentially rising to $13million.
Additionally, Ball will have his own label – Born2Ball Music Group – and own all of his music.
Ball’s new song, released under the name G3 Gelo, has racked up over 15million listens on Spotify since being posted to the music streaming platform on January 3.
And the track is also proving to be a massive hit with NBA players, as his brother Lonzo was seen dancing to the song the Bulls locker room. His youngest brother LaMelo and his Hornets teammates were also tasked with filling in the lyrics of the song’s chorus during a video from the Hornets’ social team.
The Cleveland Cavaliers were also seen playing the song in their locker room right after it came out.
LiAngelo Ball is seen warming up for the Greensboro Swarm of the G League in 2022
Donald Trump took credit for Ball and his teammates being freed from a Chinese prison
Ball is seen speaking to the media after being arrested for shoplifting in China while at UCLA
Ball’s status as a hit rapper comes eight years after he and two UCLA teammates were detained (and briefly imprisoned) in China for suspicion of shoplifting before a game there.
Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill were released the following day from custody and Donald Trump – then in his first term as US president – credited himself with getting the trio freed.
‘It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence – IT WAS ME,’ Trump tweeted.
The arrest of the players came a day before Trump had been scheduled to arrive in China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the US president told reporters the pair had a ‘great conversation.’
Ball’s father, LaVar, told the ‘TODAY’ show at the time that there was not a reason to thank Trump.
‘I don’t just be saying thank you because somebody said they did something,’ LaVar said. ‘And if they did it, genuinely, do you really need to come up to me and say, ‘Boy, you better thank me?’
LiAngelo and his teammates were then suspended from UCLA, leading to a nomadic basketball journey which began with LaVar pulling his middle son off of the team.
Along with younger brother LaMelo, he played in Lithuania and in the LaVar Ball-founded JBA league, before playing in the NBA G-League and in Mexico.
Ball also had stints with the NBA’s Pistons and Hornets, but never appeared in a regular season game (he played for the latter in the 2022 preseason).
Now, however, LiAngelo appears to have found his calling with music.
