Here in the Triangle, family values are dictated by which ACC basketball team—Duke, UNC, or NC State—you’d die for in a bar fight. This means that at this very moment (and for eternity), somewhere in this 30-mile radius people are arguing about who was the best ACC basketball player of all time, Duke’s Christian Laettner, UNC’s Michael Jordan, or NC State’s David Thompson.
Now, the symbiotic nature between hip-hop and basketball is the force behind Raleigh’s long-time, hip-hop sextet, Kooley High, naming their new album after David Thompson.
It’s an obvious choice, considering that the crew assembled as a student-run hip-hop organization at NC State. Kooley High’s “Yeah Yeah”—is a trimmed-down, droopy jam featuring Foreign Exchange Music emcee, Median. It’s the lead single from the group’s David Thompson LP, set for release on Dec. 6 through Fat Beats Digital Distribution.
Here, Kooley goes outside of its in-house producers, Foolery and The Sinopsis, for this DJ Prince production full of double-clap snares, a tender bass pulse and stray flutes.
Missing from “Yeah Yeah” is Kooley High queen, Rapsody, but thankfully Median makes for a fine, substitute, comparing Thompson’s iconography with his own, “…got em all day and amazed like hey look at that/ I too, a hero and a flame from the Wolfpack/ fame when it’s looked at/ today from a look back/ Carolina spawn him/ spar till they sharpen him/ my outcome inspired/ like I am David Thompson.”
Oh well, Rapsody is probably a Jordan fan anyway.
