忘掉嘻哈音樂吧,這位纔是籃球高手裏面最會玩音樂的

For those readers who are somehow not aware, Lillard, aka Dame D.O.L.L.A., is as legit a musician as the NBA has ever seen.

可能有些讀者還一直沒意識到，“Dame D.O.L.L.A”已經成爲了整個NBA聯盟裏前所未有的偉大歌手。

Even that distinction doesn't do him justice, as his lyrical talent and smooth delivery go way beyond the box that he gets put in as a — quote-unquote — basketball player who raps. He's really good. Period.

即便這份榮譽沒能帶給他應得的待遇，但他的抒情天賦和順暢的表達能力遠遠不是一個所謂的會說唱的籃球運動員能夠涵蓋的。他的音樂真的玩得非常專業，毋庸置疑！

A quick personal story that speaks to the strength of his style: When his song "Bigger than Us" was released on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2016.

他的歌曲“Bigger than us”於2016年在馬丁路德金日發行。歌曲通過講述一個極具個人色彩的小故事，展現了利拉德音樂風格的長處。

It came at a time when my two young sons were at that age where, as a parent, you need to have those real conversations about things like racism.

當時，我(筆者:利拉德本人)的兩個兒子都處在一個需要父母跟他們討論關於種族主義這樣的事情的年齡。

That song, which looked at the grim reality of recent events and called for all of us to do our part to make it better,

而這首歌審視了當時社會的嚴峻現實，呼籲我們大家儘自己的力量來讓社會變得更好，

served as a vehicle of sorts for that crucial discussion. I think about it every time the topic comes up again.

於是，我就用這首歌來和我的孩子們展開討論。所以每當類似的話題再次出現時，我都會想到這首歌。

But when it comes to the unique experience of being an NBA player who is also a rapper, you have to integrate your own music into your pregame routine, right? Wrong.

但是同時身爲NBA運動員和嘻哈歌手，有這這種與衆不同的經歷，意味着你必須將二者融合在一起嘛？並不是這樣的。

"It's not like, ‘Just let me throw this (song of mine) on,'" Lillard said.

“對於我自己的歌，我並不是就‘讓這首歌放着'，”利拉德說。

"If I just throw my phone on and click on my music and it starts playing random music and one of my songs comes on, I'm like, ‘Man…'

“如果我打開我的手機，開始放音樂，然後我的一首歌響起，我心裏就會感嘆一聲‘天哪’。

When you haven't heard your own music in a long time and you hear it, and you actually like it, I'll go back and start listening to more of it. But I don't just play my music."

當你很久沒有聽到自己的歌，然後你偶然聽到時，而且真的喜歡那首歌時，我會回去再聽一遍。我可不僅僅是就演奏自己的歌。”

As for Lillard's musical preferences when it comes to his hoops preparation, he agrees with Mitchell about the value of keeping it even keel.

至於利拉德的在賽前熱身時的聽歌偏好，他同意米切爾關於要保持心裏平穩的觀點。

And while he's deliberate with his playlist during those few hours before heading to the arena, Lillard does not wear headphones once he hits the court.

他會在去球場前幾個小時裏聽歌，但一到球場他就會摘掉耳機。

"I've always listened to calm music," Lillard continued.

“我一直在聽平靜的音樂，”利拉德繼續說道。

"Before my NBA career (during his high school days in Oakland, Calif., and in college at Weber State), the most hyped kind of music I would listen to before games is J. Cole, and he doesn't make that kind of music."

“在我的NBA職業生涯開始之前（加利福尼亞州奧克蘭高中，韋伯州大時期），我聽過最令人亢奮的歌手是喬科爾，比賽之前我會聽一聽他的歌，但他從沒有製作過相對平靜的歌曲。”

"Music creates a feeling, and I've always appreciated (that). Going into a game, or getting ready for a game, I've always wanted something to keep me calm.

“音樂會給我帶來一種我很欣賞的感覺。在比賽中或準備進入比賽時，我總想獲得一些東西使我保持冷靜。

I never wanted to be too excited, or too riled up. And what I listen to, I just naturally played the kinds of songs that I felt at peace and calm about."

我不想太興奮或是太激憤。就像我喜歡聽的歌一樣，我只是很自然地表演各種使我平和鎮定的音樂。”

Conversely, there are songs that are simply too hard to hear when you're trying to get your mind right for a game — not because of the song, necessarily, but because of the memories attached to the song.

相反地，有些歌曲就不適合在賽前調整心態的時候去聽，並不是因爲這些歌怎麼了，而是因爲有些記憶和這些歌曲相聯。

"There's a song called "Foolish" by Ashanti that I stay away from — I don't listen to that song, period, because that song was playing when I found out one of my cousins was killed a while back." Lillard said.

“比如有一首由Ashanti創作的名爲Stupid的歌曲，我有時就會避免去聽它，因爲不久之前我的表兄被殺的時候，當時就響着這首歌。”利拉德說道。

"And that song just always made me think of it. But I don't think I've listened to that song one time since it happened."

“那首歌總是讓我想到這回事。我想從那件事之後我就不會再想聽這首歌了。”

Johnnie Bryant, the Jazz assistant who also grew up in Oakland and who Lillard considers a mentor and "big brother," can relate.

Johnnie Bryant，爵士的助理教練，同樣成長於奧克蘭，利拉德將其視作可以依靠的導師和哥哥。

"That's just the reality of what music can do," Bryant said. "And that's the beauty of music in and of itself is because it allows you to express how you feel and then also it allows you to recall certain times in your life when you hear certain songs."

“這就是音樂真正所能做的，”布萊恩特說。“而這就是音樂美妙之處所在，因爲它允許你表達你的感覺，而且在生活中當你聽到某些特定的歌詞時，會使你回憶到那個特定的時間。”

"You have those songs, where they come on and I'm in that space now where I'll just fast forward it,

“你會把那些歌記在腦子裏，當它們出現在腦海裏時，我會快進跳過他們，

like 'I don't want to be there.' But then also, there's times when it's like, 'You know what? It's ok to be there right now.'

就好像再說‘我不想呆在那裏。’但以後沒準我會覺得，‘你知道嗎？現在去那裏沒問題。’”

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