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Following his abrupt NFL exit, the 7x Pro Bowler shifts his focus to rap telling HipHopDX his plans during the Black Future Brunch presented by Hollywood Unlocked.

February 7, 2022 A day following the resignation heard around the globe, Antonio Brown dropped his latest single, Pit Not The Palace, aptly under his moniker, AB. The song serves as a defiant statement over a methodic trap beat with lyrics such as Fresh out the pavement/They bring the pain, I bring the payment, as he touches on his tough Miami-Dade County upbringing that propelled him to dominate in arguably the toughest sports league. While speaking to HipHopDX following the close of the Black Future Brunch, AB tapped the inner Hip Hop child in him that started to come alive around the same time the legend of Lil Wayne did as well. I remember bumping Lil Waynes Drought and Squad Up mixtapes, AB recalled to HipHopDX. Thats when Lil Wayne was showing you that his craft was for real. I had the same feeling . Following the dissolution of the Cash Money Records Hot Boys in 2002, Lil Wayne and his Squad Up clique ignited an unprecedented mixtape campaign where they crafted their own recognizable melodies onto existing hits, thus carving Weezy F. Babys path to the Hall Of Fame. Da Drought mixtape series would follow suit, creating folklore of its own. Most of the projects have been relegated to internet lure AB confirmed the infamous moment was fueled by that same unbridled Lil Wayne energy, spliced with LeBron James Miami championship vindication, among other colorful metaphors. You know when a baby is born and they cut the umbilical cord? It was like no! he continued. That adrenaline, that passion its like the camel had his last straw! Although ABs NFL days may be done, according to him, his rap career is just getting kicked off. Much like Kanye did on DONDA with Off The Grid, hes excited about his own upcoming Fivio Foreign collaboration, which he describes as insane. Plus, he has lofty goals in taking down Shaquille ONeal in the studio Im making music to feel fun, energized and feel good about your existence in this space and time, AB said when asked about a potential album. Shaq was the only athlete to go platinum with a rap album. Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson a lot of those guys attempted it so I want to be the first guy to make people respect the craft from an athletes perspective. You know, theres a narrative where we can only but we have the ability to compartmentalize our talents. We can be a lot of things when we put the right minds, people and team together so for me, thats the goal. I want to perform at Rolling Loud. So Im out to show people this is a real thing. Read more