Melissa Rohlin
FOX Sports NBA Writer
When LeBron James was on the verge of becoming the first NBA player to score 50,000 points, a 24-year-old named Vincent James felt a burning desire to celebrate the achievement, which may never happen again.
So, he decided to make a song.
Two weeks before James’ historic milestone, Vincent scoured the internet until he found a beat that he loved. Then, on March 4, he received a notification on his phone: James had scored his 50,000th point with a 3-pointer against the New Orleans Pelicans.
It was go-time.
That evening, Vincent ran to Best Buy to buy a pair of wired headphones. He opened an app called BandLab and tried to record a tribute. The only thing was, he couldn’t think of any lyrics.
But he didn’t let that stop him.
Vincent sang “LeBron, LeBron, LeBron James” over and over again in a rhythm and blues style. He has a soulful voice. He harmonized with himself and added a few layers. The whole thing took him 20 minutes.
“I’m not really good when it comes to lyrics,” Vincent told FOX Sports. “So, I couldn’t really come up with anything else.”
That video now has 6.7 million views on TikTok. And it started a viral movement, with dozens of other creators making tribute songs to the Lakers superstar, sparking a collection called “LeBronify.”
The phenomenon has even reached James.
“Yeah, I mean it’s almost impossible [not to hear],” James said, flashing a smile when asked about the music after the Lakers beat the Houston Rockets on Monday. “But my youngest son Bryce actually showed me one, I think it was yesterday. Yeah, it was yesterday. And we got a good laugh at it. But there’s quite a few out there, for sure.”
For Vincent, who’s a junior at UEI College in Phoenix studying to be an electrician, it has been a surreal experience.
He had posted songs on TikTok before, but he was always overcome with embarrassment and quickly deleted them.
But this was different. When his girlfriend first heard his LeBron song, instead of getting annoyed by his loud music as she usually did, she started bobbing her head and even acknowledged the two words were immediately stuck in her head.
It had the same effect on others.
LaVar Ball, the father of two NBA players and a famous rapper, posted a video on Instagram of him singing to Vincent’s song after undergoing surgery to have his right foot amputated.
Internet creators had a field day with it too, using his song to create funny videos, including one in which a bride walks down the aisle to the LeBron song. It was captioned: “When you let him choose your entry song,”
By popular demand, Vincent recently added the song to both Spotify and Apple Music.
Vincent is still in shock.
“I can’t even describe the feeling,” Vincent told FOX Sports. “It’s like when you tell a joke that you’re not realizing is funny, an off-hand joke, but you have the whole room laughing and you get that warm feeling inside. That’s the best way I can describe it. It’s something I did without thinking too much about it.”
Over the last few weeks, dozens of other LeBron-inspired songs have popped up on the internet, including remixes to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” Panic! at the Disco’s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” and R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly,” to name a few.
One of the most popular remixes was done by Shannon Blake, who rewrote Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” to honor James with “Man on the Lakers.”
It’s incredibly catchy and takes you through the story of the Lakers this season, including them trading Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis. The song has gotten millions of views. It was shared by rapper Snoop Dogg. It was performed by the men’s choir at Baylor University. Someone even recently sent him $23 over Zelle in honor of James, who wears No. 23.
For Blake, a 32-year-old who works for Amazon Fresh and creates music in his free time, it has all been a dream come true. He freestyled the song in 30 minutes and can’t believe the acclaim it’s receiving.
Heck, even one of the co-writers of “Man in the Mirror,” Siedah Garrett, even commented on his remix, writing, “Love these clever lyrics to my song.”
Blake’s ultimate goal was for James to hear his song.
“I believe LeBron is the greatest basketball player to ever touch a basketball,” Blake told FOX Sports.
The fact that all of this has reached James is even more interesting because the 40-year-old acknowledged he’s not even on one of the platforms where they’re going viral.
“My son, they all on TikTok,” James said. “I’m not on TikTok. So they showed me.”
James, who’s the face of the NBA, has seen thousands of tributes from fans over his 22 years in the league. But having songs written about him is new.
And it was all started by a young man who just had to celebrate his idol’s latest accomplishment.
For Vincent, it was just a passion project. A way for him to honor his favorite player. He never expected it to catch fire.
And honestly, while that has been amazing, there’s something that has meant much more to him.
“The fact that I did something that created a big enough wave that it reached somebody I look up to daily has heard it, is just insane,” he said. “I honestly can’t believe it. It just blows my mind away.”
Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.
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