Getty Justin Bieber performs poolside at Fontainebleau Miami Beachs New Years Eve Celebration at Fontainebleau Miami Beach on December 31, 2016.
Nowadays, it is not uncommon that professional athletes are transitioning into the music industry. Players such as the Blazers Damian Lillard, Kings Marvin Bagley Jr, Pelicans Lonzo Ball, Pacers Victor Oladipo, and who can forget that Master Played in the NBA with the Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors.
Los Angeles Lakers’ center JaVale McGee is just the latest to make the transition in the music industry. The two-time NBA Champion is a talented producer. McGee started back in 2008, but like anyone that is starting something new he wasn’t very good at first and had to work on his craft. McGee shared with the New York Times, that he didn’t know at the time that you have to get different from different producers and how importing build relationships are. He would later learn that the more relationships you have someone will select your beats comparison of making millions of beats.
I spoke with McGee last month after the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks 129-114 in Dallas, and asked him when we could expect some new music.
“Stay tuned,” said McGee. “I have some things brewing in the lab, and you will be surprised by what we been cooking up.”
What McGee was talking about at the time was his collaboration with Grammy Award Winning artist Justin Bieber on his single “Available.” McGee produced the single under the name ‘Pierre’ on Bieber’s, new project, “Changes.”
Follow the Heavy on Lakers Facebook page for the latest breaking news, rumors, and content!
McGee Shared When he Created the ‘Available’ Beat
During a recent interview with Talya Minsberg of the New York Times, McGee shared when he created the beat that turned into ‘Available’.
“I was in the studio with Poo Bear around November of last year. I didn’t know who I was making music for. I was playing some songs and samples and he stopped on this one sample that I had made. He looped it, put it in the computer and we just started writing to it,” said McGee.
“We ended up writing the whole song, but there were no drums or anything. The original melody, when you hear it [at] the beginning of a song? That’s what I brought to the table.”
Minsberg would follow that question up by asking how did he found out that he was on Bieber’s album.
Three months later, Poo Bear calls me, and we were talking about the fact that both of our houses had been broken into. We ended that conversation and he said, ‘Oh yeah, you’re on the album.’ I’m like, ‘What album?’”
“It was amazing. Justin Bieber is one of the, if not the, top artists out there. So to be able to keep working and produce something for an artist like that is amazing. And I’m a basketball player.”
McGee or Pierre has worked with his former teammate Lonzo Ball in the past as well.