The NBA.com James Harden charity game recap is dynamic and grooving. Scored to the tune “I Ain’t Heard of That” by Slim Thug ft. Pharrell, the video is a dunk fest with some Chris Paul passes that must tantalize Rockets fans. And the tune provides the perfect soundtrack for the action. But it may also be jarring for some who expect the NBA to deliver wholesome family friendly content, because the lyrics jump out (“I’m just here to train ho’s”) — and the unedited tune’s full lyrics, as kids will Shazam to find out, are for mature audiences only. “I Ain’t Heard of That” by Slim Thug ft. Pharrell is labeled “Explicit” on Amazon and Spotify, for example, but there is no warning on the NBA video that a young kid viewer is about to hear lyrics like these — or be turned on to this explicit tune by the NBA.
“I Ain’t Heard of That” by Slim Thug ft. Pharrell was co-written by Jay Z, Pharrell, Slim Thug, Chad Hugo and Bun B and released a dozen years ago. Slim Thug is a Houston man. As he says in the song “I’m that new problem outta Houston” — just what Chris Paul wants to be for the Rockets. It’s an inspired choice for a tune to accompany the Harden game footage and whoever cut it up did a tremendous job, linking a line about the “boys in blue” to the blue-jersey team throwing down an alley-oop dunk. The editors cut out the most explicit lyrics, using the “clean version” — the aforementioned “ho’s” is garbled — but the tune is still a gateway to the original, explicit cut for any kid with Shazam. The NBA continues to do a tremendous job walking the thin line between cultural authenticity and a G-for-Everyone rating for its family-friendly product. Here it’s tough to maintain the balance.
VIDEO BELOW: warning, explicit lyrics.
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