Chris Bosh is a two-time NBA champion and hall-of-famer. But did you know he’s also a rap producer—one who’s witnessed one of the great hip-hop moments of the last decade?
July 5 is the five-year anniversary of J. Cole and Dreamville’s Revenge of the Dreamers 3 album. That was the era where Cole famously held a rap camp in Atlanta, and invited more than 300 artists and producers to work on the album. Chris Bosh was among the distinguished guests. After his NBA career was cut short due to medical reasons in 2016, Bosh dove into music and discovered his passion for beat-making.
He landed a placement on Gucci Mane’s “Miss My Woe” featuring Rico Love in 2017. The track has a smooth snare arrangement that compliments Gucci’s melodic rapping. In a 2020 interview with Shannon Sharpe, Bosh talked about how the song came about. “Rico [Love] is a good friend of mine.”We were just hanging out and I played some music for him. He wrote to it and it ended up getting on Gucci’s album, Mr. Davis…That was kind of the hook for me.”
Bosh was a fan of Cole’s music and had developed a relationship with the rapper. A year after he landed his Gucci placement, Dreamville started their Revenge rollout with Instagram invitations being sent to different artists and producers. Bosh tells Complex that his wife, Adrienne Williams-Bosh, encouraged him to reach out to Cole to be a part of the experience.
Cole said yes.
“When I came in [to the rap camp], [Cole] was one of the first people I saw, but there were hundreds of people there,” Bosh tells Complex. “Cole said, ‘Good to see you, glad you’re here. Go for it.’ And then walked off. I never really considered that I would be dropped in here with 100 producers, 200 rappers, 50 singers. I had to get in where I fit in. I was a little nervous because I didn’t really expect it.”
Bosh worked with longtime Cole producer T-Minus on a beat during his four-day stay. T-Minus remembers how comfortable Bosh seemed in the space with rap legends.“[Bosh] explained how he made beats and wanted to play a few for us. He pulled up a track that was so fire,” T-Minus told Complex. “Everyone in the room was in disbelief that this NBA legend had the ability to make such crazy beats.”
Cole grabbed the beat, but it’s unknown whether it ended up getting made into an actual song during the sessions or not. During his stay, Bosh also got to witness the birth of J. Cole’s hit record, “Middle Child.”
“I believe it was the night of the first day, somebody saw me and told me to follow them. Cole and everybody was in the room, and we probably listened to ‘Middle Child’ for the next three days,” Bosh said. “I got to see what goes into a No. 1 record. It was methodical, surgical work on every note, word, and decision for the song.”
Bosh still tries to find time to produce in between spending time with his family. “I have five kids and those things come first,” Bush said. “But my love of music just keeps me coming back to instruments and the computer. I’m always trying to do something, always trying to crack the code.”
