Iman Shumpert has heard it all before; all the misconceptions, all the stereotypes, all the unfair criticism about his rap career.
He’s too distracted. He cares about music more than basketball. He should be in the gym instead of the studio.
In the past, rather than address his detractors, Shumpert pressed pause on his hip-hop aspirations, and shelved all but a handful of the hundreds of songs he’s penned since sixth grade.
Although he released snippets of various projects on his social media platforms, along with three official mixtapes on his SoundCloud and YouTube channels since 2012, he resisted investing heavy marketing dollars or enlisting agencies who could help him successfully cross over into the music industry.