Sports references frequently appear in rap songs, but for whatever reason they’re usually focused on basketball or football rather than, say, baseball. But Houston baseball fans got a major shout out Thursday when Bun B dropped “Crush City,” his tribute to the Astros.
Bun B reps Houston as proudly as anybody, so it’s not too surprising that he commemorated the Astros making it to the playoffs. But it is surprising how much team-specific baseball knowledge he drops: “We don’t listen to what you say,” he raps, “We keep it 200 like the hits from Altuve.” He goes on to shout out his favorite players: “H-Town, you don’t want it down here/we got Carlos Correa, he’s the rookie of the year,” and then four bars for Dallas Keuchel, Tony Sipp, Evan Gattis, Hank Conger, Colby Rasmus, Carlos Gomez, George Springer, Chris Carter, and Luis Valbuena.
The track is timely, too—he references the wild card win over the Yankees, and looks forward to (but not past) the series against the Kansas City Royals. “Post-season, we done made it to the first round/headed to Kansas City to put the hurt down/and ain’t nobody here scared of KC/so if you think that we won’t win, then you crazy,” Bun B boasts, before admonishing his fellow fans not to get ahead of themselves: “That’s old school just like me/headed to the World Series? We just might be,” he spits, adding, “But we gon’ take it one game at a time/never fold under pressure when game’s on the line.”
That perspective and restraint is what makes Bun B a rapper to be reckoned with, and a great choice to rep the Astros in the MLB rap playoffs, which would be a very exciting thing if they really existed. (We’re hoping that Tech N9ne is in a booth wearing Royals blue right now prepping a comeback, and can only assume that the D.O.C. is ready to step up for the Rangers—if they’ll have him, since he doesn’t reside within Arlington city limits.)
In any case, football stinks this year if you’re an NFL fan in Texas, and basketball season still has a few weeks before it tips off, so Bun B’s enthusiasm is presumably matched by sports fans throughout Texas, who are thrilled to have something worth rapping about in October.
