All of your favourite rappers are obsessed with golf. Here's how they're inspiring change on the links

Written by Adam Aziz

At a 2022 Professional Golfers' Association tournament, rapper Schoolboy Q, who participated in the tournament,told the PGA Tour: "Life is a golf game. Some good shots, some bad shots. But most importantly, keep going because you never know."

Hip-hop fans may have done a double take: Was that really the rapper behind songs like "Man of the Year" and "Collard Greens" on a golf course comparing the sport to the game of life? It was, and the truth is, hip-hop is in the midst of a love affair with golf, and has been for decades.

"[Golf] was always very aspirational and equated to wealth," said Nelson Silverio, vice president of storytelling and publicity for the PGA Tour. "Your Bad Boy videos of the '90s, they're holding golf clubs."

The music video Silverio is referring to is for the Notorious B.I.G.'s 1997 hit, "Mo Money, Mo Problems." In the video, "Mase Gumbel," a character played by rapper Ma$e that was based on sports commentator Bryant Gumbel, narrates as the Bad Boy Records team, one of rap's most iconic record labels, sinks a winning putt against "Fuzzy Bad Feet," a play on golfer Fuzzy Zeller, who had maderacist commentsabout Tiger Woods at the 1997 Masters.

That year, Tiger Woods became the first Black golfer to win the Masters, one of the four men's major golf championships, inspiring many hip-hop lyric references, including Jay-Z on "Who You Wit II" ("I sink this ball in your hole/ I'm Tiger Woods"), Mos Def on "Body Rock" ("Got the opposition shook like Tiger Woods about to tee off") and Ras Kass on "Soul On Ice" (Remix) ("Tiger Woods aint even up to par in the game of survival").

"Golf is expensive," multi-platinum rapper Russ explains. "Anything that is expensive tends to get glorified in hip-hop."

A therapeutic activity for rappers

Silverio acknowledges that the game has previously been for "older white males" and that, over the years, relaxed dress codes, more hip-hop artists getting interested in the game, and work done by the Tour have created a more open environment for amateur Black golfers. There is still work to do, however, as there is a very limited number of Black golfers on the PGA Tour.

"Inclusion doesn't mean older white males get less," said Silverio. "It just means more for everybody. That's what hip-hop has helped us with like what DJ Khaled is doing with his Let's Go Golfing apparel and catchphrase, and Drake and his NOCTA line. That's many people's entry point."

KRSNA, one of India's most popular rap artists with more than one million Instagram followers, is another artist who's building a bridge between hip-hop and golf.

"Some of my family played golf, but I never really got into it myself," said KRSNA. "Then two years ago, while feeling consumed with music and needing a break from it, I decided to give it a shot and fell in love with it. It gives me the down time I need away from music and is quite therapeutic."

"Being in the music business regardless of genre is very taxing," adds Russ. "Golf is just you out there in nature. That therapeutic element is attractive to rappers who have made their money and gotten to a certain level."

Sparking a fashion revolution

Another way the PGA Tour has expanded its audience is by partnering with influencers who already have a foothold in hip-hop and street culture.One of those influencers is Jacques Slade, who now hosts the Golf Channel show The Cut, where Slade routinely drops hip-hop references. Widely recognized as one of the most influential figures in the world of sneakers and an avid golfer, Slade first made contact with Silverio through a direct message on Instagram.

"Nelson is a big hip-hop guy and sneakerhead,"said Slade."He started following me and I was posting golf content here and there."

Silverio opened the door for Slade to contribute to the PGA Tour by creating social content around topics like the history of golf shoes.

In 2023, the National Golf Foundation released a report showing that racialized people now represent 23 per cent of all golfers, a new high mark for the sport. But it isn't just the makeup of who's playing golf today that's changing: hip-hop culture is also inspiring a fashion revolution on the course.

In 2020, Drake and Nike launched the NOCTA label, a sportswear brand that also released a golf collection inspired by Drake's childhood golf rounds with his uncle Stephen Sher. The golf line debuted on pro golfer Brooks Koepka during the PGA Tour Championship in 2021.

Before NOCTA, there was Eastside Golf, an apparel brand founded in 2019 by Olajuwon Ajanaku and Earl Cooper, who saw a sport that needed to capture its deserved cool.

"The stigma behind it," says Ajanaku of why he and his partner saw an opportunity to blend hip-hop sensibilities with golfwear. "It'salways khaki pants and country club and quiet, stuffy, and uncomfortable."

Despite being a lifelong golfer and having a prominent brand within the sport, Ajanaku has experienced the struggles of change.

"I got kicked off a golf course three years ago," remembered Ajanaku. "I got kicked off the course because I had on joggers without the belt loops. And I had a Jordan 4 coming out a Jordan golf shoe. Fast forward two years, and they sell joggers without the loop in their pro shop."

Eastside Golf's brand can now be found in the pro shop at the Liberty National golf course in New Jersey and Fat Joe's sneaker store, UP NYC, in Washington Heights. For Ajanaku, this helps to continue breaking down golf's barriers.

"Now you'll see a 70-year-old white man wearing the same thing as a 14-year-old Black kid is wearing," said Ajanaku, who plays golf regularly with rap artists including Jeezy and Rick Ross.

Building a path forward through collaboration

The growing passion rap artists have for golf is being noticed by more than just the PGA Tour and fashion brands. KRSNA's renewed interest in the sport has resulted in a dream collaboration with one of the biggest brands in golf equipment: TaylorMade.

"I had been playing with an old hand-me-down set of TaylorMade clubs," said KRSNA. "One day I ended up posting a story on Instagram of me hitting some balls at the driving range and tagged TaylorMade India. They immediately responded and told me they were interested in doing something since they didn't have any partnerships in the rap space."

Rap hasalways displayed a fascination with golf, and now with partnerships moving into more hip-hop spaces, their influence on each other only promises to grow stronger.