How Inside The NBA's soundtrack became the unexpected star of the playoffs
“Music and sports have always been intertwined and probably always will be."
Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith had no idea what was coming next. Neither did Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson, though neither would have recognized it even if they did.
As TNT’s Inside the NBA welcomed fans to halftime between the Mavericks and Clippers on May 1, the hosts of the beloved basketball talk show were met with a clip from “Euphoria” by rapper Kendrick Lamar, which was perhaps the most vicious of Lamar’s many diss tracks against Drake.
Johnson, unaware of the context of the music, introduced his co-hosts as the song continued to play. It took some time for Smith to realize what was happening but once he did, he couldn’t help but laugh.
Inside the NBA playing Kendrick’s “Euphoria”
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“Why y’all putting us in the middle of the rap beef, man?” Smith said on the broadcast. “Come on, man!”
Once he caught on, O’Neal laughed wholeheartedly at the absurdity of the situation. Barkley looked disgruntled and couldn’t believe “grown [expletive] men” would involve themselves in such petty drama as a rap beef. Johnson tried his darnedest to bring it back home and get the crew to talk about basketball, asking his co-hosts about the Mavericks to no avail.
Clever audio programming like this has become one of the many secret ingredients that leads to the continued success of Inside the NBA. Music is typically the first part of the halftime studio show and sets up whatever the crew is going to talk about for the next 15 minutes. None of this happens by accident.
“We’re just trying to throw as much stuff in front of Shaq, Charles, Kenny and Ernie that’s going to get a reaction out of them,” Keith Robinson, a TNT Sports studio producer for Inside the NBA, told For The Win. “It created a moment.”
RELATED: Inside the NBA played Kendrick Lamar’s Euphoria and Charles Barkley and Co. had funny reactions
Within seconds, fans on the internet went wild for the “Euphoria” clip. It was especially captivating because the song had only been released the previous day. The “Euphoria” lead-in was also a perfect encapsulation of the show that has aired since 1989, which has now spanned more than a decade with this unique cast of characters.
Robinson works directly alongside Donzell Floyd, a senior associate producer and director for TNT Sports, on these choices.
“Every now and then, our talent will have input but very rarely will they know what song is coming in,” Floyd said. “That’s why you saw the reaction you saw when we played the Kendrick record. They had no idea. They usually don’t know.”
The producers are familiar with the preferences of their on-air talent: Charles Barkley is a fan of Public Enemy’s Chuck D and he loves country music. Candace Parker will rap along verbatim to any song by Jay-Z. But part of the reason why they don’t like to tell the cast what is happening is because their natural reactions are often so great.
For example, they knew when they played Kendrick Lamar, it could have gone one of several ways. That includes the cast potentially not even hearing it or having any reaction whatsoever.
“Or maybe Shaq is going to hear it and jump up and do something that is so crazy that it’s going to have to make us play an extra minute or a minute and a half,” Floyd said. “All of those things are on the table at that point.”
TNT is under an ephemeral clause, which means they are allowed a courtesy one-time use only. When the game does re-air, they substitute their TNT theme music where those songs played.
Multiple record labels have reached out to the folks at TNT Sports with a list of new releases they can potentially play on the broadcast.
It isn’t just the studio show that uses music to keep the audience engaged, though. During games on TNT’s broadcast, associate producer Erron Banks is also intentional with his music decisions.
Banks picks between 12-to-15 pre-cut songs when he is fading in music on the game broadcast. For the studio show, meanwhile, Floyd said that he will actually have somewhere between 60-to-100 songs queued up at any given moment.
TNT Sports
Whether it’s something as obscure as “Game Over” by Houston rapper Lil’ Flip during a Rockets victory or a popular throwback like nWo’s Wolfpac theme during a Timberwolves win, these choices can lead to viral moments online as well.
“Sometimes we have played music like Lil’ Flip and I haven’t thought of him in ages and we’ll see he’s trending on Twitter because people are tagging him that he was on NBA on TNT.” Robinson said. “I always wonder what guys like Lil’ Flip are thinking of when that happens. Did he even hear it or see it himself? Why am I trending right now?”
Music is genuinely one of the characters on TNT for the live broadcast and the studio shows. But if people are starting to notice that more now, that’s only because there are more people tuning in this time of year.
“It’s basically a part of the show just as much as we show fan tweets and posts talking about the guys, the music is a part of our overall coverage,” Robinson said “It’s just amplified now because people are watching the playoffs and more eyes are tuned in.”
“Music and sports have always been intertwined and probably always will be,” Floyd added. “It feels like it may be a little bigger recently but we have been doing music for years now because it’s a part of our DNA at this point.”
The cast will sometimes sing songs when they’re creating a mood on the set, even when they’re not on the air. But while the reactions are often beautifully spontaneous and improvised, the audio programming is not.
“It’s not just to play music,” Robinson said. “It’s all thoughtful and looking for the right moment for the right song at that moment to not only have an impact with the guys in the studio but for stuff to catch online.”
Inside the NBA producers are often thinking of location and demographic for the game they are assigned when they make their needle drops. Perhaps the halftime highlights lead with Anthony Edwards, then TNT may choose a musician from Edwards’ hometown of Atlanta.
Or if the game is in Indianapolis, Floyd is likely to have his headphones on midway through the second quarter to find the perfect track to play at the break. Even if people do not realize TNT chose to play Babyface during a Pacers game because the rapper is from Indianapolis, there was an intentionality to the process.
“It depends on where we are and then I start digging through the crates,” Floyd said.
Last season, for example, they had a Warriors game in the Bay Area and used it as an excuse to play Oakland-native MC Hammer.
O’Neal heard the song and brilliantly challenged Barkley to do MC Hammer’s typewriter dance, which immediately derailed all attempts at analysis for the remainder of the segment.
It wasn’t ideal to spark high-level basketball analysis but it was wildly entertaining for fans.
RELATED: Ernie Johnson on life behind the scenes as the host of Inside the NBA
Similarly, a few years ago, the crew was providing halftime analysis when the Heat played the Bucks. The studio played Rick Ross because he is from Miami and O’Neal had a joking moment with Johnson, assuming he didn’t know who that was.
Johnson correctly identified the song as one by “The Boss” Rick Ross and hilariously shouted out “M.I. Yayo”, a signature catchphrase of the rapper. It is all a part of the magic that keeps this show so engaging.
“That’s just another way to have fun with them and give the audience a peek behind the curtain with not just basketball but part of the culture,” Robinson said.
Whether it is playing “Forever” by Drake if the game features LeBron James or 50 Cent if the matchup includes the Timberwolves, there is always an Easter egg for fans to search for if they are paying attention to the music choices.
Even though the future of TNT’s NBA rights are up in the air, it is this sort of careful attention to detail that makes Inside the NBA such a defining part of the basketball ethos.
“We have the best show going and we’re going to continue to do what we do.” Floyd said. “We hope that it impacts and affects someone and it makes your day feel that much better because we’re in the business of entertainment.”