David Dennis Jr. and Justin Tinsley

Oct 23, 2026, 09:06 AM ET

One of the greatest rappers of all time -- or the greatest in many eyes -- Jay-Z is still out here adding to his legacy. This weekend, for instance, he's taking his stadium show to Los Angeles to bless the West Coast with more of his live greatness.

The show is going to be full of trademark Jay hits. It'll also be full of sports lyrics, because if there's one thing Hov knows, it's sports. From deep dives into Michael Jordan history to NASCAR, scrambling quarterbacks and everything in between, a Jay-Z album might have more sports references than "SportsCenter" does.

With such a robust history of sports references, we decided to rank his 10 best, most unexpected and clever. As they say, "the list is fluid."

10. "And I sport fly s--- I should win an ESPY" - "Party Life" (2007)

This is a little bit of bias, so pardon us. Jay-Z shouting out the ESPYS is just pretty cool. Now he just needs to pull up and host or perform one of these years.…