If you’ve ever watched Last Chance U on Netflix, then you know that junior college athletics are no joke. Raleigh, NC’s Zeno Best (who has been coaching basketball while simultaneously pursuing a musical career) details the less-than-ideal living situations, financial hardships, and his players’ dedication in his debut single “JUCO”. He even references the aforementioned Netflix show late in the second verse: “And they said that I couldn’t do it, be successful in coaching and still drop some music/ but you know I’m still in the stu, I’m still in the gym on my Last Chance U sh*t/ I got a chip on my shoulder, and I guarantee that I’m never gon’ lose it,” he raps.
With coaches and personalities like Deion “Primetime” Sanders coming into the game and doing things their own way, who’s to say that Zeno Best can’t do something similar?
Best, who produces his own beats and also dropped two instrumental tapes back in 2019, uses relatively minimal sounds on this record. The hi hat patterns and snares are a nod to Chicago drill music, and while the main piano melody is repetitive at first, the storytelling more than makes up for it. “Some of my players are fathers, and they already got sons or a daughter/ but they never gave me excuses, they in the lab tryna get ‘em an offer/ putting up shots on The Gun and now that jumper is lookin like water/ and I just watch ‘em improve, some of these days I feel like Coach Carter,” Best raps.
As the saying goes, rappers want to be ballers, and vice versa; we see it any time the camera pans to rappers sitting courtside at the NBA Finals. Every kid has hoop dreams, and practicing the game-winning shot on the playground is a rite of passage. However, Best paints a portrait in which things aren’t always rosy, but resilience is always rewarded. He draws upon his real life experiences of living with players, coaching in the huddle, advising them and watching them develop while also acknowledging his own career struggles.
In an era in which the transfer portal dominates headlines and NIL deals reign supreme, Best’s story shows another side of college sports. Here, there is no glitz or glamour; rather, it’s all grit and grind, with nothing to lose and everything to gain. Overall, “JUCO” offers an unflinchingly raw portrayal of junior college sports as athletes and coaches chase their hoop dreams. Take a listen and give your thoughts on Zeno Best’s debut single below.
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