In the tawdry weeks to come, every facet of Kobe Bryant's character will be held up for examination. Naturally, this will include one persona most people know nothing about: Kobe the would-be rap star.

Back in 2000, during his fourth season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Columbia Records released "K.O.B.E.," an unlikely duet with supermodel Tyra Banks. At first blush, some of the lyrics are downright embarrassing. One line from the first verse: "I don't know, yo, these women come and go." But after a second and third look, the picture gets a lot more complicated. While Mr. Bryant, then a bachelor, openly boasts about his skills with "broads," most of the lyrics are pretty tame by the standards of the rap genre. And it's not clear how many of these words are really his: Kobe's only one of several registered authors.........

Though Columbia scrapped its plans to release an entire Kobe album and eventually dropped him altogether, the lyrics to another song he helped write, "Thug Poet," have also surfaced. Apparently, this was Mr. Bryant's attempt at tackling gangsta rap and, perhaps, to toughen his image a bit. But while he makes oblique references to cocaine and handguns, he stops short of using any explicit language. Instead, he allows a trio of collaborating rappers to do the dirty work for him, rhyming about murder, drugs and prostitutes and all but ensuring that the song would have warranted a parental advisory sticker........

Of course, Mr. Bryant isn't the first NBA star to take a shot at the rap game, and his work falls well short of the extremes. Ten years ago, his Laker teammate Shaquille O'Neal cut a single called "I Know I Got Skillz," in which he makes silly karate noises and uses nothing stronger than the words "heck" and "damn" (it sold 450,000 copies, mostly to kids). On the other end of the spectrum: Philadelphia's Allen Iverson. His 2000 rap debut, "40 Bars," was so graphic and offensive that it was never released. He later apologized.......

In the end, this foray into music is just a footnote from a carefree chapter of Kobe Bryant's life. But instead of bridging the gap between Madison Avenue and the urban audience that eluded him, his debut single only sat on store shelves, appealing to nobody. And that's the real shame of this thing: Kobe Bryant could use a few more fans right now.......

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DaveyD.com