How the Golden State Warriors Are Helping Make the Bay Area’s Next Great Hip-Hop Album
Written by djfrosty on February 11, 2025
P-Lo stands under a basketball hoop on a rooftop outdoor court that overlooks downtown San Francisco, surrounded by the Bay Area Avengers — Saweetie, Larry June, Kamaiyah, G-Eazy, thuy, LaRussell and YMTK, all local MCs gathered to shoot the video for their new track “Player’s Holiday ’25.” The song is part of an upcoming project spearheaded by P-Lo and Golden State Entertainment (GSE), the record label and content division of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, which is planning to release the album in partnership with EMPIRE to celebrate the local music scene ahead of NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco in mid-February. The vibe on-set is breezy and free; the collection of talent, both on the song and hanging out here today, makes the afternoon feel like the modern-day, Bay version of the Great Day in Harlem celebrating the 1950s New York jazz scene.
“Just having all the creatives and artists in the Bay there for that and just being able to be present in that moment and really put that thing together to represent the Bay correctly [was special],” P-Lo says. “There’s been so much negative talk about San Francisco and Oakland [Calif.] and how dangerous it is, and all these bad things about our region and our area, and we wanted to just show the unity and our resilience to all of that.”
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All told, the album — called For the Soil — will feature over a dozen Bay Area artists, including icons like E-40 and Too $hort. It’s the latest project from GSE, which formed in 2022 with EMPIRE as its distribution partner and has released music by K-pop act BamBam and Oakland artist MAYZIN.
EMPIRE founder and CEO Ghazi and his company “have global reach but have maintained deep roots in and genuine love for the Bay,” says David Kelly, chief business officer for GSE and chief legal officer for the Warriors. “When Golden State Entertainment wanted to do something special in connection with NBA All-Star 2025 coming to the San Francisco Bay Area, it was only right that we linked up with P-Lo and release it via EMPIRE. The project is a celebration of Bay Area music and culture and a testament to the rich music scene that EMPIRE has helped create in and for the Bay.”
It’s also part of a suite of projects that EMPIRE is spearheading ahead of All-Star Week, including several parties in the area and a collaboration with NBA 2K for a limited-edition vinyl package featuring EMPIRE artists, on which “Player’s Holiday ’25” is also featured.
“Growing up a Warriors fan and going to the games all my life,” P-Lo says, “just to be able to work with a company that really is like one of the better franchises in all of sports, to be able to do something like this with them, is a dream come true.”
This story appears in the Feb. 8, 2025, issue of Billboard.