Steph Curry and Tobe Nwigwe’s new rap video is a connection of two stars who haven’t lost the hunger
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — It’s rare for Stephen Curry to speak this way about himself. But he was in a zone this afternoon.
Dressed in mint cargo pants, a mint button-up shirt beneath a mint vest, with white Salehe Bembury Crocs, Curry sat in a boat with a fishing rod in his hand next to one of the hottest rappers out. Talking a big game.About the big splash he’s made. About the big bag he’s secured.
“My, my, my, look how things have changed,” Curry said with a smile as he put on the bucket cap, pleased with himself he still remembered the lyrics he memorized for the occasion.
“They know I’m the one. Daddy taught me how to flick my wrist, I’m my father’s son.”
You know it’s what he believes. He wouldn’t be the legend he’s become if he didn’t feel this way. But Curry tends to leave the hubris on the hardwood. You don’t hear him bragging like this. About his shooting prowess. About his impact on the game.
“Think I’m pistol-packing, how that ratchet on me like a gun.”
He replaced the smile with a scowl, tilting his head for emphasis, practicing the swag he’d need for the cameras.
“They should put the basket in a casket after I am done.”
For Tobe Nwigwe, one of hip-hop’s finest lyricists, the sense of accomplishment evident in the grin embedded in his bushy, black beard. He wrote those lines, the ones Curry spouted so proudly. They were penned with the Baby-faced Assassin in mind.
Tobe, as he’s known in the music world, is from Alief, Texas, a neighborhood in southwest Houston. He’s seen Curry dance all over his Rockets, a recurring victim in the Golden State Warriors’ four championship runs. That’s what was so jarring about meeting Curry. Tobe joined the list of many who were refreshingly surprised by Curry’s humble presence in person. He said he didn’t expect the Warriors’ star “to be so genuinely nice.”
But that disarming smile needed to go when the cameras rolled. The first couple of takes, Curry couldn’t hide his glee over the experience. But eventually, the giddiness subsided. He found the cockiness to complement the bars.
For Tobe to pull that alter ego out of Curry? It proved he nailed the assignment. To hear Curry declare he was living a dream spitting Tobe’s lines was a moment in a rap career that’s seen many. Curry was the latest legend to don Tobe’s signature color of his 2022 “moMINTs” album.
But even before Curry got behind the camera and started rapping inside this nondescript warehouse near SFO airport, Tobe saw a glimpse of the alter ego.
“He don’t have a phone case,” Tobe said, deadpanning his explanation as Curry burst into laughter.
“I knew it would come back to this,” Curry said.
“Listen to me,” Tobe explained. “Any person who can maneuver like that, with two phones and no case? He needs to be tested. He’s a psychopath. No phone case? With children? I just look at people differently when they don’t have active, protective phone gear.”
These two are a fitting unison, brought together by Curry’s new documentary, “Underrated.” Tobe was tabbed to make the featured song, called “Lil Fish, Big Pond,” for the Apple TV+ film.
Two weeks ago, they linked up at StoodilyDoodleyO to shoot Curry’s part in the song’s video, which the Apple-owned record label Platoon released on Wednesday. Famed Oakland filmmaker Ryan Coogler even pulled up to take in the scene.
The moniker “Underrated” doesn’t fit either Curry or Tobe anymore. They’ve each become big-enough fish in their respective fields to make the pond feel smaller. They’ve connected at the top of their games.
Tobe is right. Curry undisputedly is the one. The Warriors’ offseason moves made that profoundly clear.
One year after spurning Curry’s wishes for more veterans, Golden State rearranged the roster so it orbits around Curry as its sun. James Wiseman, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Ryan Rollins all were traded, investments for the future sacrificed on the altar of the past, praying for a present glory. Draymond Green was locked in for another four-year, $100 million deal, because the pursuit of a championship in Curry’s remaining prime requires Green. It cost the Warriors Jordan Poole, the successor at point guard, whose $128 million contract had to go since Green stayed. And they traded him for Chris Paul, perhaps the player in the league who most embodies the win-now mindset.
Few things punctuate Curry’s status as the big fish in the big pond like Paul’s willingness to join the Warriors.
My, my, my, look how things have changed.
“The biggest thing is,” Curry said, “look at teams that have won. You realize that there is a certain way about how you show up on a nightly basis. Everybody is important. Everybody is valuable. It’s not going to look pretty for the majority of the year for some guys. Some are going to be in and out of the rotation. Guys are going to be asked to do things that may not all the way vibe with how they see themselves. You’ve got your core that’s got to figure out how to stay at a certain level. All those things are about winning. We had a lot of narratives around the team that have been a little bit distracting to that. But that’s all it is. It’s not about anything other than winning.”
A break while the set was changed allowed Curry and Tobe to have a seat and chat. They traded stories of fantastic experiences. Tobe, in mint overalls and a mint short sleeve button-up and black boots, his black sunglasses removed, told Curry about getting his part in the blockbuster movie “Transformers.” Curry talked about breaking the 3-point record in Madison Square Garden. They talked about how they both move with the family in tow. They dove into fashion — how Ayesha, Curry’s wife, is the center of style in the household, while Tobe’s wife, Martica, aka Fat, isn’t nearly as interested in drip as her husband.
Ayesha then arrived on the set, and Curry got giddy again telling his wife about living out his rap video dream. She got the rundown of how he lip-synced his part of the song. They laughed about the first time he tried his hand at this, in The Commons at Davidson nearly two decades ago. Curry is still not underrated as an MC. But he pulled off the role much better.
“This is the perfect medium to stretch into that kind of persona,” Curry said. “I wish I would have had this clip before Game 7 of the Sacramento series. That would’ve added so much commentary. It’s cool to kind of embody how people see my game.”
Tobe hasn’t quite become the Curry of hip-hop. But he’s having a miraculous rise akin to Curry’s.
In 2018, he made a song about Dave Chappelle and Erykah Badu calling him dope. In 2019, he killed his NPR Tiny Desk appearance and landed on NBA 2K. By 2020, he had made the playlist of Michelle Obama and was on a first-name basis with Beyoncé.
By 2021, he had enough notoriety to perform at the BET Awards. In 2022, he was featured on the soundtrack for the “Black Panther” sequel, was nominated for a Grammy as best new artist, and landed a role on the Netflix comedy “Mo.” He not only performed at Coachella in April, but his “MonuMINTal Live” show featured an outfit he designed with the Italian luxury fashion house Moncler.
Tobe has done songs with Pharrell Williams and Black Thought, CeeLo Green and 2 Chainz. He is touring with Badu and is scheduled to perform at Outside Lands in San Francisco this month. Tobe is building an empire with his incomparable lyricism, Naija flair and a seemingly endless well of creativity. With faith in his heart, his family always by his side and his hood on his back.
“I think on the surface of the movie, it’s so relatable because everybody has been underrated in their own life,” said Coogler, whose company, Proximity Media, co-produced “Underrated” with Curry’s Unanimous Media. “Oftentimes, the value that you bring to something is not seen by other people, or the potential that you bring is not seen.
“On a deeper level, I think the movie is very much about the value that comes with being seen. Coach (Bob) McKillop is a hero in the movie because he’s the only character to look at Steph as he is right now. Not what he could be or what he might become in the future. He has a line in the movie where he’s like, ‘I will take him as he is right now.’ That’s life-changing. The power of being seen. It benefits the person being seen, but it also benefits the seer.”
But part of the instant connection between Curry and Nwigwe is how neither has let success rob them of their hunger. They still swim with the motivation of little fish despite their larger scales.
Tobe can’t forget the early days of posting songs and videos on social media. Or how his mom, a Nigerian immigrant, had a vision of success that initially deemed his music a waste of his time. While “Underrated” spins a riveting tale of Curry’s underdog days at Davidson, Tobe’s college highlights at the same time were far less glorious. Eight months after Curry took over the NCAA Tournament, Tobe had the moment of his collegiate career as a middle linebacker at North Texas. He returned an interception 97 yards for a touchdown, sealing a win over Western Kentucky.
They mobbed him like they won the championship. It snapped an eight-game losing streak. The Mean Green finished 1-11. His NFL dreams never materialized.
“Remembering where you came from,” Tobe said, as Curry co-signed with a nod, “and what you had to do to build what it is that you have. The discipline. The hard work. Just keep that at the forefront of your mind and not get lost in, for lack of a better term, the sauce.”
That’s the thing about underrated types. They become just as dogged about staying as they were about belonging. That’s the burden hanging over Curry now, the pressure to remain.
This is a frontier the dynasty has yet to conquer. After eight consecutive years of either making the NBA Finals or having injuries take them out of the running, the Warriors’ heir of invincibility was punctured by the Los Angeles Lakers this past postseason. There are actual, legitimate, non-injury-related reasons to doubt Golden State’s abilities and chemistry. Considering the age of their roster, they also have injury-related reasons to doubt.
For the first time since 2014, even the full-strength Warriors seem vulnerable. Uncertainty hasn’t been this high in a while. And yet, the Warriors have tripled down. Because despite all that might be limiting them, they still represent danger for any other team considered a contender.
The Warriors chose winning. They chose to lean into the prime of their all-time great. They’ve made a $400 million bet on his ability to lead them to a fifth title.
And now he has to be at least as great. And mesh a team together with multiple new pieces, including a giant in his own right in Paul. And do a better job of making the young players feel part of the whole. And guide them through whatever drama is sure to come. The weight on his back is, to borrow from Tobe’s branding, a testaMINT of how far he’s come from those underrated days.
“My job is to, one, play at a high level,” Curry said. “Two, provide a presence on a daily basis that gives everybody confidence that if you do what you’re supposed to do, we can win. If there are other distractions that come up, they’ll stick out like a sore thumb if we handle all the other business and it will be easier to correct. Some of those tough issues that are going to happen, and the sacrifices guys are going to make throughout the year — if everybody just comes with the right approach … it’s going to pay off. We’ve shown that plenty of times.
“So that’s my only job, to continue to echo those things. That’s leadership in that respect. It’s not so much asking people to go about their lives or their jobs a certain way. It’s just about bringing your best self to the game, and history has said that the rest will take care of itself.”
If he pulls this off, too, he might have to write his own verse about his greatness.
