Download Pharrell & Ray Lewis Natural Born Hitters Mixtape
Ray Lewis, the former Baltimore Ravens middle linebacker who retired after winning his second Super Bowl ring this past January, is one of my favorite people in the whole world. One of the greatest things about Lewis was always his propensity toward fired-up, inspirational, almost incoherently passionate pre-, post-, and in-game speeches. And now, thanks to an Under Armor-sponsored team-up with Pharrell, we get to hear one of those speeches set to music. Lewis and Pharrell already had a tiny bit of shared history, since Lewis used to do his “squirrel dance” to Nelly’s Neptunes-produced “Hot In Herre” before every Ravens home game (this is where I pensively flash back to explaining the dance to my daughter while tearing up during Lewis’s final home playoff game), so maybe the project isn’t that far-fetched. The Natural Born Hitters mixtape is only three tracks long, and it totals less than five minutes, so calling it a “mixtape” is a bit of a stretch. It’s also not going to replace “Get Lucky” or “Blurred Lines” on any summer-jam playlists. Still, it’s a thing that it exists, and you can hear it below.
Oh, and if you’ve ever wanted to put yourself in real physical peril, say something derisive about Lewis’s ancient murder trial around anyone from Baltimore and see what happens.