Markham rapper’s ode to the Raptors lands on Sportsnet

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Rising Markham rapper Connor Price is making a name for himself with ‘21 Raps, his ode to the Raptors, which will see its video debut Tuesday night on Sportsnet right before Toronto plays the L.A. Clippers.

An actor since the age of six — he played Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger’s eldest son in the Toronto-shot film Cinderella Man (2005) and more recently Kenny, the leader of a Boston vampire clan in SyFy’s Being Human series (2013-14) — Price turned his attention to music more recently.

Add his month-old popular TikTok account — his name followed by two underscores — into the mix and Sportsnet came calling.

“In the span of about a week and a half, I got 100,000 followers and that caught the attention of couple of people and I guess one of them was somebody that worked at Sportsnet,” said Price, 26, who lives in Las Vegas to be near his wife Breanna’s family.

“They just wanted a song to sort of play during highlight reels and play during previews for the game. I’m really excited. I’m really proud of the song. It is a way to remind people not only how important this team is to the city, but to the country.”

Fast forward to Tuesday night and Price can’t quite believe it’s all happened so fast, especially since ‘21 Raps gives a shout out to former Toronto star and current Clippers player Kawhi Leonard’s Eastern Conference semifinal-winning buzzer-beater.

“It’s insane,” says Price. “It’s such a special game and I reference Kawhi in the song and now we’re playing against him. It’s kind of awesome that works out.”

‘21 Raps, produced by Toronto’s Naze and Seattle’s UNKNWN, also name drops current Raptors players Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, and Chris Boucher, coach Nick Nurse, and former star Vince Carter. Listen at https://orcd.co/21raps_cp.

But what about the Raptors global ambassador Drake? Does his opinion of ‘21 Raps matter?

“It definitely matters to me,” said Price. “Just to even know that there’s potential that he could even hear it gets me more excited than you could know.”

Price certainly has had no problems mingling in rarified air as he collaborated previously with British actor and musician Idris Elba (Luther) on the song Courteney Cox, released back in January.

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“I had caught his attention with a freestyle I had put on my Instagram and I encouraged all my followers to tag him in the comments and the next morning I woke up and found out that he saw it and then he DM’d me saying, ‘Bro, let’s do a song together.’”

The Friends star also appeared in a funny cameo in the video because Cox and Elba’s publicists knew each other.

“That brought a lot of eyes and ears to the music,” said Price.

’21 RAPS LYRICS

[Chorus]

I got Kyle Lowry on my jersey cause I’m for the 6

Yeah

I feel like I’m Freddie better sign the kid

Woah

They wanted a song well lemme write a hit

OG Anunoby if I shoot it I ain’t trying to miss

[Verse 1]

I ain’t trying to miss it

You can see the writings on the wall like it was hieroglyphics

Everything I make is always net it’s like I’m only swishing

Fred VanVleet-ing how I’m driving in my lane I gotta go the distance (go)

We The North stay repping for the east cost, T.O

Showing up even if the degrees go below

Ain’t a thing to us like a free throw

Taking shots in interviews I block ’em like I’m Michaud

Wooh ay

Scotiabank Arena got the seats filled

Charged Up, Back to Back wins, shout out Meek Mill

Steep hill, but we keep on climbing to the peak still

Team ill, cup just runneth over gotta refill

[Chorus]

Kyle Lowry on my jersey cause I’m for the 6

Yeah

I feel like I’m Freddie better sign the kid

Woah

They wanted a song well lemme write a hit

OG Anunoby if I shoot it I ain’t trying to miss

[Verse 2]

We never lost the touch

Boucher, new shades- both block the Suns

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Opposition get stomped, no stopping us

We Nick Nurse’d ’em – put ’em in a box and won

Where were you when Vince Carter stuck his arm inside the rim?

Where were you when Kawhi Leonard sunk the bucket for the win?

These are life moments I don’t think we ever could forget

Win or lose it doesn’t matter we still leaving as a fan (yeah)

If we going OT I’mma run the meter (go)

Yeah, pass the ball to OG hit the buzzer beater

OG like the purple jersey yeah you know I been on it

Siakam with the beat I had to put my spin on it

Bossed up had to play my part

Feel like Lowry the way that I been taking charge

Underdogs turned top dogs yeah you know they been through it

2019 champs got a nice ring to it, woah

[Chorus]

Kyle Lowry on my jersey cause I’m for the 6

Yeah

I feel like I’m Freddie better sign the kid

Woah

They wanted a song well lemme write a hit

OG Anunoby if i shoot it I ain’t trying to miss

jstevenson@postmedia.com