LeBron James: 'Rebuilding Basketball Courts ... Is One of My Biggest Priorities'

NBA superstar LeBron James learned how to play basketball on the playgrounds of Akron, Ohio, and now he's teamed up with rap mogul Jay-Z and Sprite to launch a new program to rebuild courts all over the United States.

"Rebuilding basketball courts, playgrounds, gyms and places for young people to play is one of my biggest priorities," he told PopEater via e-mail.

We also asked the Miami Heat player why the initiative is important to him and about his new cartoon web series, 'The LeBrons.' Check it out inside!

Is it important to you to use your celebrity for causes like this?
Rebuilding basketball courts, playgrounds, gyms and places for young people to play is one of my biggest priorities. The Sprite Spark Parks Project offers young people an opportunity to make a difference in their community, where future generations of basketball stars can develop their skills.

How would you encourage others to get involved?
It's really easy. Right now, you can visit Sprite.com or Facebook.com/Sprite and find and nominate a basketball court in your area that could use some refreshment. We're taking nominations until April 8, and fans can begin voting on finalists beginning in May. You can keep checking those sites for more opportunities to revamp playgrounds, athletic fields and other community spaces throughout the year.

Can you tell us a little about your cartoon, 'The LeBrons'?
The series is about the characters I developed through the Nike commercials. Each character represents four different sides of my personality: Kid, Wise, Business and Athlete. The episodes will have plenty of humor and are designed to relay a series of positive messages.

What made you want to make it an entire show?
The series allows me to continue to connect with young people through an entertaining and meaningful way and help make an impact with today's youth.

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NBA All-Stars LeBron James, Dwight Howard, More Talk Hoops, Hip-Hop

Hip-hop and sports are practically kindred spirits, especially when it comes to basketball. At this year's NBA All-Star Weekend, a number of hoop stars, and the wife of one player in particular, wholeheartedly agreed with this observation.

"They always say all rappers want to be basketball players, [and] all basketball players want to be rappers," La La Vazquez, wife of New York Knick Carmelo Anthony and ex-MTV VJ, told MTV News.

Over the years, a number of NBA players have actually become rappers on the side. Besides four championships — three with the Los Angeles Lakers, one with the Miami Heat — Shaquille O'Neal also managed to release four albums. The first, 1993's Shaq Diesel, went platinum and the third, 1996's You Can't Stop the Reign, featured a pair of verses from the Notorious B.I.G. on its title track. More recently, L.A. Laker Ron Artest has embarked on a rap career, while his teammate Kobe Bryant once kicked rhymes on R&B singer Brian McKnight's "Hold Me."

Not every player necessarily has rap dreams to go along with their hoop dreams, though.

"Every player except me wants to be a rapper," said Dwight Howard of the NBA's Orlando Magic. "I don't want to do the rap thing."

Howard did add though about his fellow NBA stars, "We love music. We love hip-hop and we support it."

LeBron James, who is famously and charitably good friends with Jay-Z, mentioned how basketball players are frequently name-checked in song. For example, on Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind," the MC rhymes, "Jesus paying LeBron, I'm paying Dwyane Wade."

This synergy between players and rappers ultimately boils down to mutual respect.

"We all came from nothing," Boston Celtic Kevin Garnett told us. "The appreciation factor for each other, the fact you gotta grind and work hard to get where you at, it's similar. It's a very similar industry."

Garnett's teammate and fellow All-Star Rajon Rondo added, "We respect those guys the way they respect us. It kind of goes hand in hand. Rappers love to come see us play. We love to see them perform."

What do you think of the ongoing love between hip-hop and hoops? Sound off in the comments!

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Jay-Z, LeBron James Talk Two Kings Charity, Doing 'Good All Over'

Jay-Z and LeBron James don't just want to hold a can of soda and smile for the cameras. The two men prefer to be hands-on when it comes to giving back to the community. So during NBA All-Star weekend festivities this past Saturday, Hov and King James personally greeted children at the Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles and unveiled a newly renovated gymnasium at their facility.

For the third year in a row, Jay-Z and LeBron's Two Kings charity teamed up with Sprite to promote a worthy cause at All-Star Weekend. MTV News spoke to James and Jay about their participation.

"If you stay focused and you follow your dream, stay in school, you can be ... well, you might not be this tall," Jay told the club members, gesturing at James as wife Beyoncé looked on. "But you can definitely make it in life."

Although the duo are longtime friends, they're also technically rivals of sorts. James, of course, now plays for the Miami Heat, while Jay is a minority owner of the New Jersey Nets. Nevertheless, the pair are close and have used their popularity for philanthropic purposes.

"You've seen LeBron James on TV," Jay-Z told MTV News of why someone like the Heat star is an effective role model. "Just that thing that's tangible, that they can touch him and shake his hand and know that this is a young man who comes from the same areas as they do, and look where he's made it to. So it makes it real."

James, who was born and raised in Akron, Ohio, echoed the Brooklyn-born MC's sentiments.

"Could you imagine if Michael Jordan showed up to your community?" James said. "Or whoever that you just dreamed and loved and watched every day on TV and you thought that was superhuman, just showed up to a community [center]? That one moment right there could be the difference between you making a left or making a right."

In addition to making renovations to the Boys & Girls Club gym, Jay and LeBron also unveiled a mural by famed graffiti artist and designer Mr. Cartoon, who was also present at the event.

"Whenever I'm doing a big mural like this, I gotta think about, 'It's there for the youngsters, it's there for the kids, but I want it to be on a hard-core graffiti website," the Los Angeles native told us. "I want to motivate and inspire the youngsters. I want kids to look at it like, 'Man, I want to do that!' "

According to Jay-Z, actively participating in events like these, as opposed to just posing for pictures, is essential.

"We wanted to just have a further dialogue with the people we were doing business with," Jay explained. "To let them know we weren't just paid endorsers and gonna sit there and just be smiling with a can in our hand or something. We wanted to take this [business] relationship and do some good. Take all these people, put them in a room, take their power and influence, and use them. But use them in a good way. Use them to affect good all over."

That same evening, the Two Kings charity held its fifth annual dinner, which was sponsored by Microsoft's Bing search engine. Some of the heavyweights in attendance included Ne-Yo, Miami Heat player Chris Bosh, Kanye West, Leonardo DiCaprio and Drake.

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Jay-Z, LeBron James Attend 'Two Kings' Charity Event In L.A.

LOS ANGELES — On Saturday afternoon, many of the kids at the Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles had the opportunity to meet and greet Jay-Z and NBA superstar LeBron James. More importantly, however, those same children will now be able to enjoy a completely renovated gym featuring a mural by esteemed artist and L.A. native Mr. Cartoon — and, hopefully, received some added inspiration to achieve their dreams — thanks to Jay and LeBron's Two Kings charity and its co-sponsor, the Coca-Cola Company's Sprite brand.

The renovation was the first under Coca-Cola's Sprite Spark Parks Project, which plans to completely renovate more than 100 neighborhood spaces, including parks, fields and basketball courts.

MTV News caught up with the rap icon and the basketball superstar at the gym's unveiling, which was held in conjunction with the NBA All-Star Weekend. Jay said he and James continue to give back because they were once just like those children in the room.

"We are those kids that didn't have those opportunities, and luckily lightning struck for us," explained Jay. "We happened to be in the right place at the right time, with God-given talent. ... Some other people need help and opportunity, so it's empathy. I am you. I've been in the same place that these kids have been."

Jay said the Two Kings charity started out because he and James wanted to utilize the financial clout of some of the people with whom they were doing business. They wanted to be more than paid endorsers smiling with a soft-drink can. They wanted to use their opportunities to achieve something positive.

"We wanted to take this relationship and do some good," maintained Jay. "Take all these people and put them in a room. Take their power and influence and use them, but use them in a good way to effect good all over."

This is the third consecutive year that Jay-Z and James' charity has hosted such an event during NBA All-Star Weekend. In 2009, Two Kings donated 150 instruments to the music program at Mesa Arts Academy in Mesa, Arizona. And last year, the two celebrities led a mentoring session at the East Dallas Club of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Dallas in Texas.

In addition, Sprite has provided scholarships to top-performing students on their behalf.

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Lights! Camera! Dunk! LeBron James to Make His Acting Debut

LeBron James is making the jump from all-star NBA basketball player to Hollywood movie star. The basketball guru is planning on making his acting debut playing a star NBA player (surprise!) in the film, 'Ballers,' E!Online.com reports.

'Ballers,' a film about a bunch of guys who go to an adult basketball camp, is the first collaboration between James and Oscar-winning producer Brian Grazer. Rumors swirled that the A-list producer wanted to jump ship after James' negative publicity following his move from Cleveland to Maimi, but E!Online.com has learned the reports are untrue.

In fact, the superstar athlete and Grazer were spotted together Thursday night at Siren Studios at a party for James' upcoming animated series, 'The LeBrons.' And a rep for Grazer confirms that the pair is hoping to start shooting this summer.

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