Former NBA All-Star Nick Van Exel found himself in an unexpected spotlight when hip-hop mogul Jay-Z dropped his name in the iconic 2003 track, Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love.” In a recent interview, Van Exel recalled the moment he realized his name had made it into one of the biggest songs of the era, and the electrifying impact it had when he finally heard it in a club setting.
The Lyric and the Initial Reaction
The specific line comes during Jay-Z’s high-energy feature verse, where he boasts: “The ROC handle like Van Exel.”This lyric drew a comparison between the former Lakers and Mavericks guard’s famously slick and unpredictable ball-handling skills—earning him the nickname “Nick the Quick”—and the smooth, confident way Jay-Z managed his business.
“Wow! I know I was in Dallas at the time and a friend of mine had told me about it but I hadn’t heard it yet,” Van Exel shared, smiling as he reminisced about the mention.
While the initial news came from a friend, hearing the track himself added another layer to the experience. “Then when I heard it, it took me a while to grasp the song,” he admitted. The true, lasting impact, however, came later that summer.
A Miami Moment of Validation
Van Exel noted that the moment truly sunk in when he heard the record played in a club. “That summer I was freakin’ in Miami and that shit came on in the club and then it took me to a whole ‘nother level then!” Van Exel exclaimed, laughing.
For a professional athlete, being cemented in a hip-hop anthem by one of the genre’s titans is a unique form of cultural validation. This experience, he noted, turned into a recurring theme throughout his summer outings: “Every time that song came on, I had my boys like ‘They talkin’ about him’. That was love.”
Not a Topic of Conversation
Despite both men being major figures who later crossed paths, Van Exel confirmed that the specific lyric was never a formal topic of conversation between them. “We used to definitely talk but not about that,” he said, with a laugh.
The sheer cultural weight of the mention meant that the lyric spoke for itself, ensuring that Nick Van Exel’s name was forever attached to one of the biggest pop hits of the 21st century.
