Posted by Antonio Brown’s burgeoning rap career already has the blessing of Kanye West, who appointed him the president of Donda Sports. Now it appears the exiled NFL wide receiver is proving his rap bona fides even more with a seven-figure deal.
On Thursday (February 17), Fwaygo Music, a brand new streaming service backed by TuneCore, announced they had inked AB to a $5 million deal to make him the face of their brand. The brand’s founders joined AB on a stream shared to Instagram where the controversial wide receiver proclaimed it was his “first” move.
“Fwaygo is a platform that gives artists an independent opportunity to be able to drop,” he says in the clip before it cuts to him playing his latest single, “Pit Not The Palace.”
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Fwaygo initially launched in November 2021 and refers to itself as a music platform which highlights independent artists. The app and service will offer a “first-of-its-kind music discovery experience.” According to a press release, TuneCore, which specializes in distributing music for independent artists, partnered with Fwaygo in early February.
Antonio Brown Is Serious About Rapping – & He’s Using Kanye West & Lil Wayne Energy
AB has made himself more than welcome in Hip Hop in recent months. Last week at Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles, he sat in a suite alongside Ye and in front of YG and Tyga. He’s also gained support from Fivio Foreign and Fat Joe believes the 7x Pro Bowler has a genuine future in Hip Hop.
In a recent interview with HipHopDX, AB credited Lil Wayne’s early mixtape run as one of his early gateways into Hip Hop and how it helped push his passion for creating without restriction.
“I’m making music to feel fun, energized and feel good about your existence in this space and time,” AB said regarding his passion for music. “Shaq was the only athlete to go platinum with a rap album. Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson — a lot of those guys attempted it so I want to be the first guy to make people respect the craft from an athlete’s perspective.
“You know, there’s a narrative where we can only [play sports] but we have the ability to compartmentalize our talents. We can be a lot of things when we put the right minds, people and team together [nods at Justin LaBoy] so for me, that’s the goal. I want to perform at Rolling Loud. So I’m out to show people this is a real thing.”