The NBA has been playing to a hip-hop beat for nearly 50 years

From his booth at the corner of the court, Miami Heat disc jockey M Dot has a front-row look at the harmonious fusion of basketball and music. M Dot — real name Michael Hankerson — has watched LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to Jimmy Butler nod their heads in pregame layup lines to songs from artists like Drake and Jeezy. It's a relationship that began in the late 1970s, early '80s as hip-hop was taking flight, and so was a new NBA era.