Butler's latest hit: A freestyle recorded in an historic NYC studio

This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos’ A’s Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

OAKLAND -- Before a game between the A’s and Yankees at Yankee Stadium last week, Lawrence Butler took a trip into New York City to tour Quad Studios in Manhattan.

An iconic building in the music business since the 1980s, Quad has been utilized by global stars such as Michael Jackson and Beyoncé. The site has long been a prominent location in the rap game, with artists who have recorded albums there ranging from Tupac and Biggie to J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar.

As a lifelong hip-hop head, Butler jumped at the opportunity to visit, which was facilitated by MLB and his agent, Amber Sabathia.

“I didn’t really know much of Quad until they told me,” Butler said. “I was with Amber Sabathia and she was telling me a little bit more of the history and stuff of it. It’s a pretty cool studio with all those legends that have gone through there.”

Following a tour of the studios, Butler was situated with his own booth to record a song. The room was fully equipped with a producer and mixing board.

Butler is by no means a seasoned artist. He occasionally raps over YouTube beats when bored, but that’s about the extent of his experience making music. Still, he hopped in the booth with no prepared material and laid down a track.

“I was freestyling,” Butler said. “Did the whole thing in 20 minutes. They sent me the song. I had a producer in there mixing it. It was a pretty cool experience.”

It should come as little surprise that Butler could come up with a full song off the top of his head. He comes from Atlanta, which has emerged as a rap mecca over the past couple of decades. The neighborhood in Southwest Atlanta where Butler grew up is not too far from where current rap megastar Lil Baby hails from.

“Music is a huge thing in Atlanta,” Butler said. “It’s the number one rap scene right now. All we listen to down there is rap music. Everywhere you go is rap music.”

At the Coliseum for A’s home games, you’ll find Butler using three or four different walk-up songs for each game, all rap.

“Music has a big influence on baseball,” Butler said. “It’s your way to express yourself to the fans or get the fans engaged with music. You could have a song that’s special to you or have a song that gets the crowd turned up for your at-bat or get yourself turned up to do something special on the field.”

The recording session was one of several highlights during Butler’s trip to New York last week. On Monday, he rubbed shoulders with celebrities while sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden for Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs series between the Knicks and the 76ers. Wednesday brought an invitation to UP NYC, a clothing store in New York City owned by rapper Fat Joe, for a shopping spree.

The pinnacle of the week, though, came Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, when Butler launched a home run off Marcus Stroman.

“That homer was the highlight,” Butler said. “It’s such a legendary stadium. The fans were crazy there, especially in right field. I got to shut those fans up, which was cool.”

Butler added: “Stroman’s a tough pitcher. He’s having a great year. I like to take some stuff from his game. He’s swaggy. That was pretty cool to hit one off him.”

As for the rap career, Butler has no plans to release an album any time soon. He’ll continue experimenting with music in his free time, but the 23-year-old outfielder remains fully committed to his burgeoning career as a baseball player.

“I usually just do [music] for fun,” Butler said. “I’m not going full rap mode or anything. … If that stuff comes, it comes in the future. Right now, I’m just trying to focus on baseball.”