Miguel Cabrera has released a hip-hop single
Triple Crown winner. American League MVP. Likely first-ballot Hall of Famer. And now, during quarantine, Miguel Cabrera is set to become a hip-hop star. Yes, really.
Miggy teamed up with Sibilino to release the track, "Miggy Al Bate" -- Miggy at Bat in English -- on Sibilino's new record, "Sin Ø." Click here to check it out, with Cabrera starting his verse at the 19-second mark:
The song features Miggy spitting bars that translate to, "I’m Miggy the salsa lover who’s always battling / Demonstrating that the players are superior / Representing the old school, besides playing we spit fire," and "You know that when it comes to me, there’s never a tie / Don’t come for trouble because my flow will destroy your flow / Step up to the plate and I’ll hit it out of the park / This is the Major Leagues so you know you can’t mess with me / From Venezuela, the crib for baseball players, crib for rappers, also for salsa lovers."
Obviously the song sounds better in Spanish when the lyrics rhyme, but the best part of this: Cabrera is good. This sounds like something he could actually do -- making him better at roughly 8,000 things more than you or I.
So, while he's just the latest superstar to drop a hip-hop track, he's head and shoulders over some of the others who came before. This isn't Ken Griffey Jr. on "The Way I Swing." As fun as that song is, no one was dying to let Junior record a whole record. Miggy is also better than every single person on the 1986 Mets, who recorded "Get Metsmerized."
It shouldn't be surprising that Miggy is good. After all, it's quite likely that Cabrera got his introduction into the music world through former teammate, Ronny Rodriguez. The current Brewers infielder is a successful hip-hop artist under the name El Felino, and his songs have racked up over a million views on his YouTube channel.
When the two were teammates, Cabrera would often walk to the plate to Rodriguez's "Vivencias de la Vida Real" (Real-Life Experiences).
Here's just part of "Miggy al Bate" translated, if you'd like to follow along with the song:
Miggy at the plate
Check mate
Miggy at the plate
Check mate
Miggy at the plate
Check mate
Check your guides and come join us tonight…’The Show”
I’m Miggy, the salsa lover who’s always battling
Demonstrating that the players are superior
Representing the old school -- besides playing we spit fire
Give us your best lyrics because the guy from the Tigers will hit it
The one that doesn’t go to bed when he’s out having a good time
The Triple Crowner born and raised in Venezuela
I come from a humble neighborhood called La Pedrera
Americans can also battle, they don't play around
There’s more talent here, this sounds amazing
Extra rhymes to destroy anyone
We came to battle, I drove in another run
You know that when it comes to me, there’s never a tie
Don’t come for trouble because my flow will destroy your flow
Step up to the plate and I’ll hit it out of the park
Thanks to Ellison Polanco at Las Mayores for translation assistance.