Stoke City have been a cult classic team for the longest time. Perhaps not a side measured by the amount of success it has seen, the Potters have still remained a popular name for football fans thanks to a few memorable moments in the club’s history.
Their 2010/11 squad managed by Tony Pulis made history after Stoke finished as runner-up during the campaign’s FA Cup run, losing narrowly to Man City.
This period saw classic players such as Peter Crouch and Rory Delap represent the club who fans continue to remember as faithful servants.
The infamous phrase ‘cold night in Stoke’ was coined during this particular period under Pulis and continues to remain the ultimate standard of traditional English football for many fans of the game.
While a liking for Stoke and a recognition of their value in English football is usually restricted to fans in the English Isles, it has undoubtedly traversed boundaries in the present.
Furthermore, it looks a celebrity football fan has taken a liking for the English side as American rapper Baby Keem has been revealed to be one with a classic taste for the sport.
Few football fans on Twitter have recently unearthed an old Twitch stream where the 21-year-old appears to be playing Career Mode on FIFA with Stoke City of all teams.
Being influential rapper Kendrick Lamar’s cousin, Keem broke into the music industry in the US as late as 2018 while working with Lamar on his album for Marvel Studios’ Black Panther film. The youngster received songwriting and producing credits for the work done on the album.
Since then, the duo has worked together on multiple projects with Keem undertaking bigger roles and responsibilities and this has culminated in the youngster winning the Grammy in 2022 for Best Rap Performance along with Lamar for the song “Family Ties.”
But alongside experiencing the glam of the music business, it looks like Keem is also an ardent football fan and a FIFA enthusiast in his spare time. The Twitch stream of the American from a few years ago shows him playing FIFA 15 with Stoke and cursing at the AI with great frustration like a true lover of the game.
With his match against Manchester United level at 2-2 in stoppage time, Keem was angry that he did not receive a penalty in the opposition box. But as he went on play while complaining, United scored a later winner and the youngster could be seen throwing down his controller and sitting back in disbelief.
Keem appears to have continued to stick with his interest in football as he revealed himself to be an Arsenal supporter in 2020. The youngster’s tweet suggests a longstanding affection for the North London side.
Furthermore, Keem also continued to be a faithful FIFA player and as told by a fan online, the rapper holds a tradition of playing Pro Clubs with supporters from around the world after sending invites for a game on Twitter.
Both his choice of the game’s version and a cult team such as Stoke City suggests he follows the sport closely and that he possesses first-class ball knowledge. If not, perhaps he would have been playing Career Mode with the likes of Barcelona or Real Madrid considering the over-powered squads they had in 2015.
This recent discovery would add more fans of his music from the footballing community who look to have identified a sliver of ‘football heritage’ on display from his stream.
