How Derrick Rose's connection to Bob Marley goes beyond reggae legend's 'One Love'

Music echoes through FedExForum during pregame warmups. Rappers Youngboy NeverBrokeAgain, Gunna and FTO Sett populate the sounds of playlists from Memphis Grizzlies players like Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr.

Then, as Derrick Rose takes the floor, the arena's speakers take a sharp turn to reggae. Specifically, Bob Marley.

One Love! What about the one heart? One Heart!What about the let's get together and feel alright

The lyrics hail from arguably Marley’s most popular song, "One Love." The song is played approximately an hour before each Grizzlies home game when Rose warms up, along with several other Marley tunes.

"One Love" is a song that comes to mind when most people remember Marley’s music, but for the 35-year-old Rose, the image is deeper. So deep that Rose doesn’t feel that one song or movie personifies what Marley meant.

The film “One Love” opened in theaters Feb. 14. The musical drama is based on Marley’s life. While Rose said he’ll watch the movie, it won’t impact what he’s come to know.

"You can't duplicate people like him," Rose told The Commercial Appeal. "That's me honestly speaking. That's just like if somebody tried to do a movie on me. Nobody would be able to duplicate how I talk, what I talk about."

Derrick Rose's connection to Bob Marley

Rose is in his 16th NBA season with his sixth different team. He has experienced the highs of becoming the NBA's youngest MVP at 22 years old, to the lows of multiple knee injuries that many people feel altered the trajectory of his career. Throughout that entire journey, Rose has been seen as a reserved personality who is on the quieter side of NBA stars. Part of those traits are attributed to things he has learned through Marley's music and messages.

Rose said he started listening to Marley when he was about 5. It wasn’t because his mother was a big fan or anyone else led to him gravitating to that style of music. If it was up to his mother, he'd be playing James Brown and Aretha Franklin before games.

Marley’s distinctive voice and his reggae sound connected with a younger Rose. Then, when he got older, the messaging made more sense.

Bob Marley's 'rebel talk'

Marley, a Jamaican native, was open in his music. Through the late 1960s until his death in 1981 at age 36, he challenged democratic social reforms and oppressors in his native country. He balanced his boldness with a lightness of promoting peace and making music that caused listeners to break out dance moves and forget the everyday worries of life.

Rose wasn’t born until 1988, which pretty much sums up Marley’s historical trajectory. The singer’s popularity soared after his death as his messaging continued to translate to everyday life.

Personally, Rose mostly gravitated to the Survival album, which was released in 1979. The album was viewed as controversial with an outwardly militant theme. Rose partly describes it as "rebel talk."

"A lot of people listen to his music and think that's like lullaby songs, but if you listen to what he's saying, man, it's like potent," Rose said. "It's going on 'til this day what he's talking about. . . . In the Survival CD, you hear the rebel inside of him. You hear "Babylon System," you hear all these songs and chants that make you feel good about yourself and give you an insight of your history."

Rose doesn’t idolize anyone, so he doesn’t view Marley in that light. From Rose’s viewpoint, Marley is a prophet.

"People may be like, 'Whoa, what? A prophet?' " Rose said. "What he talked about, the quest that I was on to not only get knowledge but privileged knowledge, I felt like it came all through him. So yeah, I look at him as a prophet."

"Don't look at his commercial stuff," Rose added. "Go and look at his CDs outside of that and you will see he's been leaving messages this whole time, talking about the same stuff − the significance of everything that was going on back then and that's going on now. It's unreal to hear how brave and audacious he was to talk about that."

A personal connection with the Marley family

In 2017, Rose got a tattoo of Marley on his left foot. Today, his children are even gravitating and listening to Marley’s music when they hear their father playing it at home or in car rides.

In the Grizzlies locker room, Rose has their attention. He’s become more vocal on the floor this season. Off the court, Ziaire Williams, Ja Morant and Jackson are among the teammates who speak highly of what Rose has meant to them as professionals.

When the players describe Rose, they often unintentionally use similar characteristics that Rose uses to explain Marley’s impact on him.

“He’s very knowledgeable,” Jackson told The Commercial Appeal of Rose. “He’s vibing all the time. Great human being. He’s somebody that has probably rubbed off on everybody he’s played with.”

Former Grizzlies player and Chicago Bulls teammate Joakim Noah is one of Rose’s closest friends. Noah lives in the same neighborhood that Marley once did and knows his younger brother.

That helped Rose form a more personal relationship with the Marley family. Noah connected Rose with Marley's younger brother, and that led to Rose seeing Marley's old room.

Now, one of Rose’s most prized possessions is the check that Marley was written from his concert in 1976 when an assassination was attempted on his life.

Rose said he and his children plan to watch the movie, but it would be hard to do Marley justice. At the end of the day, his perspective runs deeper.

"I'm more into omens in where I know the energy never dies," Rose said. "The movie is cool, but I feel like I found his energy in a more intrinsic way."

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: How Derrick Rose's connection to Bob Marley is bigger than 'One Love'