John Cena reveals what sparked his rap career

WWE superstar-turned-actor John Cena opened up about his love for hip-hop while visiting Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay.

While growing up in West Newbury, Massachusetts, Cena admitted that he rebelled as a youth in the predominantly white small town. “I was one of five boys and had a lot of anxiety about how the house was run. I was a rebel. This music hit me at the right time,” Cena said at about the six-minute mark. “So even though a song like 'F—k tha Police' might have been an anthem about the state of social welfare in South Central Los Angeles — to a 13-year-old the police are my parents, and I WAS the one saying, “Well, this.”

He then talked about his iconic entrance song 'The Time is Now' and his only rap album You can't see mesaying that he decided to make his own rap music because he wasn't feeling the “stock rap music” that the label had to offer.

“At the time, WWE was a rock and roll company. They didn't have a depth of field for hip-hop, and I was listening to my own music going, 'I could do better than this,'” he said. “I called a friend who knew a friend who had a studio. We took some beats and made an album. And that was it, that was it.” His debut album, released in 2005, reached No. 15 on the 200 chart.

Cena also named his top three athlete-rappers and the Mount Rushmore of Rap. Shaq, Kobe and Master P made up the former, while Rakim, Jay-Z, Nas and Eminem rounded out the latter. “Everyone has their bias and I know this list will obviously incite riots,” he admitted. “We all have our bias. We all have our favorites. This is what makes music special. This is what creativity does. I grew up on East Coast boom bap. I love puns, I love poetry, that's what I based my character on. So I think this is all extremely clever.”

His signature “You can't see me” gesture he often made in the ring was inspired by G-Unit's Tony Yayo. In 2022, the Queens rapper posted a clip of Cena explaining where he got it from while making an appearance at The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.