J. J. Redick -- I'M RETIRING FOREVER ... From The Rap Game (VIDEO)

Bad news hip-hop ... J.J. Redick is leaving you forever ... 'cause the Clippers star says his days of getting in the studio and spitting WHITE HOT FIRE are gone for good.

If you didn't know ... J.J. was a budding lyricist back in the late 00's ... and when we talked to fellow lob city stud DeAndre Jordan recently, he told us Redick still had the illest flow on the team.

Of course we wanted to hear ... so when we spotted J.J. leaving Dick's Sporting Goods in L.A. recently we had to ask for a sample of the goods ... and that's when he broke the terrible news to us.

Check out the clip -- Redick says his rap days are behind him ... but says when he was rhyming he was like a vanilla version of Talib Kweli.