Final month, Philly rapper Lil Uzi Vert led his Philadelphia Eagles onto the sector throughout their NFC convention championship recreation towards the San Francisco 49ers. The crew trotted onfield to his December hit, “Simply Wanna Rock,” a Jersey Membership-fueled banger that’s taken the mid-Atlantic sound world and grow to be the unofficial music of the NFL postseason.
It’s not simply the Eagles who’ve embraced their native son; a viral video emerged of Kansas Metropolis Chiefs participant Isiah Pacheco giddily dancing to the music within the locker room after they defeated the Buffalo Payments within the AFC Championship recreation. Like so many viral crazes, the monitor (and dance) caught hearth on TikTok, the place Uzi previewed it final fall. Now, with the Eagles and Chiefs Tremendous Bowl-bound, gamers on each groups have adopted the music’s irresistible dance for his or her victory celebrations. The thrill round “Simply Wanna Rock” has been so immense that DJ Drama, Uzi’s Technology Now boss, declared final week that it surpassed Meek Mills’ “Goals and Nightmares” as town’s SuperBowl anthem.
Drama’s assertion has been polarizing. Meek seemingly pushed again towards the thought, tweeting, “Intro been lighting the world for ten years! Like shaking rooms for years!” Even Uzi deferred to his “large homie” Meek, telling The Shade Room, “I don’t suppose so, [Meek’s intro] been round for a really very long time, and that music remains to be hitting precisely the identical method. I’m simply gonna need to see, you realize, in a few years or a decade or no matter.”
DJ Diamond Kuts, the Eagles’ official DJ (and a DJ for Philly’s Energy 99), feels just like the songs are too totally different to weigh towards one another.
“Anyone with ears is aware of it’s two completely totally different vibes and two completely totally different sounds. The one relation they’ve is 2 artists from town,” she says. “I don’t suppose one is over the opposite, and I don’t suppose considered one of them surpasses the opposite. ‘Goals and Nightmares’ has been round for a really very long time. It’s a kind of verses that’s by no means going to go wherever.” She provides that the notion of a Philly anthem is relative; some Philadelphians may dismiss each Meek and Uzi for Freeway’s “What We Do” or Survivor’s “Eye of The Tiger.”
Philly DJ Lowbeezy, who made a viral mashup of Uzi and Meek, says it’s “fairly clear” to him that “Simply Wanna Rock” is Philly’s present anthem, although he understands why some folks have pushed again towards the assertion. ”I feel there’s some folks which can be so connected to the unique ‘Goals and Nightmares’ that they discover it sacrilegious to disrespect in any method,” he says, “However once you’re a DJ, you’re at all times attempting to replace shit since you’re listening to this shit greater than anyone else. I feel it’s unnatural to take care of the identical stage of enthusiasm for one thing after you’ve heard it 1000 occasions. ‘I Simply Wanna Rock’ is clearly the youthful era, which as a DJ, I’m at all times trying in direction of that as a result of that’s who the way forward for the membership is.”
“Simply Wanna Rock” represents the uncommon second when a music resonates with an artist’s hometown crew and their Tremendous Bowl opponent. A YouTuber posted a compilation of gamers from throughout the NFL dancing to the music this season. The pattern is poised to overhaul soccer participant Allen “Griddy” Davis’ Griddy, one other TikTok sensation, because the NFL’s go-to landing celebration of the second. The dance craze is probably going serving to the music’s gross sales, because it’s grow to be Uzi’s first Billboard Prime 10 single since 2020 (the identical 12 months his earlier dance craze, “The Futsal Shuffle,” peaked at 5 on the Billboard Sizzling 100).
Lowbeezy and Diamond Kuts marvel that “Simply Wanna Rock” has taken the Membership sound, prevalent in mid-Atlantic hubs like Philly, Baltimore, and Jersey, to the world. “It doesn’t occur usually,” Diamond Kuts says of the monitor’s frenetic kicks changing into a success. “I’ve been heavy on membership music for the reason that starting of my profession. I used to be one of many DJs tlaying membership music when it wasn’t well-liked. I used to be at all times an advocate for the sound, and now that it’s grown to super heights. That’s why I used to be glad that Uzi did it as a result of I knew it was going to take a brilliant large mega begin to type of put this sound the place I really feel prefer it ought to have been.”
Equally, Lowbeezy lauds “Goals and Nightmares” as a membership customary everywhere in the nation, even when its construction isn’t tailor-made for a 1 AM DJ set. “Lyrically, it’s a hit story which everybody loves,” Lowbeezy says. “And the association of the music…it’s simply lengthy, no drums for over a minute. After which it adjustments. It goes to the ‘Nightmares’ half. It’s exhausting. And I feel that epicness is… It takes rather a lot to play it. It’s not likely made for the membership. It’s extra a mixtape-type factor. And I feel that’s what’s cool about it. It’s one thing that folks within the metropolis had been like, ‘yo, we’re going to make this a membership music.’ And now from what I discuss with different DJs, it has that very same response in all cities.”
Then-Philadelphia Eagles particular groups coordinator Dave Fipp performed “Goals and Nightmares” throughout a movie session earlier than their 2018 NFC Championship recreation. The monitor’s resilient lyrics turned their battle cry from that second ahead, as they performed the music earlier than, throughout, and after the sport. They then walked out to the monitor throughout Tremendous Bowl LII, rapping it once more after defeating the Patriots 41-33. A number of Eagles gamers had been attending rallies in advocacy for Meek, who was in jail for a probation violation that legal justice reform advocates (and even his then-foe Drake) decried as unjust. So their adoption of “Goals and Nightmares” was as a lot in regards to the music’s fiery spirit as an homage to the native Philadelphian, who watched their most up-to-date NFC Championship victory from a star-studded stadium field with Lil Child, James Harden, Joel Embiid, and others. The music has grow to be so synonymous with the Eagles that Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes just lately advised reporters that he wouldn’t be playing it through the week main as much as the Tremendous Bowl.
There have been different memorable moments the place NFL gamers adopted rap as their theme music. A number of New York Giants gamers used Jim Jones’s “Ballin” dance all through their 2007 Tremendous Bowl run, with Jones later admitting that they had been integral to the success of “We Fly Excessive.” Wiz Khalifa’s “Black & Yellow” was the rallying cry for the Pittsburgh Steelers within the early 2010s. In 2019, The just lately retired Tom Brady posted a video of himself figuring out to 50 Cent’s “Many Males” earlier than the 2019 AFC Championship recreation. He used the music once more on his Instagram account to rejoice his 2021 Tremendous Bowl win.
Maybe we’re primed for “Simply Wanna Rock’s” defining NFL second this Sunday. Meek and Uzi are good associates (Meek’s son just lately hopped onstage to bop to “Simply Wanna Rock” with Uzi), they usually’ve been good sports activities in regards to the debate. However, as Lowbeezy and Diamond Kuts acknowledge, there’s room for followers to like each. “For those who had been upset about Drama’s opinion on the state of affairs, all people has their very own opinion on what’s a Philly anthem,” Diamond Kuts says. “Let’s all simply proceed to take heed to their music and never make this such an enormous factor. All people has their very own opinion on what they suppose goes to be anthem subsequent, and there are such a lot of totally different teams and races and genders…folks identical to various things.“ In any case, if the Eagles win, they may be so glad that they rap and dance to each of the songs on digicam.