Packers fans get a new hip-hop song from Green Bay's Wisco Kyrie
The title of Wisco Kyrie’s new Packers song makes a sizable request, “Secure the Trophy,” but when it came to writing a follow-up to last season’s “Run the Table,” the Green Bay hip-hop artist didn’t set out to top the original.
That could be a Super Bowl-sized challenge.
“Run the Table,” released in January after quarterback Aaron Rodgers made good on his prediction that the team would win its last six games of the 2016 season, racked up tens of thousands views by the day during the height of Packers playoff craziness. It found its way to Packers fans in so many countries that Wisco Kyrie and Wisco YD, who record under the name Wisco Kidz, even made a second video that included the lyrics across the bottom.
Think of “Secure the Trophy,” recorded solo by Wisco Kyrie, as the calmer, cooler flip side to the first song, which whipped up Packer Nation with its “winning again, winning again” rallying cry. With the follow-up dropping so early in the season, he intentionally dialed down the energy so fans can pace themselves between now and Super Bowl LII in February.
“It’s just way more chill. It’s not a get-charged-up (song), but if you’re a Packers fan, you’ll definitely feel it and you’ll definitely feel where I’m coming from,” said Wisco Kyrie, who recorded it at GoodLook Studio in Minneapolis. “I didn’t think we wanted to try to outdo (the first one), and people would be like the other one was a lot more hype. My plan was to make it a lot smoother.”
“New season, new hope, new reason/New wide receivers/New bandwagon cheerleaders/But we don’t need ’em,” he sings in “Secure the Trophy.”
As with “Run the Table,” he works in a lengthy roster of Packers players, including such expected name drops as Aaron Rodgers, Randall Cobb, Jordy Nelson, Mason Crosby, Clay Matthews and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. But there are a few surprises, too, including a reference to the signing of tight end Martellus Bennett and shout-outs to defensive coordinator Dom Capers and offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett.
“We’re playing Dom Capers defense, Edgar Bennett offense/Running the table when they think we lost it” gets repeated throughout the song.
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When he writes, Wisco Kyrie first decides which names he wants to drop and then figures out the rhyme. A guy like Rodgers makes the cut every time. “He’s everything,” he said. Working in Martellus Bennett represents some of this season’s new excitement.
The idea isn’t for the song to just connect with fans but also be an incentive of sorts for the players who hear their name in it.
“I felt like if I was in their shoes, and someone made a song, a local musician, and I was in the NFL, and they made a song that was quality and got popular and they said my name in it, it would be a little motivation to take things even further,” Wisco Kyrie said. “It motivates us, so hopefully it can motivate the players and the team.”
“Secure the Trophy” marks a return to partnering with Green Bay producer Chase Rusch of TripsetBeatz. He collaborated with Wisco Kidz in 2015 for the song “Keifer Sykes,” a tribute to the then-University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix point guard. As he did for that project, Rusch created the beat for “Secure the Trophy.”
That means they own the song and are free to do with it as they like, including getting it on iTunes and Spotify, where it’s expected to be available shortly.
With “Run the Table,” however, Wisco Kidz wrote the lyrics but it wasn’t their beat. Without owning the rights to the song, they were limited in how it was it used. They performed it for a Packers Everywhere Pep Rally outside Lambeau Field, per an invite from the team, but it couldn’t be played in the stadium during a game.
Wisco Kyrie is sure to point out there are no problems with that this time — just in case the Packers are listening.
“This time we own the song. If the Packers wanted to play it at the stadium or do anything with it, they’d be able to,” he said. “That would be the ultimate.”
Wisco Kyrie teamed up this time with Basaraski Productions, known for its Packers highlight videos, for a “Secure the Trophy” video that debuted on YouTube just in time for the season opener. An unrelated Basaraski project, a 34-minute “Run the Table — The Movie,” has racked up more than 448,600 views since it was posted in January.
“His views are just out of the water, and I felt like we should collab with somebody like that on a highlight video, and it worked out,” Wisco Kyrie said.
For Wisco Kidz, the Packers songs are another way to get their other music heard — not always easy to do when your hip-hop home base of the last six years is Green Bay.
“We’re in a small town, of course, and we love the Packers to death, but at the same time, we’re kind of playing chess. When you’re out of sight, out of mind,” Wisco Kyrie said. “This isn’t really a music area. There aren’t a lot of studios and radio stations. ... It’s not a hip-hop area for the most part. It’s not Los Angeles or Atlanta or just anywhere where music is big. Even Chicago and Milwaukee are bigger music scenes. We try to figure out ways to gain exposure.”
As laid-back as the vibe might be on “Secure the Trophy,” Wisco Kyrie hopes the song’s title puts just the right amount of pressure on the team to do as he says.
“We ran the table last year, but we didn’t run it all the way. This time let’s secure the trophy. That’s the reason I named the song that. It’s fun winning, but you’ve got to bring Vince home.”