Before the “Black and Gold” (Pittsburgh Steelers) celebrated their return to the Super Bowl, Wiz Khalifa celebrated his new fame by performing his monstrous hit “Black and Yellow” during the pre-game show.
Pittsburgh’s Hometown hip-hop hero Wiz was tapped to perform his smash team anthem before the Steelers prevailed over the New York Jets in the AFC Championship game on Sunday eve, Jan. 23
“Awesome, can’t even explain it,” Khalifa said of hitting the stage at the event. The “Mezmerized” MC said in a statement that just hearing that infectious melody and his voice blaring through the Steelers’ stadium speakers was an incredible experience.
“Aw man, it feels great. It’s like a dream come true,” he said. “I hoped this day would come but I never thought it would be a reality.”
The Kush & OJ lyricist told MTV News in an e-mail that rocking the crowd as his team faced-off for a chance to head to the Super Bowl is the culmination of a childhood dream come true before tens of thousands of Terrible Towel waving fans. So, even though his song was banned in New York during the week leading up to the game [because, of course, the hometown Jets were preparing for the game], he is dumbfounded with how the song is being received by his Steel City peeps nevertheless.
“I’ve always had that Pittsburgh pride. I just wanted to let people know where I’m from and represent any way I can, and what better way than through our colors?” Wiz said. “I took that hometown pride and put it in a song.”
Not surprisingly, the heavily-tatted lyricist got some production love from the Swedish production dynamo Stargate to help his
“They know how to make hits, man,” he said of the producers. “They know how to put a song together. So I learned to do my part and let them do their part. And that’s when it goes crazy. ‘Cause I do a lot of different things when I record my music. And they go back and we narrow it down. And that’s how those big songs come out.”
The song is such a smash that it’s been mixed twice already. Atlanta’s Jermaine Dupri made a “Black and Red” to pump up his beloved Atlanta Falcons. And Wiz Khalifa joined West Coast King Snoop Dogg and T-Pain for another version of “Black and Yellow” that can be viewed on YouTube.
What other theme songs out there that can compare to “Black and Yellow”, which has now been certified platinum? Ironically, Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers remember how the Pittsburgh Pirates rode the crest of Sister Sledge’s “We are Family” to a 1980 World Series win. And, speaking of JD, he did crank out a couple of version of his smash, “Welcome to Atlanta”, with Ludacris and, again, Snoop Dogg. –terry shropshire
