For two days last week, Wilson showed up in the morning at the Dignity Health Training Center first to do his football job. There were meetings, weights and conditioning, and some on-field Phase Two work.
Then came time for the music.
From lunchtime deep into the evening, Wilson and the large crew – which also included most of the Cardinals’ content team – simultaneously started shooting scenes for the video as well as creating multiple new tracks. Producer Tye Beats – Tye Marcus Gibson – laid down music and co-lyricist Yung Viz – Tylon Freeman – generated a base, while Wilson had already started working on his own lyrics.
Tucked inside a room Emmitt Smith once sat in to give a press conference during his 2003 free-agent visit, a makeshift recording studio was created for Wilson to rap his songs from scratch. When he wasn’t in the room making music, he – and some Cardinals teammates – ended up in the auditorium, the practice bubble, the weight room and the locker room filming the video.
By first day’s end, an exhausted Wilson went home, ate dinner, showered, and went right to sleep. Wilson’s fiancée, Kayla Williams, who had some experience in the music video world, noticed.
“You came home like you were on set or something,” she told Wilson.
“It was a long two days for sure,” Wilson said. “It was hard work to get it done, but it was work I felt was worth it.”
When the Cardinals first reached out to Wilson about the project, he was intrigued. But he also had in his head it might still have a chance to include Luketa and Pascal. Neither player, who were free agents, came back to the roster.
It had been with Luketa and Pascal that Wilson’s rap hobby had blossomed. When he signed with the Cardinals, Luketa already had a connection with a local studio, and between the three of them – forming a group called “3rd&Go” – Wilson estimated they recorded some 50 songs last year, often after games or on their off days.
