MVP details the creation of AEW's hottest theme song.
Fans have been loving the Hurt Syndicate in AEW, especially because of their catchy theme song that has amassed millions of streams on various streaming platforms.
As it turns out, MVP got the wheels turning on the song before even signing with AEW.
“When Bobby and I had made the decision and we knew we weren’t gonna re-sign with WWE, I had already reached out and I told Smoke DZA, ‘Hey man, it’s looking like me, Bobby, and Shelton are gonna get the band back together and we’re gonna go across the street.’ He’s like, ‘What?’ and I said ‘Yeah, keep that up under your hat. But if this works out and we all go over there, we going to need some new theme music.’" MVP recalled on the latest episode of his Marking Out podcast. "Smoke DZA was like, ‘Say less. I got you.’ He hit up Cartoon Beats and gave him an idea of what I was looking for with the beat. I guess you can say I kind of executive produced the beat a little bit because Cartoon would send the beat to Smoke, Smoke would shoot it to me, I would listen to it and I would say, ‘Okay, mute these, turn this up.’ We went back like three or four times until he got what I wanted sonically for our sound and I said, ‘Boom, that’s it right there.’ Smoke said, ‘You good with that?’ and I said, ‘That’s exactly what I want.’ So then it was up to Smoke DZA and Westside Gunn, I said, ‘You guys put your verse on it, shoot it back to me, I’ll put mine on it, and then we’ll take care the rest of it.’ Smoke said when they were recording it, Westside Gunn was the one with the, hey yo, we hurt people.
After revealing that Gunn originally had a different version of the "we hurt people" line, MVP also detailed Shelton Benjamin's reaction to the song.
“When I heard it, I liked it right away. One of the funniest things, I sent it to Shelton Benjamin. Now, Shelton is like me, his music tastes are real eclectic and he even plays the bass guitar. He knows music, but he’s not a hip-hop head. When I played the song for him, he goes, ‘I don’t know about this song, man. Plus, that guy’s voice sounds weird.’ I said, ‘Dude, that voice is iconic, man.’ I said, ‘Dude, just trust me on this.’ He goes, ‘Hey, you’re the music guy, man. I trust you.’ We made the joint, we worked out the business with AEW so we could license it to them and everything. It’s just been a juggernaut, man. From the first time it hit, you could feel the momentum. Now, everywhere I go, we hurt people, we hurt people. After the show we did in Boston, there was a bunch of people waiting for the train on the platform and the whole crowd was singing we hurt people. Now when I take indie bookings, I come out to that song and everybody’s singing it. Westside Gunn and his genius, he had the vibe for that, he dropped the hook. Smoke has a great verse, I have a great verse, but the song is the hook. I want to say thank you to Cartoon Beats, to Smoke DZA, to Westside Gunn for once again coming through for a dope joint. I think it’s safe to say, we got the hottest [song in the game].
Earlier this month, MVP got real about the state of independent wrestling and some of the contracts that wrestlers are dealing with. Check out his full comments by clicking here.
Check out the current lineup for AEW Dynamite 300 by clicking here.
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