No Good Jams with ‘Canes

The Hurricanes couldn’t do it all by themselves. To conquer the national college championship title for an outstanding fifth time, the ‘Canes needed their own fight song. They needed a track as tight and dexterous as their skills on the field to fuel them up before their big game. This track was Ballin’ Boy, a bouncing, dirty, South hip-hop party track from the Miami-based rap duo No Good.
The Hurricanes football team was so enraptured with the track that three of its players cut a unique Hurricanes version of the song with No Good. Defensive back Edward Reed, wide receiver Jason Geathers, and running back Willis “The Deuce” McGahee rapped alongside the duo for the Playa edition of the track.
As the #1 most requested song at Miami’s urban station 99 Jamz, WEDR-FM, the Ballin’ Boy Hurricanes’ name-dropping and boastings include school mascot Sebastian, the team’s repeated Eastern Championship titles, and their journey to the Rose Bowl alongside the chant “Hurricanes Ballin’ Boys/What you know ’bout the Miami boys?/What you know ’bout the Miami boys?/Hurricanes Ballin’ Boy.”
“The hook of the song, ‘we ballin’ boy,’ was easy to incorporate with sports, especially because sports are jumping on hip-hop now,” said No Good member, Tracy “T-Nasty” Latimer. “It was easy to tie in, we come from an athletic background and we love those ‘Canes.” Defensive back Edward Reed said that Ballin’ Boy grabbed the Hurricanes’ attention when they would hear it at local concerts. Soon after, a club DJ introduced the team to No Good and the players became fast friends with the rappers.
“And the next thing you know, we’re recording with them,” Reed said.
No Good regularly partied with the players at clubs around town. What surprised No Good was just how efficient the players were getting into the groove of the song.
“It’s very different to go from talking and rapping with friends to actually going into the studio to record,” said No Good member Derrick “Mr. Fatal” Hill. “Reed put a lot of power into what he wrote…it came out really good.”
With the Miami-alluding Ballin’ Boy getting spins in cities like Atlanta, Dallas, and Chicago, and members of the Hurricanes sporting their Ballin’ Boy T-shirts on ESPN’s Sportscenter in the days prior to their momentous Rose Bowl win, the pairing of the two groups meshed well.
“We love those ‘Canes, so it was a real boost for us to know that they thought that much of our song, to use it as their fight song,” T-Nasty said.
Recording a custom version of one of their songs is already standard practice for No Good, a group proud to hail from South Florida and its trademark club-bounce sound. When Florida Marlin Craig Counsell scored the winning run of the 1997 World Series, No Good’s Marlins’ version of Luke’s Raise The Roof boomed out of Pro Player Stadium’s speakers and into the homes of millions of viewers.
No Good members Mr. Fatal and T-Nasty have been working in the hip-hop music community for over a decade now. At the forefront of Miami’s innovative bass music scene, the duo released a single on Laface records titled And Then There Was Bass. No Good has opened up shows for rap impresario Uncle Luke and the late Notorious B.I.G. and has performed alongside Trick Daddy and Lil’ Kim.
The original version of Ballin’ Boy is to be the lead single off of No Good’s upcoming major-label debut album on ARTISTdirect Records, tentatively titled Game Day PBB.” Produced by renowned hip-hop producer Tony Galvin (Trina, J-Shin), the album promises to be replete with part-ready rump-shaking songs will include collaborations with Trick Daddy, JT Money, and Mr. Cheeks.