Jay-Z has proved an inspiration for McCallie as the high school's football team has used one of his hit songs in a new hype video aimed at its rival school, Baylor.
For those unfamiliar, here’s the gist of the rivalry in question: McCallie and Baylor, both private schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will face off against each other on Friday (October 3).
This is not, however, simply just another a game, neither for the players themselves or the local fans driving the hype behind the repeat matchup. As local outlet WTVC points out, McCallie enters Friday’s game having come out on top against Baylor in back-to-back state championships.
Earlier this week, McCallie shared a four-minute hype video featuring a repurposed version of Jay-Z’s Alicia Keys-featuring Blueprint 3 hit "Empire State of Mind," with the track’s original setting of New York swapped out for Chattanooga. Visually, the video clearly takes inspiration from Kendrick Lamar’s VMA-winning "Not Like Us."
"10 years later…We still run this town," the school wrote when sharing the video, which credits Wil Pope with the "Big Blue State of Mind" lyrics and Jason Cha with production.
Featured in the video are school alumni including Daniel Alcala, Aaron Crowder, Damion Liston, Adrian Thomas and Tia Kemp. Lyrically, fans have plenty to chew on, including key lines like, "10 years, 5 rings, like the Olympics / Your trophy case lookin’ like it took some Ozempic," and, "We superior and I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout the lake / Y’all ‘Not Like Us,’ they will think that you’re Drake," among others.
For its own hype video, seen below, Baylor opted for a more suspenseful approach, with a voiceover underscoring "a fire in their hearts" as the team aims "to take, to break, to conquer."
While the team didn’t put their own spin on a rap classic like McCallie, their video does feature a portion of Trippie Redd’s "Psycho" featuring Future.
