First, I should probably congratulate the Packers on a decisive win yesterday. They did, in fact, beat the Rams. I mean, Aaron Donald was playing with broken ribs and starting quarterback Jared Goff had thumb surgery three weeks ago and the Packers did everything they could to work Davante Adams away from Jalen Ramsey, but they did win. So kudos to them.
I still have the memories of Eli Manning waltzing into Lambeau and winning twice, Corey Webster ending Brett Favre’s Packer career, Lawrence Tynes shattering every heart in Wisconsin, so go off. Rodgers is the clear MVP, Aaron Jones is on his way to becoming grossly overpaid — relax, all running backs are grossly overpaid — and the Smith brothers are one of the most fun pass rush tandems in the league. Have fun with this one.
Now, aside from sports, I’ve written a couple stories about music as well. I enjoy music. I think it’s neat. So imagine the intrigue I had when I was informed about a brand-new version of "Green and Yellow" by Lil Wayne for this playoff run.
For the uninformed, the first version of "Green and Yellow" was a remix of Wiz Khalifa’s hit song "Black and Yellow." While the title was a reference to Khalifa’s native city of Pittsburgh, it has just about nothing to do with sports. Yes, black and yellow are the colors of all professional Pittsburgh teams, but the song is typical early-2010s flexing: expensive cars, calls to his jeweler, sipping Clicquot.
So in 2011 when the Packers met the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl, Lil Wayne had a brilliant idea: what if instead of black … it was green and yellow? And a legendary sports song was born.
Contrary to what Packer fans will tell you, this isn’t actually the first time a team had a song written for them. You can go back as far as the legendary ‘85 Chicago Bears with the "Super Bowl Shuffle." The hard-knock New York Knicks had ‘Go NY Go’ in 1994. Then-Knicks forward Iman Shumpert and rapper remixed Kanye West’s ‘Clique’ into a new Knicks anthem. [Author’s note: there will absolutely be a column deeply analyzing the latter two songs in the near future. Leagues better than anything you Scons could ever get. Call me when the Bucks have their own song.]
Plenty of rappers have written songs about individual players, too: Kendrick Lamar’s "Michael Jordan," Troop 41’s "Do the John Wall," Sheck Wes’ "Mo Bamba" and Jack Harlow’s "Tyler Herro," just to name a few.
Back to the Pack — "Green and Yellow" dropped just a few days before the Super Bowl, and man did that shit hit hard. Out the gate he calls himself a Cheesehead and everyone else Cheez-Whiz. He says they’re gonna toast the Steelers like pop tarts. Calls the steel curtain velvet. The man says they’re going to CUT OFF TROY POLAMALU’S HAIR. THAT’S SAVAGE.
The original "Green and Yellow" unequivocally went hard. It felt like a hype song, but it was more than just that: it was its own standalone banger. You didn’t need to be a Packer fan to enjoy it. It sounded like a Lil Wayne song right towards the end of his prime.
The new "Green and Yellow" is none of those things. It isn’t savage, it isn’t hard, it isn’t creative, it isn’t fun, it isn't good. It’s corny fan service that sounds like an easy cash grab.
I think the key missing ingredient is the originality. The 2011 version had a reason to exist; the Packers were playing the Steelers, who wore black and yellow. When Wayne dropped the 2021 version, the Steelers were already knocked out of the playoffs. After diligent research, I can confirm that no current playoff teams wear black and yellow.
Things don’t get any rosier when you take a deeper look at the song. All it really is is a bunch of name-drops of Aaron Rodgers and company. Respect to him for mentioning offensive lineman David Bakhtiari, but that’s the only nice thing I can say about this one.
Since Wayne doesn’t know who the Packers are playing for the rest of the playoffs, it’s impossible for him to take the same shots that he did to the 2011 Steelers. But even if he could… would he? Lil Wayne is far from the same artist that he was in 2011. Most fans of his music will tell you that’s definitely not a good thing. Unlike the 2011 version, the song is entirely clean, which is not inherently bad. But a Lil Wayne song without cursing is like chicken without seasoning: hard to consume.
I wish there was more to say about this song. There isn’t. It continues the trend of Lil Wayne making subpar music, trying to recapture what he used to have as a younger artist.
But that’s not the problem. Who am I to say Lil Wayne can’t make a fan song? He’s been a Packer fan for most of his life. He loves the team. He’s a rap legend. He can do whatever he wants. But that doesn’t mean that the entire Green Bay Packers fanbase needs to pretend that it’s worth listening to.
The number of people who have tried to convince people that this song is good is sad. I’m not trying to be a gatekeeper for sports songs because that would be super lame. I just think that most of the people who are trying to push this song as the next great sports team anthem are fully aware of the mediocrity of this song.
I’m here to say that it’s okay, Packers fans. You don’t need to pretend this song is good. You don’t need to act like “Cheesehead, Alicia Keys, I’m going swiss cheese” is anywhere near a decent line. You can just watch the great football team that you have this year. After all, Doug Pederson and the Philadelphia Eagles made sure that your kryptonite missed the playoffs.
