This is a content collaboration with Urban Pitch, the leading website covering soccer culture.
Los Angeles has a lot going for it right now: Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” is Grammy-nominated, the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series, and both LAFC and the LA Galaxy are on to the MLS Western Conference semifinals after finishing atop the standings in the regular season.
ATM Danny is an artist who is merging the worlds of music and sport to cheer the Galaxy onto what would be their record-extending sixth MLS Cup championship. The rapper is following in the footsteps of Murs and Azjah as a fan who have incorporated their fandom into their creative ventures.
“Trophie’d Up” celebrates the history of the club and weaves in some of ATM Danny's Salvadoran heritage by saying, “What I’d say? Para siempre Gs running this.” The song came about with an assist from streetwear brand Born To Us, which celebrates the hardwork and authenticity of the Latino community.
ATM Danny spoke about how the stars aligned for “Trophie’d Up,” what the moment means as a lifelong Galaxy fan and how he keeps fans engaged with his other music.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
How did the opportunity to do “Trophie’d Up” for the Los Angeles Galaxy in partnership with Sworn To Us come about?
ATM Danny: I had met one of the owners of Sworn To Us, Jerry (Avila), and we kicked it off and everything was just good vibes. A little down the line, he was talking about the Galaxy, but I was already brewing that idea up. But when I found out that he was doing something, I’m like oh, man, I gotta be a part of this.
It was really quick. It might have even been a month ago or a month-and-a-half ago, where I had to really just get on it. We didn’t even have a connect yet, we were just gonna present him the song and then see if he could shoot it over to one of the guys over at the Galaxy. And that’s exactly what he did after I made the song. It kept going around through the office, I guess.
So when they finally did a little launch party in Burbank like two, three weeks ago, some guys from the Galaxy, like the social media guy, the creative designer, were like, “Oh, aye, we heard the song. It’s cool! It sounds nice.”
So that’s when we just acted on it and told the distribution, “Let’s just get this going. Let’s see if we can drop this in two days.” Usually that’s not how it works. It usually takes two weeks, a week max. Two days is crazy, but they made it happen and boom, we put it out and I did the video and it was dope. It was amazing.
Do you have any memories that stand out from your childhood watching the Galaxy?
Cobi Jones, that’s the guy. Cienfuegos, I’m Salvadoran, so Cienfuegos is somebody that my dad, the men in the family, they loved. That’s the guy. That’s like Messi. They loved him. Cobi Jones man, ‘cause his names Cobi and he was a great player.
Then Landon Donovan came and he pretty much just did it up in LA. That was the guy, that was number one. He was on the cover of FIFA. And then Beckham came and boom, we won back-to-back. Everybody had Beckham gear. I think I still have a sweater with Beckham on it. There’s even a thing called the Beckham Rule ‘cause of him. So for sure, he was very influential when he came.
You’re Salvadorian and Sworn To Us is a Latino brand. Even in the “Trophie’d Up” lyrics, you sprinkle in some Spanish. Why is it important to you to represent your heritage?
A lot of people think I don’t represent it enough. So I always gotta sprinkle something in. A lot of people don’t even know I am Latino ‘cause usually my music is spread out through social media like through a reel or something like that, not my face. So a lot of people get a different impression from just hearing my voice.
So when I do sprinkle in stuff like that, they’ll notice, oh this guy, they probably just say, “He’s Mexican.” That’s like the first thing people say. But I’m Salvadoran. I still gotta sprinkle in some Salvi bars in there for sure, a little pupusa, a little curtido, something like that. So I gotta make that known. But I definitely been working on that. I’ve been working with AFJA, shoutout Edgar and shoutout Steven (Levy Cruz, founder of AFJA), they put me in those doors to just represent it at these events that they throw, so that’s a cool thing too.
Read the full conversation with ATM Danny at UrbanPitch.com.
Comments