‘Go NY Go’: Behind the music pumping up the Knicks’ Backyard

As Joel Embiid’s desperation 3-pointer clanged off the rim and the buzzer sounded in Recreation 2 of the first-round sequence April 22, 1000’s of New York Knicks followers at Madison Sq. Backyard screamed with glee. On the similar second, Dan Monopoli — the in-house DJ — bought a cue from his boss, the world’s legendary organist and music director Ray Castoldi.

“He simply stated, ‘Now! ‘Go NY Go,’ and I felt the hair rise up on my neck,” Monopoli recalled. “I used to be like, ‘Oh my god, this place goes to soften.’ And it did.

“There’s nonetheless nothing prefer it.”

He wasn’t exaggerating. The Knicks, who beat Philly in six video games, are one win from eliminating Indiana and clinching their first journey to the Japanese Convention finals since 2000, and there’s no denying that the music underpinning all of it is not some new rap hit or membership anthem, and it is not some underground or on-the-cusp monitor that is about to get big. It’s “Go NY Go,” a merely named, easy-to-follow pop/hip-hop amalgam first performed to a middling response in 1993.

Is it unusual that Jalen Brunson’s spouse, Ali Marks, captioned her celebratory Instagram story after the Knicks closed out the Sixers with “Go New York Go New York Go?” Possibly. But when it appears inconceivable to you {that a} basketball group based mostly within the cultural capital of the world nonetheless will get its greatest rise from a music initially recorded in a Manhattan condominium closet greater than three a long time in the past by a man who would go on to grow to be extra well-known as an entrepreneur than a musician (and who really now owns a chunk of a special NBA group), effectively … possibly it is best to cease and hearken to the factor once more.

“There are many songs you need to use to hype up the group,” Monopoli stated, “Home of Ache, Zombie Nation, issues like that — and we use these. However for Knicks followers, ‘Go NY Go’ represents one thing completely different. It brings again recollections and connects what’s taking place now to what occurred in these years everybody loves.

“Plus,” he added, “let’s be trustworthy: It is simply a fully all-time monitor.”

But as with most inventive triumphs, there’s additionally an excessive amount of serendipity wrapped up within the music’s rise. If it weren’t for a complete earworm of a TV jingle, an opportunity assembly, a entrance workplace seeking to overhaul the texture of its dwelling courtroom, and the right juxtaposition of music and coach and group and metropolis, “Go NY Go” may by no means have existed in any respect.

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Half 1: A bag of chips

Within the winter of 1992, Nancy Grunfeld — spouse of Knicks govt Ernie Grunfeld and a pioneer within the sports activities trend trade — was on the point of depart her home one afternoon when she heard a industrial for some form of potato chips on tv.

“There was a refrain, and it was like, ‘Everyone sing alongside!’ and it simply bought in my head,” Grunfeld stated, including that it was “very annoying.” But it surely additionally gave her an concept.

Nancy Grunfeld, president/co-owner of ITP Companions, 1992-2002: It was like this lightbulb second for me. I used to be getting my bag collectively, and all I might take into consideration was: We should always do a music that folks within the stands can sing alongside to collectively in the course of the refrain. I am unable to cease singing this foolish factor, so why do not groups do this? I did not know the right way to make music, however I knew who to name.

Jesse Itzler, rapper, writer, entrepreneur: I used to be writing radio jingles for Nancy’s clothes firm. I used to be 23, making an attempt to make one thing occur in music in New York. I used to be in every single place.

Grunfeld: I had met Jesse at a fundraising dinner for the Juvenile Diabetes Basis, and he was simply so enthusiastic and energetic. He was bouncing off the partitions. He was simply so into every little thing — the garments, the sports activities. He made terrific jingles. So I known as him after I had the thought in regards to the music, and I stated, “Meet me at Charley O’s.” It is a restaurant on Eighth Avenue that folks would go to earlier than video games. I bear in mind standing on the bar at Charley O’s and saying to Jesse, “When you can write this music, I am going to convey it to Ernie.”

Itzler: In my thoughts, the assembly was scheduled in, like, two days.

Grunfeld: He got here up with one thing actually fast, and I listened to it and thought, “Sure!” and confirmed it to Ernie. He introduced it to Dave [Checketts, then the Knicks’ president], and there was a gathering.

Pam Harris, Knicks/MSG advertising and marketing govt, 1991-2000: Nancy, I bear in mind her saying to me, “This man is a sick Knicks fan; he is an up-and-coming performer; and he has this nice concept to put in writing a theme music for the Knicks.” Jesse got here into the workplace and performed it on a cassette for us. It was me and Billie Streets, who ran sport operations on the time, and I trusted Billie. I preferred the music, however I knew Billie would know if the followers would get it. I used to be like, “Is that this cool?” And Billie was like, “Completely.”

Itzler: I performed them this demo that I would actually recorded the lyrics for in my closet. There was nothing to it, simply, “We’re the New York Knicks” after which a bit eight-bar rap after which nothing. It was a demo. There wasn’t even the “Go New York Go New York Go” on it then. That got here later.

Harris: It is an actual stability in New York — a number of New Yorkers really feel like, “We all know this group, we all know this sport.” Within the workplace, we used to make use of the phrases “bush league” rather a lot after we would speak about new concepts — like, we won’t do what the T-Wolves do or what the Phoenix Suns are doing. That is New York. It needs to be completely different. And we had been captivated by the music as a result of it felt like New York. It was completely different.

Itzler: They had been like, “We like it,” and I used to be like, “It is a demo. I could make it higher.” They stated, “How significantly better?” and I stated, “So much.” And I bear in mind they gave me a deadline of across the All-Star Recreation. So I went again and began engaged on it.

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Half 2: A brand new period

As Itzler labored, the Knicks had been within the late phases of a franchise overhaul. Dave Checketts had arrived in 1991, and he employed Lakers teaching legend Pat Riley to steer the group towards one thing higher. For many of the earlier decade, the Knicks had been mediocre, and the Backyard’s game-night ambiance had been vanilla. Checketts needed extra throughout the board; he informed everybody who labored for him, on the courtroom and within the entrance workplace and advertising and marketing departments, that the Knicks wanted to supply followers a imaginative and prescient of one thing aspirational and interesting.

Christopher “Mad Canine” Russo, co-host, “Mike and the Mad Canine,” WFAN radio, 1989-2008: The Knicks of the 80s had been largely horrible. I used to be in New York then, and I went to the video games, and it was a ghost city. Hubie Brown? Give me a break.

Branford Marsalis, Grammy-winning saxophonist: I’d go along with Spike [Lee] rather a lot. We had been neighbors. We might sit shut since you might do this then, and we might simply give Hubie Brown the enterprise. “You suck, Hubie! You are a bum.” However every little thing modified when Riley bought there.

Harris: The coach was an enormous a part of it, however Dave had us taking a look at every little thing associated to the expertise of being at a Knicks sport. We added the video boards; the Knicks Metropolis Dancers had been created; we appeared on the music — all of it was by way of the lens of New York. What match? We talked a couple of mascot, like Benny the Bull in Chicago, but it surely did not really feel proper.

Marv Albert, Knicks play-by-play announcer, 1967-2004: Again then, no arenas had something near the ambiance there’s now. Even someplace like Boston, it was so quiet at timeouts it was like a library. Possibly the PA announcer would say one thing, however that was it. There was no showbiz side to it. The concept of a group music was very uncommon.

Itzler: I grew up in New York and was a die-hard fan. I bear in mind staying up as a child, each sport, from 7:30 to 10 to observe the printed. So once I did the music, my inventive strategy was to think about that I used to be sitting within the blue seats within the Backyard and attempt to really feel what I’d really feel when the Knicks went on an enormous rally. Like, what would make me rise up and never sit again down?

Dana Mozie, 27-time gold/platinum document producer: I would identified Jesse for a number of years, and we might labored collectively. I met him in DC when he was at American [University]. He was making an attempt to be a white rapper. On the time it was a novel factor, so I began producing him. He was the primary white rapper to carry out at Howard College, and I used to be the one who introduced him.

Itzler: There was nothing in sports activities songs. It was a clean slate — the Bears had achieved “The Tremendous Bowl Shuffle,” the Mets had “Meet the Mets,” however that was for commercials. We wanted one thing constructed for an area. I knew Dana would have concepts.

Mozie: Rap was making its transition then; Hammer, Diddy, there was a whole lot of power. This was the beginning of economic hip-hop. It was the correct time. I used to be the composer, the arranger and produced it. I needed one thing to chop throughout all strains. I needed to hold it actual for the streets and hold it actual for the suites. All kinds of persons are Knicks followers. I believe coping with the problem of the white man within the rap sport in all probability helped me produce one thing that would attraction to all races.

Itzler: The method for the verses was a mix of present participant references and a few tidbits about New York. The refrain — I imply, “Go Clean Go” was an outdated get together chant that is been used one million occasions in hip-hop. I did not create it. But it surely simply labored. Dana did the music; it match the refrain so effectively and was tremendous catchy.

Harris: I believe we had a number of notes initially, however not a lot. It was all them. Jesse was a fan. He knew what he needed to say.

Mozie: We recorded it in a small studio in Manhattan. They’d a tiny 8-track tape machine in there or one thing. We weren’t large, however we had taste. And Jesse was flowing.

Itzler: My school roommate sang the refrain with me. I believe the Knicks gave me one thing like $4,000 for the job. I misplaced cash making it, I do know that. However I’d have paid them to do it! And I am going to let you know: I bear in mind after we walked out of the studio, I bought in my automobile and we had it on the cassette, and we blasted it. I used to be like, “Holy s—! I believe that is gonna work.”

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Half 3: A sluggish construct

Itzler’s stage title on the time was Jesse Jaymes, and he had made a number of singles that had achieved effectively, together with “Shake It (Like a White Lady),” which made it to No. 74 on Billboard’s Scorching 100 in 1991 (and can be featured within the film “White Chicks” in 2004). Nothing Itzler had created to that time, although, was fairly as significant to him as “Go NY Go.” With Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, John Starks and the remainder of the Knicks battling to win the Japanese Convention, the music debuted within the Backyard in February 1993 with strains like, “Ya higher consider the Knicks bought all that it takes / we’re throwin’ alley-oops and we’re operating quick breaks.” Itzler was there the evening it was performed for the primary time.

Itzler: They performed it at a timeout. I used to be two rows from the highest. I believe I would purchased my very own tickets. Nobody within the place knew what was happening — the response was lukewarm at finest. Like, very lukewarm.

Marsalis: At first, everybody hated the music. Hip-hop was in its nascent stage, the stream was horrible — it wanted time. It wanted one thing.

Itzler: They performed it on the subsequent sport, possibly like 10% extra individuals knew what was taking place and sang alongside. It was tough. That is once I was like, I gotta get this on the radio. I bear in mind saying, “We bought to get the lyrics on the market so individuals know what’s taking place.”

Chris Weiller, Knicks/MSG head of communications, 1991-99: For the playoffs that season, the music was a part of a “No one Beats the Wiz” promotion, they usually gave away a towel with the phrases to the music on it.

Mozie: There was really a cassette, too, a Wiz cassette. And I am going to let you know one thing: That is when it occurred. All that helped it take off.

Jonathan Supranowitz, Knicks media relations govt, 2000-18: At the moment, I used to be interning with the Nets, so I used to be a closeted Knicks fan, however that cassette was certainly one of my prized possessions. My copy is definitely a part of a show on the Backyard now with different memorabilia from that season.

Mozie: The ’93 playoffs, after they misplaced to the Bulls, after which the entire 93-94 season after that after they made the Finals, is when the music actually popped. It was simply at all times taking place on the Backyard. The music was good, however the true distinction was that the Knicks had been good. They had been powerful, they usually gained. Each evening, it was like town was on hearth, and it simply stored spreading.

Marsalis: My relationship with that music is like my relationship with all pop music: The primary time you hear it, you assume “This stinks.” The sixth time you hear it, you are singing it. It match that group — the way in which they performed; it was excellent.

Russo: We might have achieved all 5½ hours of the present daily on the Knicks. Each name, no drawback. It was a grind-it-out group — after Ewing, they did not have a famous person. New Yorkers like protection! Lawrence Taylor with the Giants — New Yorkers like denying individuals. They like knocking individuals down, and that is what that group did.

Gary Winkler, Knicks occasion presentation govt, 1995-2008: I used to be an intern in 1994, and sooner or later they had been like, “This is a stack of Go NY Go posters — take them to each bar within the metropolis.” It was like we had been gifting away cash. Individuals had been hugging us. Simply whole strangers. They needed something with “Go NY Go” on it.

Russo: The Knicks had been the factor, and Riley was king of town. It was the time. At a charity public sale, I bought one of many fits that Riley wore on the sideline. A gorgeous Armani swimsuit, 2500 bucks. It was for charity! He is 6-4, 6-5, so I needed to tailor the heck out of it, however I wore it rather a lot. I haven’t got it anymore, but it surely was a terrific swimsuit. Every part in regards to the Knicks was particular then.

Albert: It was all simply amped up. Even regular-season video games, in the event that they had been towards the Bulls or the Pacers or the Warmth, it felt just like the playoffs. Usually I’d be centered throughout timeouts — taking a look at stats or who was making a run — however these years, particularly after they performed that music, I’d discover it. You could not escape it.

Harris: We made a video, too — it wasn’t only a music. The video was actually common — it had the gamers in it singing alongside, and the followers, too.

Jared DeMarino, automobile gross sales affiliate in Indianola, Iowa: I am within the ’94 video. I grew up in New York, and my dad shared season tickets. They had been filming followers one evening once I was 13. I am the child within the hat [bottom left] that reveals up proper after Derek Harper. We had a VHS of it, and I digitized it and put it on YouTube. I additionally put up a video of me bungee leaping. That one has, like, 100 views; the Knicks one has 710,000 and counting. That music — it is like a teleport again to 1994.

Itzler: By the playoffs in ’94, they had been enjoying it on [hip-hop radio station] Scorching 97. It was throughout. I used to be flipping out. Everybody cherished it.

Petra Pope, Knicks leisure/advertising and marketing govt, 1991-2005; creator of the Knicks Metropolis Dancers: It was so New York. It is like a warrior cry. Individuals cherished to see the Metropolis Dancers, however when that music got here on, we by no means did a dance routine to it. No method. We’d shoot T-shirts into the group or one thing, however we largely simply sang together with it. It was for the followers.

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Half 4: Endurance

Though the Knicks misplaced to the Houston Rockets within the 1994 NBA Finals — “Starks!” Itzler stated, sighing as he invoked John Starks’ notorious 2-for-18 capturing efficiency in Recreation 7 — there was no denying that “Go NY Go” had grow to be a centerpiece of the Backyard expertise. Itzler had up to date the lyrics as soon as forward of the 1993-94 season, (including, amongst many different strains, “If ya’ protection makes a mistake / then BAM! / Ewing dunks in ya’ face!”) and he did so once more earlier than every of the subsequent a number of seasons because the Knicks grew to become a playoff fixture and the music’s recognition continued to develop.

Itzler: I began with a minute and 12-second music, so it will match right into a timeout. Then as soon as it took off, I began giving them 30-second variations, doughnuts, for radio. Then 10-second clips, fast little ones to make use of at any time when. And each time there was a commerce or they signed somebody large, I would do a brand new model or replace it. I did it for years. It was all over the place — I believe I even did a model for the Yankees-Mets Subway Sequence in baseball.

Mozie: I used to see Ewing on a regular basis. Charles Oakley, Starks — I would see them within the golf equipment or at Justin’s, which was Diddy’s restaurant. All of them actually preferred the music. I bear in mind one evening, Chris Webber contacted me as a result of he heard it and needed to begin a rap label. He needed assist with it.

Melissa Joan Hart, actor: I had it on my answering machine in school. There was an artwork to doing that again then, and I’d have it enjoying after which sing, “Go New York Go New York Go!” after which shout, “Playoffs!” or “Finals!” or no matter they had been in. After which, “Go away a message.”

Frank Isola, Knicks beat author, New York Each day Information, 1996-2016: They’d actually good timing after they performed it. They did not overdo it, they usually solely did it when it was late within the sport and the group was pulling away or made an enormous rally. There have been completely different variations. My favourite was the one [singing] “I am a Knick fan and I gotta keep true, sure I do / Are you down with the orange and the blue?” It was fairly electrifying.

Itzler: I felt a lot strain to make every model higher than the yr earlier than. I would have an concept and play it for like three or 4 buddies and ask them, “Is that this higher than final yr?” It was at all times on my thoughts. It mattered rather a lot to me.

Winkler: I bear in mind one playoff sport towards the Bulls, the Knicks went up big within the first quarter, and the place was nuts. I simply type of misplaced it and was like, “We’re doing it!” and we performed it within the first quarter. After it was over, the cellphone rang on the scorer’s desk, the place I’d sit, and it was my boss — “What are you doing?” I by no means performed it within the first quarter once more.

Traci Swain, Knicks Metropolis Dancers, 1993-96: It was simply so empowering. I believe that is why the followers, and the gamers, cherished it. It was like this identification that everybody felt — we had been New York.

Itzler: As we did extra variations, we began getting company on it — Mobb Deep was on it, Puffy was on it. Q-Tip. Ed Lover, Angie Martinez — we had all these wonderful artists in New York, they usually cherished the Knicks.

Dan Monopoli, Madison Sq. Backyard DJ, 2020-present: They did some full remixes — I’ve seen a Swizz Beatz one, Fats Joe, however they had been type of hybrids. Nothing was like the unique one.

Russo: It was a terrific run for the Knicks by way of the late ’90s, however then issues modified after the 1999 Finals run. [Jeff] Van Gundy was gone in 2001, and all of it simply form of fell aside on the courtroom. They had been terrible once more. Oh, they had been dangerous.

Harris: After the Finals run in 1999, it felt like an enormous shift. There was a whole lot of turnover. The music was type of banished within the 2000s.

Winkler: We weren’t actually utilizing it as typically, however to be trustworthy, we additionally weren’t successful that a lot within the 2000s. It was round, and the gamers nonetheless preferred it; I bear in mind Nate Robinson actually preferred it. However we did not use it a lot.

Supranowitz: The Knicks do have a historical past of different songs, and whereas none are like “Go NY Go,” there are some good ones. I believe in that point interval, we heard much more of “Take Me Residence,” which was from Doug E. Contemporary. There wasn’t a whole lot of “Go NY Go.”

Pope: I do not know that I ever heard it was intentional or like an order to not play “Go NY Go,” however possibly there simply weren’t the moments that basically warranted it anymore. And after some time, it felt like that period had type of handed.

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Half 5: Misplaced … and located

The success of “Go NY Go” was a jumping-off level for Itzler (and Mozie), who would go on to create dozens of songs for groups and leagues throughout quite a lot of sports activities. Music was solely a chunk of Itzler’s pursuits, although, and because the Knicks largely struggled by way of the primary 20 years of the 2000s — they gained only a single playoff sequence from 2001 to 2022 — Itzler grew to become a profitable entrepreneur, co-founding corporations reminiscent of Marquis Jet. But whilst he moved on (and moved away from New York), Itzler’s love for the Knicks by no means wavered; not when “Go NY Go” light as a staple of the Knicks’ game-night expertise and never even when he and his spouse, Sara Blakely, the founding father of the shapewear model Spanx, grew to become part-owners of the Atlanta Hawks in 2015. “I nonetheless have 4 season tickets to the Knicks,” Itzler stated. “I like them. And I cherished that the music finally got here again, too.”

DeMarino: I would at all times look on YouTube through the years to see how my video was doing, and there can be individuals that may make up their very own variations of the music, similar to rapping over it. None of them had been the true factor, although. However clearly followers missed it.

Monopoli: That music, to myself and to many individuals, is hooked up to so many nice recollections and nice occasions. It is virtually as if we would have liked the correct alternative to convey it again. And the group in the course of the pandemic [2020-21 season] — it simply appeared like there was one thing brewing. I believe that was form of the music’s rebirth.

Isola: These ’90s groups are at all times a reference level for any Knicks group, however this yr’s group — I see it. Tom [Thibodeau] is sort of a Pat Riley disciple; he got here from Jeff Van Gundy, who labored beneath Riley.

Russo: It is a comparable method — they’ve Brunson, who’s a star, then blue-collar guys beside him. Who’s the second star? They’re good gamers, however there is not any famous person. It is grinders — Hart, Hartenstein. They’re hard-nosed.

Albert: The Backyard is nearly as good now because it’s ever been.

Pope: My husband and I are season-ticket holders, and I nonetheless get hyped once I hear the music. It was such a wise piece of music — it was thug sufficient however mainstream again then, and it nonetheless is.

Harris: It was a unifier. I’ve labored on initiatives since then the place we might be like, “We want one thing iconic,” and somebody will say, “You imply like ‘Go New York’?”

Hart: That music was simply the perfect. It was so ’90s and so New York all on the similar time.

Grunfeld: It is only a testomony to Jesse and to Dana. They knew what town wanted. They created one thing that has lasted.

Itzler: You understand, I used to be pondering the opposite day how I want I had a chance to redo the music this yr. This Knicks group — they’re so gritty. Clearly I am unable to do it, and I am 55 so I am not even certified anymore, however it will be enjoyable. And with the Hawks not within the playoffs, I am all in regards to the Knicks. Truthfully, I believe I’ll take my youngsters to a sport. It could be cool if they may hear the music.