As Joel Embiid’s desperation 3-pointer clanged off the rim and the buzzer sounded in Sport 2 of the first-round sequence April 22, hundreds of New York Knicks followers at Madison Sq. Backyard screamed with glee. On the similar second, Dan Monopoli — the in-house DJ — obtained a cue from his boss, the world’s legendary organist and music director Ray Castoldi.
“He simply mentioned, ‘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 Jap 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 observe that is about to get large. 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 unattainable to you {that a} basketball crew based mostly within the cultural capital of the world nonetheless will get its largest rise from a music initially recorded in a Manhattan house closet greater than three a long time in the past by a man who would go on to develop into extra well-known as an entrepreneur than a musician (and who really now owns a chunk of a distinct NBA crew), nicely … perhaps you need to cease and hearken to the factor once more.
“There are many songs you should use to hype up the group,” Monopoli mentioned, “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 reminiscences and connects what’s occurring now to what occurred in these years everybody loves.
“Plus,” he added, “let’s be trustworthy: It is simply a completely all-time observe.”
But as with most artistic triumphs, there may be additionally a substantial 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 court docket, and the right juxtaposition of music and coach and crew and metropolis, “Go NY Go” may by no means have existed in any respect.
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 brink of depart her home one afternoon when she heard a industrial for some kind of potato chips on tv.
“There was a refrain, and it was like, ‘All people sing alongside!’ and it simply obtained in my head,” Grunfeld mentioned, 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 must always do a music that individuals within the stands can sing alongside to collectively in the course of the refrain. I can not cease singing this foolish factor, so why do not groups try this? I did not know tips on how to make music, however I knew who to name.
Jesse Itzler, rapper, creator, entrepreneur: I used to be writing radio jingles for Nancy’s clothes firm. I used to be 23, attempting to make one thing occur in music in New York. I used to be in all places.
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 the whole lot — the garments, the sports activities. He made terrific jingles. So I referred to as him after I had the thought concerning the music, and I mentioned, “Meet me at Charley O’s.” It is a restaurant on Eighth Avenue that individuals would go to earlier than video games. I keep in mind standing on the bar at Charley O’s and saying to Jesse, “Should you can write this music, I am going to carry 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 keep 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 jot down 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 recreation operations on the time, and I trusted Billie. I favored 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 might actually recorded the lyrics for in my closet. There was nothing to it, simply, “We’re the New York Knicks” after which just a little 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 steadiness in New York — a lot of New Yorkers really feel like, “We all know this crew, we all know this recreation.” Within the workplace, we used to make use of the phrases “bush league” so much once 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 have been captivated by the music as a result of it felt like New York. It was completely different.
Itzler: They have been like, “We like it,” and I used to be like, “It is a demo. I could make it higher.” They mentioned, “How a lot better?” and I mentioned, “Lots.” And I keep in mind they gave me a deadline of across the All-Star Sport. So I went again and began engaged on it.
Half 2: A brand new period
As Itzler labored, the Knicks have 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 crew 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 advised everybody who labored for him, on the court docket 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 have been principally 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] so much. We have been neighbors. We would sit shut since you might try this then, and we would simply give Hubie Brown the enterprise. “You suck, Hubie! You are a bum.” However the whole lot modified when Riley obtained there.
Harris: The coach was an enormous a part of it, however Dave had us the whole lot associated to the expertise of being at a Knicks recreation. We added the video boards; the Knicks Metropolis Dancers have been created; we appeared on the music — all of it was by means of the lens of New York. What match? We talked a few mascot, like Benny the Bull in Chicago, nevertheless it did not really feel proper.
Marv Albert, Knicks play-by-play announcer, 1967-2004: Again then, no arenas had something near the ambiance there may be 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 crew music was very uncommon.
Itzler: I grew up in New York and was a die-hard fan. I keep in mind staying up as a child, each recreation, from 7:30 to 10 to look at the published. So once I did the music, my artistic method 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 report producer: I might recognized Jesse for just a few years, and we would labored collectively. I met him in DC when he was at American [University]. He was attempting 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 completed “The Tremendous Bowl Shuffle,” the Mets had “Meet the Mets,” however that was for commercials. We would have liked one thing constructed for an enviornment. I knew Dana would have concepts.
Mozie: Rap was making its transition then; Hammer, Diddy, there was quite a lot of power. This was the start of business hip-hop. It was the fitting time. I used to be the composer, the arranger and produced it. I needed one thing to chop throughout all traces. I needed to preserve it actual for the streets and preserve it actual for the suites. All forms of persons are Knicks followers. I believe coping with the problem of the white man within the rap recreation in all probability helped me produce one thing that might enchantment to all races.
Itzler: The components 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 1,000,000 occasions in hip-hop. I did not create it. But it surely simply labored. Dana did the music; it match the refrain so nicely and was tremendous catchy.
Harris: I believe we had just a few 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. That they had 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 inform you: I keep in mind once we walked out of the studio, I obtained 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.”
Half 3: A sluggish construct
Itzler’s stage title on the time was Jesse Jaymes, and he had made just a few singles that had completed nicely, together with “Shake It (Like a White Woman),” which made it to No. 74 on Billboard’s Scorching 100 in 1991 (and could 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 Jap Convention, the music debuted within the Backyard in February 1993 with traces like, “Ya higher consider the Knicks obtained all that it takes / we’re throwin’ alley-oops and we’re working quick breaks.” Itzler was there the night time 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 might purchased my very own tickets. Nobody within the place knew what was happening — the response was lukewarm at greatest. Like, very lukewarm.
Marsalis: At first, everybody hated the music. Hip-hop was in its nascent stage, the movement was horrible — it wanted time. It wanted one thing.
Itzler: They performed it on the subsequent recreation, perhaps like 10% extra individuals knew what was occurring and sang alongside. It was tough. That is once I was like, I gotta get this on the radio. I keep in mind saying, “We obtained to get the lyrics on the market so individuals know what’s occurring.”
Chris Weiller, Knicks/MSG head of communications, 1991-99: For the playoffs that season, the music was a part of a “No person 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 inform you 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 one among 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, once they misplaced to the Bulls, after which the entire 93-94 season after that once they made the Finals, is when the music actually popped. It was simply at all times happening on the Backyard. The music was good, however the actual distinction was that the Knicks have been good. They have been powerful, they usually gained. Each night time, it was like the town was on fireplace, and it simply saved spreading.
Marsalis: My relationship with that music is like my relationship with all pop music: The primary time you hear it, you suppose “This stinks.” The sixth time you hear it, you are singing it. It match that crew — the way in which they performed; it was good.
Russo: We might have completed all 5½ hours of the present each day on the Knicks. Each name, no drawback. It was a grind-it-out crew — after Ewing, they did not have a celebrity. New Yorkers like protection! Lawrence Taylor with the Giants — New Yorkers like denying individuals. They like knocking individuals down, and that is what that crew did.
Gary Winkler, Knicks occasion presentation govt, 1995-2008: I used to be an intern in 1994, and sooner or later they have been like, “Here is a stack of Go NY Go posters — take them to each bar within the metropolis.” It was like we have been making a gift of cash. Folks have been hugging us. Simply whole strangers. They needed something with “Go NY Go” on it.
Russo: The Knicks have been the factor, and Riley was king of the town. It was the time. At a charity public sale, I obtained one of many fits that Riley wore on the sideline. A good looking 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 so much. I haven’t got it anymore, nevertheless it was a terrific swimsuit. The whole lot concerning the Knicks was particular then.
Albert: It was all simply amped up. Even regular-season video games, in the event that they have been towards the Bulls or the Pacers or the Warmth, it felt just like the playoffs. Usually I’d be targeted throughout timeouts — stats or who was making a run — however these years, particularly once 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 in style — it had the gamers in it singing alongside, and the followers, too.
Jared DeMarino, automobile gross sales affiliate in Indianola, Iowa: I am in the ’94 video. I grew up in New York, and my dad shared season tickets. They have been filming followers one night time once I was 13. I am the child within the hat [bottom left] that exhibits 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 have been taking part in it on [hip-hop radio station] Scorching 97. It was throughout. I used to be flipping out. Everybody liked 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. Folks liked to see the Metropolis Dancers, however when that music got here on, we by no means did a dance routine to it. No means. We would shoot T-shirts into the group or one thing, however we principally simply sang together with it. It was for the followers.
Half 4: Endurance
Though the Knicks misplaced to the Houston Rockets within the 1994 NBA Finals — “Starks!” Itzler mentioned, sighing as he invoked John Starks’ notorious 2-for-18 taking pictures efficiency in Sport 7 — there was no denying that “Go NY Go” had develop into 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 traces, “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 could 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 might 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 might see them within the golf equipment or at Justin’s, which was Diddy’s restaurant. All of them actually favored the music. I keep in mind one night time, 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 taking part in after which sing, “Go New York Go New York Go!” after which shout, “Playoffs!” or “Finals!” or no matter they have been in. After which, “Depart a message.”
Frank Isola, Knicks beat author, New York Every day Information, 1996-2016: That they had actually good timing once they performed it. They did not overdo it, they usually solely did it when it was late within the recreation and the crew 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 might have an concept and play it for like three or 4 pals and ask them, “Is that this higher than final yr?” It was at all times on my thoughts. It mattered so much to me.
Winkler: I keep in mind one playoff recreation towards the Bulls, the Knicks went up large 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, liked it. It was like this id that everybody felt — we have been New York.
Itzler: As we did extra variations, we began getting friends 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 liked 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 have been type of hybrids. Nothing was like the unique one.
Russo: It was a terrific run for the Knicks by means 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 kind of fell aside on the court docket. They have been terrible once more. Oh, they have been unhealthy.
Harris: After the Finals run in 1999, it felt like an enormous shift. There was quite a 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 profitable that a lot within the 2000s. It was round, and the gamers nonetheless favored it; I keep in mind Nate Robinson actually favored 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 Dwelling,” which was from Doug E. Recent. There wasn’t quite a 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 perhaps there simply weren’t the moments that basically warranted it anymore. And after some time, it felt like that period had type of handed.
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 means of the primary twenty 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 similar to Marquis Jet. But at the same time as he moved on (and moved away from New York), Itzler’s love for the Knicks by no means wavered; not when “Go NY Go” pale 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 mentioned. “I like them. And I liked that the music finally got here again, too.”
DeMarino: I might at all times look on YouTube through the years to see how my video was doing, and there could be individuals that may make up their very own variations of the music, identical to rapping over it. None of them have been the actual factor, although. However clearly followers missed it.
Monopoli: That music, to myself and to many individuals, is connected to so many nice reminiscences and nice occasions. It is virtually as if we would have liked the fitting alternative to carry it again. And the crew in the course of the pandemic [2020-21 season] — it simply appeared like there was one thing brewing. I believe that was kind of the music’s rebirth.
Isola: These ’90s groups are at all times a reference level for any Knicks crew, however this yr’s crew — 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 related components — 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 celebrity. It is grinders — Hart, Hartenstein. They’re hard-nosed.
Albert: The Backyard is pretty much 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 tasks since then the place we would be like, “We want one thing iconic,” and somebody will say, “You imply like ‘Go New York’?”
Hart: That music was simply one of the best. 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 the town wanted. They created one thing that has lasted.
Itzler: , I used to be pondering the opposite day how I want I had a chance to redo the music this yr. This Knicks crew — they’re so gritty. Clearly I can not do it, and I am 55 so I am not even certified anymore, however it could be enjoyable. And with the Hawks not within the playoffs, I am all concerning the Knicks. Actually, I believe I will take my youngsters to a recreation. It might be cool if they may hear the music.
