Donning their 2006 Big 12 Championship hats, Oklahoma players formed a tight circle around wide receiver Malcolm Kelly and nodded along, hyping him up with each line, as he delivered his now-famous freestyle in the locker room.
“But we gonna’ get it, cause we gotta finish, Nebraska Cornhuskers man we diminished.”
Kelly’s freestyle came after a 21-7 victory over Nebraska in the Big 12 title game and quickly became the stuff of legends. From giving props to teammates who played well to shouting out his hometown to calling out the Cornhuskers, Kelly’s rap had it all. Eleven years later, the Texas native’s freestyle has taken on a life of its own and become a proud part of OU’s culture.
“It was something that happened after the Big 12 Championship game, and it was really spontaneous,” former Oklahoma wide receivers coach Kevin Sumlin said. “There’s a lot of things that happen after a big win, and particularly a championship win, and I think somebody just started beating on a trash can, and the rest is history.”
The freestyle was uploaded to YouTube in 2007 and picked up steam on social media soon after, becoming well-known among football players and OU fans everywhere. With more than 1 million views on YouTube and more than 2,200 retweets and 4,100 likes on four tweets alone, Kelly’s rap has become a viral sensation.
It's finally #Sooners game day.
— George Stoia III (@GeorgeStoia) September 2, 2017
Let's bring out the greatest moment in program history: pic.twitter.com/j88smasQhH
“I was the head coach at (the University of Houston) — they talked about it,” Sumlin said. “Here they talk about it. Recruits talk about it. It’s a bigger thing than I ever thought it would be.”
Sophomore wide receiver Mykel Jones, a Louisiana native, said his high school team used to play Kelly’s freestyle right before they ran out of the tunnel every game, showing how wide the rap reaches.
Despite a wide variety of people knowing and loving the freestyle, the people who it’s most impacted are the OU players who have come after Kelly. What started as a simple celebration turned into a part of Oklahoma football’s culture. Today’s players know all the words to the freestyle, and proudly claim Kelly as an alum.
“I think it brings about a culture to the team,” Jones said. “I think when everybody hears the freestyle it just brings a team camaraderie. It’s a song that everybody knows so it makes everybody hype. It’s a worldwide freestyle, so every time it comes up on social media everybody’s crazy about it.”
Senior receiver Jordan Smallwood said the receivers are especially proud of Kelly, as he’s someone they can look up to for both his rap and his style of play.
“We all listen to it,” Smallwood said. “Every blue moon we’ll play it and start to jam. I think Malcolm Kelly came up here a couple times over the past summer and it was awesome seeing him. We always brag about it and say that’s the receiver group and that’s why you love us.”
Current Oklahoma players take pride in claiming Kelly as one of their own, but it’s not just because he has a viral freestyle — it’s also because he backed up every word of it.
Before stepping into the locker room to deliver lines like “I ain’t even trippin’ cause we some athletes,” Kelly was on the field putting his money where his mouth is. He hauled in 10 receptions for 142 yards and two touchdowns against Nebraska, adding to an illustrious career with the Sooners that ended with 2,285 receiving yards and 21 touchdowns.
Kelly helped lead the Sooners to their fourth Big 12 Championship that night, alongside quarterback Paul Thompson, who threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns.
“Let me sit sideways 'cause I’m steady comin’, PT throwin’ that ball and it’s hummin'.”
“Yeah it was (humming),” Thompson said. “It was. We lit it up … It was a good night throwing the ball, running the ball, for as cold as it was, too. It was like 15 degrees with the windchill. So yeah it was — it was hummin'.”
On a night where he averaged 14.2 yards per catch, Kelly’s rap is what has lived on to inspire OU and Sooner Nation for over a decade, as well as inspiring others who know him only as a college football player with a freestyle.
“I didn’t even know anybody was recording it,” Sumlin said. “Everybody was just so happy after the game. It was just one of those things. A spontaneous deal which probably makes it even better. A spontaneous deal after a game just like when guys celebrate with dancing or water or all kinds of things. That’s probably what makes it unique and probably makes it even better than some people think.”
Walk through the lyrics of Kelly's iconic freestyle, annotated verse by verse.
