UWGB's Keifer Sykes scores his own rap song

Keifer Sykes' NBA career is still ahead of him, but the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix point guard has already scored his own song.

Green Bay-based hip-hop/rap group Wisco Kidz pay tribute to the standout player with "Keifer Sykes."

"You know I got us/You know we're taking flight/Pass me the rock/I feel like Keifer Sykes," Kidz members Wisco Kyrie and Wisco YD sing.

The song was originally the idea of Green Bay producer Chase Rusch of TripsetBeatz who sent the beat to Wisco Kidz and asked if they would do the song. They wrote it in a day and recorded it at GoodLook Studio in Minneapolis. The first person they played it for was Sykes, who has become a friend to the group.

Like Sykes, Wisco Kyrie was born in Chicago. The song is intended to celebrate how Sykes overcame the rough streets of Chicago to thrive in Wisconsin and on the basketball court.

"Chicago is a pretty wild place growing up in the areas my family came from or the areas he grew up in, so I kind of look up to him for that," Wisco Kyrie said. " ... To be honest, Keifer's the only kid that I know that prospered from there that I have personally ever met. Obviously, there's others in other types of situations, but for me to meet him and know where he came from and we both live here ... and he's a positive kid, that's definitely motivation.

"It's basically on a basketball note, but it's just a positive thing. You can come from anywhere and you can progress. It's a 'I'm on my way up' kind of a deal," he said. "We think he's on his way up. We want to be on our way up."

Wisco Kids, whose four members have Chicago and Milwaukee roots but went to Green Bay Southwest High School, started rapping in 2011. Their first show was at the now defunct Tom, Dick & Harry's in Ashwaubenon and they've worked their way up to playing clubs in the area and opening for touring hip-hop and raps acts that come through the region.

They realize that Green Bay doesn't have a real rap scene, but they didn't let the doubters early on get them down.

"We overcame the doubters and the people who didn't believe we'd be able to move further with it," Wisco Kyrie said. "We plan on just being trendsetters. Our plan is to prove them all wrong."

It doesn't hurt to have Sykes on their side. He hosted Wisco Kidz' back-to-school bash last August at the Riverside Ballroom, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Boys & Girls Club. It was the start of a friendship.

Since the song debuted on SoundCloud on March 5, it has found its way to several college sports websites and into the UWGB senior's highlight reel. The exposure has helped get the Wisco Kidz name out there, too.

As for the song, Wisco Kyrie notes that there are no references in the lyrics to UWGB so it's an anthem that could be playing well into Sykes' career.

— kmeinert@pressgazettemedia.com and follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert