Madison hip-hop artist Jerome Hunt, who performs as Romey, has released “W’s Up (Red and White Anthem),” a new song written as an anthem for University of Wisconsin athletics.
Note: contains explicit lyrics.
The track is produced by DJ Pain 1. Hunt said it started with a conversation between the two about a year and a half ago, when he told the producer, “Bro, we need to do an anthem for the Badgers.”
“‘Jump Around’ has been around and stood the test of time. It’s the biggest college tradition,” Hunt said. “It’s not going anywhere. But let’s do something new age that really captivates the people and really galvanizes the essence of what UW sports is.”
Hunt said he had the concept early but did not finish the record until about two months ago, fitting the work around his coaching and nonprofit commitments.
He said the song draws on Wisconsin’s blue-collar identity and its fans’ devotion to their athletes. “The Wisconsin fight song was literally playing in the back of my mind when I was conceptualizing this record,” he said.
The Badgers song follows records Hunt has made for Wisconsin’s professional teams. He recorded a song for the Milwaukee Bucks and performed at Fiserv Forum, and made a song for the Milwaukee Brewers, threw a ceremonial first pitch and performed at American Family Field. A Green Bay Packers song is finished and is set for release at the start of next season.
Hunt’s connection to UW athletics goes back nearly 30 years. He was 17, had just graduated from Verona and was an apprentice in the barber and cosmetology program at what was then MATC, now Madison College, when a freshman running back named Ron Dayne sat down in his chair.
“I gave Ron Dayne his first haircut in Madison,” Hunt said. Dayne, fresh from New Jersey at the time, went on to win the 1999 Heisman Trophy.
“He could barely even fit in the barber chair,” Hunt said.
Hunt calls Dayne his mentor and “big brother,” and said Dayne helped set up shows for him at the Memorial Union before he was a well-known artist. When Dayne heard the new song, “he loved it so much and he was so inspired by it,” Hunt said, and introduced him to Barry Alvarez along with UW coaches and players. Hunt was on the field with Dayne at Lambeau Field for the Badgers’ Sept. 6 game against Notre Dame, his first time on the field at a professional stadium.
Hunt said a performance at Camp Randall Stadium is planned and the song will be played at home games this season, with details still being finalized. He said the anthem isn’t meant for football alone.
“It’s just UW sports,” he said. “When you’re throwing the dubs up and you’re screaming On Wisconsin, that just applies to all the sports. We’re just an elite sports program all the way across the board.”
A music video is expected within the next two weeks.
