DEL.ICIO.USGeorgia Tech alumni score with football rap video
Former students Swaff and DBay create ‘The Perfect Option’ to honor football team
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday, September 19, 2008
Call them Swaff and DBay, Georgia Tech’s tongue-in-cheek gift to the rap world. Fans going to today’s Georgia Tech-Mississippi State game will see Brandon Swafford and Daniel Baily’s rap video, “The Perfect Option,” on the Bobby Dodd Stadium video board.
The song, commissioned by the Tech athletics department and written and performed by the two recent alumni, debuted at the season opener against Jacksonville State on Aug. 28. The video, featuring Tech players, Buzz and the two rappers, has since gained air time on ESPN and is collecting views on Youtube, where it even earned grudging praise from a Georgia fan.
Johnny Crawford / jcrawford@ajc.com
Georgia Tech students Daniel ‘DBay’ Bailey and Brandon ‘Swaff’ Swafford pose for a photograph inside Bobby Dodd Stadium.
“I can’t stand GT but I have to say this song is pretty cool,” read one comment, posted by a self-described Bulldog fan.
Who they are
Swafford and Baily graduated earlier this year from Tech. Swafford, 24, from Villa Rica, now works for Third Day keyboardist Scotty Wilbanks as a record producer. Baily, 22, of Peachtree City, is in Tech’s Health Systems Institute. They call themselves the GTG’s, part of the school’s old student identification system and in the rap refer to themselves with their school ID numbers, 491y (Baily) and 562h (Swafford).
The two lived the typical Tech experience, pledging a fraternity, grinding through Calculus 2 and cheering for the Jackets. They do not fancy themselves as budding rap stars. Swafford is striving for a career in music production; Baily and his fiancée want to someday improve health care in Africa. Baily, of the autograph requests he’s received, said, “It’s kind of weird. I’m just a Tech guy.” Their music tastes stray away from rap. Both have helped lead church worship services. Swafford likes rock; Baily listens to country.
What it is
The two-minute track touts the Jackets team and new coach Paul Johnson, formerly of Georgia Southern and Navy, and is something of a primer on Johnson’s offense. With the offense’s reliance on option plays, the team is being marketed as “The Perfect Option,” hence the name of the song (and its catchy hook).
A sampling:
“We got a brand new coach
Southern, Navy now Tech
Paul Johnson ‘bout to bring it for the Ramblin’ Wreck
Yo slotback, quarterback, wingback, fullback
Who’s got the ball? Yo shawty, it’s the B-back!”
How it happened
Swafford and Baily gained campus celebrity last spring when, for kicks, they made a rap video spoofing a Tech tradition — students bailing out of the grueling engineering school for the management program, known as “riding the M-Train.” They dreamed about getting 1,000 views on Youtube. Within a few days, the video had blown up and they were getting e-mail from amused and appreciative alumni from as far as California.
Word reached the athletics department, which asked the duo to create a song and video about the football team.
After studying up on Johnson’s offense, Swafford and Baily wrote “The Perfect Option” over two days, produced it in a studio and filmed the video with the help of players and Buzz.
The response
Team members love it. A-back Roddy Jones said he was “humbled” when asked to appear in the video. Said Jones, “I think it’s really cool.” The GTG’s performed on ESPNU and a clip was played on the main ESPN channel. Fox Sports Net South has called, they said. Not all have embraced hip-hop being performed at the oldest Division I-A on-campus stadium in the country. “The irony of having white guys rapping” is lost on some, Baily conceded.
Professional opinion
Consider former Falcon Bob Whitfield a fan. Whitfield is CEO of Patchwerk Recording Studios in Midtown, where 50 Cent, Kanye West and OutKast, among others, have recorded.
Whitfield liked the rap’s hook and the video (“They had different players coming in, they had the bee playing the piano”) and appreciated that the lyrics tell a story.
“If you didn’t know the option, you listen to the song and get a very good lesson about that stuff,” he said.
He doesn’t hold out much hope for the GTG’s professional outlook as rappers, but figures that for what it is, “I’ll give it an A. Them kids were alright. Very good work. I’m like, What do you have next? Are you going to do the basketball team next?”
What is next?
Swafford and Baily actually are putting together a CD that they plan to release at Tech’s homecoming, Oct. 25. Baily said they have a list of Tech-related song ideas, including one about the school’s lamentable (for guys) lack of women students called “The Ratio.”
“I don’t see a future for the GTG’s as far as cranking out albums,” Baily said. “The reason we’re doing it is because we enjoy it and so many people from Tech enjoy the music.”
.JPG)
Services »
