How Patrick Mahomes artistry on the field inspires artists to pay tribute to him in music

Publish date: 2024-05-25

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Back then, almost every weekend began with his father or mother driving him to his next baseball game.

One time, sitting in the back seat on the way to a tournament, 8-year-old Patrick Mahomes had a short talk that he never forgot. The son of Pat Mahomes, a pitcher who spent 11 years in the major leagues, remembers their conversation pivoting to music.

“My dad always used to say that he wanted his name to be in a song,” said Mahomes. “He used to play all those old rap songs. He listened to Scarface a lot. He listened to, like, the real rappers of his generation.”

Almost 20 years later, Mahomes is the unquestioned face of the NFL. He will begin his seventh season on Thursday night in the league’s opening-night showcase game, leading the Kansas City Chiefs against the Detroit Lions. Entering his seventh season, Mahomes is the NFL’s reigning MVP, the MVP of Super Bowl LVII and two-time Super Bowl champion.

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That success has made Mahomes a significant cultural figure, too, an inspiration to numerous musical artists. As of this week, Mahomes has been referenced — either by his full name, just his last name or the nickname “Patty Mahomes” — in 594 songs, according to Lyrics.com, the largest searchable lyrics database.

Hip-hop, Mahomes’ favorite style of music, is the genre that name-checks him the most, a collection of 216 songs, according to Genius.com, another leading music encyclopedia.

“Even though I’m the second, it’s still his name,” Mahomes said of achieving his father’s dream. “It is really cool.”

Mahomes is not a textbook quarterback — and never has been.

He had rare arm talent, even as a child. In his first T-ball game, he unleashed a throw from shortstop to first base, a throw so hard and precise that the ball smashed the first baseman’s glasses.

He continues to find new ways to throw a football. His creativity has led him to throw the ball from just about any arm angle, often slinging the ball like a submarine pitcher.

In his remix of Love Mansuy’s romantic song, “Count on You,” hip-hop legend Lil Wayne references one of Mahomes’ best abilities.

We catching feelings like Mahomes do with the side arm
Like hut two, me plus you equals us two

NFL analysts have described Mahomes as a magician. His improvisational playing style has led to incredible highlights.

In a comeback victory over the Denver Broncos, Mahomes, while sprinting away from pass rusher Von Miller, threw and completed a left-handed pass to receiver Tyreek Hill on a critical third down. He threw his first no-look pass, now his signature, to receiver Demarcus Robinson in a comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens.

Last season, while running away from multiple defenders, Mahomes, in a split-second moment of brilliance, completed a no-look, shovel pass to running back Jerick McKinnon that led to a 56-yard touchdown in another win over the Broncos.

Mahomes magic! 🪄

📺: #KCvsDEN on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/TzmdzbFm9o pic.twitter.com/AVyeGJYeHV

— NFL (@NFL) December 11, 2022

Mahomes’ playing style has led to a number of imaginative lyrics. Hip-hop group INFRAR3D, from Austin, Texas, captured Mahomes’ spontaneous passes well in their song “Bag Baby (I Need a Bag).”

Doing what I gotta do
No-look pass, Pat Mahomes audible

Watching Mahomes gave rapper Hoodie Allen, from Long Island, N.Y., the feeling of reminiscing about a fling, the main theme of his song, “Hell of a Time.”

We go out of control,
I Chief, Patrick Mahomes

AVGUST, a hip-hop artist who lives in Brooklyn, began writing verses when he was 11, creating his first batch of songs as a junior at Cornell. His first hit song, “Vanilla Latte,” went viral on campus and through TikTok, helping him gain more than 230,000 followers.

Although AVGUST isn’t a huge football fan, he watches the Super Bowl every year. He said the most fascinating player on the field in Super Bowl LV — which the Chiefs lost to the Bucs — was Mahomes, who scrambled 497 yards before releasing the ball or being sacked, the most by any quarterback in any game during the 2020 season, according to Next Gen Stats.

“He had made that throw,” said August Brainard-Brunelle, 23, “that wasn’t even a complete pass.”

No quit in these Chiefs. @PatrickMahomes

📺: #SBLV on CBS
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/HJtQf5igun pic.twitter.com/5rhsJjG76E

— NFL (@NFL) February 8, 2021

Sprinting to his right to avoid being sacked, Mahomes released the ball while his body was parallel to the turf. Yet Mahomes still had enough power to get the ball 30-plus yards downfield, with incredible accuracy, to running back Darrel Williams, who had the ball bounce off the front of his helmet.

“That is insane,” AVGUST said of Mahomes. “You know how tough it is to throw a good pass with both feet on the ground in an NFL game with a defensive line on you. If that was caught, that would’ve been one of the best plays ever.”

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AVGUST didn’t write about Mahomes immediately after the game. But subconsciously, the play stayed with him. Using his TikTok account in August 2021, AVGUST posted a 20-second clip of him rapping while holding a candle. The verse later became the hook for his song “Indiana Jones.”

Who said they can catch me? They big cappin’: Indiana Jones
Even when I’m falling, hit my target, call me Pat Mahomes

“I wanted to write something that was a little braggadocious,” AVGUST said. “My favorite line is the Pat Mahomes one, just the double entendre. Even when there’s a lot of stuff going on in my life, and things aren’t going the right way, I’m still going to get where I’m trying to go.”

One of Mahomes’ game-day routines on the road is to sit on the team bus and listen to music. His pregame playlists have evolved over the years, his musical taste shifting with each phase of his life.

He remembers when he was on the bus on Sept. 9, 2018, his first game as the Chiefs’ unquestioned starting quarterback. As a rookie, Mahomes played in only one game — performing well in a Chiefs victory — but he spent the year as Alex Smith’s understudy. The Chiefs’ 2018 season began in Los Angeles against the division-rival Chargers. That day, one song in Mahomes’ playlist best mirrored the emotions he was feeling.

Within seconds of the track starting, DJ Drama begins motivating the listener:

You see I been waiting, waiting on that time
Feel me if you been waiting on yours
That moment … is close

“It hit,” Mahomes said of the song, smiling. “I went through a full year of not playing, and you have to continue to work. I remember hearing that song and was like, ‘Man, this is it. This is your moment to go out and showcase who you are.’”

In a classic hip-hop collaboration, DJ Drama in 2012 put together the hit song “My Moment” with rappers 2 Chainz and Meek Mill and R&B singer Jeremih, who performed the stirring chorus.

As long as I stay hustling, I’m gon’ shine
I’m just waiting on that moment
Waiting on my moment

With his third pass of the game, Mahomes announced himself to millions of viewers by throwing a quick strike to Hill, who ran a slant and sprinted untouched into the end zone for a 58-yard touchdown. Mahomes led the Chiefs to a 38-28 victory in a mesmerizing performance, finishing with 256 yards and four touchdowns with no turnovers.

“Every time Pat stepped into the huddle,” Hill said that day, “he was very confident.”

This summer, Mahomes won the ESPY award for best male athlete. One of the presenters was Quavo, the rapper and co-founder and frontman of Migos.

“My guy,” Quavo said to Mahomes, the men dapping up one another before Mahomes gave his acceptance speech.

Quavo was on the stage that night, in part, because Migos created Mahomes’ favorite song that includes his name: “Mahomes,” the 15th track on the group’s critically acclaimed album “Culture III.”

Huncho the chief, had to send it to Mahomes
Franchise tag, everybody want a loan (Mahomes)

“That one is definitely my favorite one, just because I know those guys,” Mahomes said. “It is really cool. I like it lyrically. And obviously, my name is, like, the chorus.”

Many artists have chosen to align their success — whether in literal terms or in a theoretical manner — with Mahomes’ feats. Big K.R.I.T., a rapper from Meridian, Miss., included Mahomes — Mahomes second with a ring now (I got a ring now) — in his song “KICKOFF,” which was featured on the soundtrack of the Madden NFL 21 video game. Mahomes is the only player Big K.R.I.T. referenced in the song.

Mahomes’ wealth is a common reference in lyrics. Masi, a rapper from Cleveland, sings a pertinent phrase in his song “Jasmin Rouge” that many of his musical peers aspire to achieve: Trying to touch on some millions like Mahomes.

“I Thought It’d Be Different” out now!!! https://t.co/UNQtugwnut pic.twitter.com/iWexkc63qh

— Rory (@thisisrory) May 26, 2023

In July of 2020, just months after leading the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl victory in 50 years, Mahomes signed the largest contract in North American sports history, a 10-year, $477 million extension that could be worth up to $503 million with incentives.

But such wealth can attract a rival. Mahomes, to his surprise, became a part of content creation for Drake, one hip-hop’s biggest artists. In “Lemon Pepper Freestyle,” with rapper Rick Ross, Drake used one of his bars to jab at Mahomes, leaving many to wonder if the multiplatinum artist was dissing the quarterback.

Patty Mahomes, ‘bout to fall short a couple hunnid
Signed, sealed, delivered, I f—– the notary public
She witnessed me sign off on some undeniable numbers

A month before the song was released, Mahomes and Drake were featured together in a State Farm commercial. But when the song was released, on March 5, 2021, Mahomes responded on his his X account, formerly Twitter, to post a GIF of Drake shaking his head, saying, “Wow,” with a bewildered facial expression and then covering his face with his right hand after looking at information on his smartphone.

“I’m a competitor,” Mahomes said. “I still listen to Drake, but it wasn’t the way I wanted to be referenced in a song, for sure.”

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The first song that mentioned Mahomes was created by one of his fans.

The upbeat song “Patrick Mahomes” was released Sept. 14, 2016, a celebratory anthem for Texas Tech fans created by Slikk, a rapper from Lubbock, Texas.

“When I saw him play, before he was the (full-time) starter, I knew he had potential,” Juan Jose Barrera, 40, said of Mahomes. “I knew he was something different. I saw it from the beginning.”

Growing up, Slikk’s mother, Gloria Barrera, was a singer, a musician who introduced him to Norteña, a genre of regional Mexican music, and American artists, such as George Strait, the Temptations and the Four Tops. However, Slikk’s brother, Lupe Barrera, showed him a path in hip-hop. In October 2013, Slikk made his first song for sports fans: “Swag Like Kliff,” a song in honor of then-Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury, who recruited Mahomes to play at the school and helped him change his career path from major-league pitcher to NFL quarterback.

“It was on the radio in Lubbock,” Slikk said. “I was getting a lot of love for that.”

By the summer of 2016, before Mahomes began his junior season, Slikk became motivated to make a song in homage to Mahomes. The previous winter, Slikk watched Mahomes, in a loss, use his elusiveness and sidearm passes to outwit LSU at times in the Texas Bowl, posting 370 passing yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

“It took me maybe three hours,” Slikk said. “That was the fastest I’ve ever done a song. It just came out of me. One thing that I did on purpose, too, was I made sure that I didn’t curse. I wanted everybody to enjoy it.”

The chorus, as Slikk realized, was simple and catchy.

I’m going deep, I’m going long, I’m in the end zone
Call me Patrick Mahomes (who?), Patrick Mahomes (what?)
Patrick Mahomes, yeah, I’m Patrick Mahomes

Similar to Slikk, Brainchild VHS, a lifelong Chiefs fan, became more and more inspired each week he watched Mahomes during the 2018 season, a year in which Mahomes led the NFL with 50 touchdown passes and won the league’s MVP award for the first time.

“I wanted to participate, somehow, in the Mahomes mania,” said Joshua Veach, 42. “Some people make a sign, a shirt or a hat. I don’t know how to make any of that. So I made a song.”

A musician who has a passion for movie soundtracks, Brainchild VHS built his studio in his home in Vancouver, Wash., in 2016 and began creating ’80s rock-style albums featuring layers of synthesizers, heavy guitars and loud drums. In November 2018, Brainchild VHS began writing “It’s Showtime,” a song that opens with a riff from the “Tomahawk chop.” A month later, the song was finished, accompanied by a video that has more than 125,000 views on Facebook.

“I knew the lyrics were going to be out there,” Brainchild VHS said, laughing. “The more I kept writing them, the more hilarious and crazy it got.”

The song boasts that Mahomes is “a baller in red,” someone who can “throw it to the moon,” “shoots lasers from his eyes,” “invented curly fries,” “can breathe in outer space,” and “rides to practice on a lion.” The bridge, though, is when Brainchild VHS wanted to remind Chiefs fans of the other quarterbacks they had before Mahomes’ arrival.

Damon Huard, Brodie Croyle, Grbac, Bono, want to hurl
One and done, I can’t believe, had no touchdown to wide receiver
Tyler Palko, Brady Quinn, Todd Blackledge, Cassel, Tyler Thigpen
So much pain I have endured, it doesn’t matter anymore
Cuz Patty Mahomes

“I was maybe worried I made it too ridiculous,” Brainchild VHS said. “But thankfully, a lot of people thought it was just the right amount of ridiculous.”

At the start of the 2019 season, Chiefs fans fell in love with a parody of John Denver’s classic song “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which was written by Jason Gallagher, a Dallas Cowboys fan who was enamored with Mahomes.

Gallagher, The Ringer’s director of video strategy at the time, gained fame with sports fans for his ability to write witty, entertaining songs about an athlete or team, such as “Halleluka,” an ode to Dallas Mavericks star Luka Dončić. Gallagher was also inspired to write the song because his wife, Kelli, and her parents are Chiefs fans from McPherson, Kan.

“I was like, ‘They’re going to love this,’” Gallagher, 36, said. “Usually, the successful ones can be written in, like, 10 minutes. The less successful ones take, like, days. You feel that magic when you (think) of the name Philip Rivers and the fact that ‘river’ is a line in the real song. That’s one of the best lines I’ve ever put to paper. That’s when you start to go, ‘OK, this is naturally funny.’”

The song, called “Pat Mahomes,” became so popular that less than five months later, The Ringer released a second version, a compilation of videos in which Chiefs fans — children, teenagers, cover bands, women and old men — sang the lyrics Gallagher wrote and Isaac Lee and Stephanie Snowden, producers at The Ringer, originally recorded.

Pat Mahomes, take me home
To the place, we belong
Kansas City to Miami
Take me home
Pat Mahomes

“This one had genuine cultural reach within Kansas City in a way that I hadn’t really had with other songs,” Gallagher said. “I got chills watching other people do it for fun. It’s a very stupid song, but it makes me happy.”

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The Royal Chief’s writing process always begins the same way: The rapper wakes up in his home in Kansas City, stays in his bed and listens to music on his phone or laptop before he puts his words to paper.

“I take my time, and I’m not trying to rush anything,” said Jamel Thompson, 31. “I like to make sure it flows right, but it is a euphoric feeling when you know you’ve got something. I was just like, ‘This is going to be dope.’”

The moment was December 2018, when The Royal Chief was listening to melodic music, without drums, that later became the beat for his song “100 Miles (feat. JaySol).”

“We’re one of those cities where we live and die by our own,” The Royal Chief said. “Anything that’s from here, we’re 1,000 percent in on it. Patrick is not from here, but he’s in the fabric of Kansas City.”

He started by writing the chorus first, a song in which he predicts how he will overcome naysayers who doubt his ability to succeed as an artist. The Royal Chief found an ideal place to reference one of his favorite athletes after a line in which observers watch his legacy grow.

I’m on the hunt while you … play catchup,
When they up the stakes, I go Patrick Mahomes

“People really sleep on it,” The Royal Chief said of the lyrics. “It’s a fun, cool bar. I just thought it was a dope way to fit his name in it.”

Whenever he performs “100 Miles,” The Royal Chief appreciates how the crowd cheers when he gets to the Mahomes bar.

The Royal Chief is well aware of Mahomes’ reputation for fourth-quarter comebacks, including both of his Super Bowl victories.

“As a fan, you never feel like it’s over,” he said. “This is how people felt with (Michael) Jordan.”

Mahomes is proud of the eclectic music library on his iPhone.

“I like all types of music,” he said. “Obviously, I listen to a lot of rap and hip-hop. But I listen to country music now a lot, especially with (wife) Brittany. I’ll listen to even house music.”

Before some games, Mahomes said he listens to songs that are mellow, tunes to calm him. Other games, he will listen to aggressive, fast-paced songs, sometimes trap music to ensure he’ll be energetic and focused before kickoff.

“It gets me in the right mindset,” Mahomes said. “One of the parts of our friendship, me and (tight end) Travis (Kelce), is we both have a love for music. We like to really showcase that by the way we play.”

The last time Mahomes performed in front of millions of people, he did something in his pregame warmup, before Super Bowl LVII, that he hadn’t planned to do: He started rapping Mill’s classic hit “Dreams and Nightmares” while the song was played inside State Farm Stadium.

I don’t say a word, I don’t say a word
Was on my grind and now I got what I deserve

Mahomes enjoys putting his iPhone on shuffle when driving home after a game or a practice and hearing a song by Scarface or another old-school rapper that his father loved.

“I’ll know the words, even though I haven’t listened to the song in years,” Mahomes said. “It just goes from me being in the back seat of that car.”

(Illustration: Sean Reilly / The Athletic; photos: David Eulitt / Getty Images and Prince Williams / Wireimage)

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How Patrick Mahomes artistry on the field inspires artists to pay tribute to him in music