Sports
Local "Gang Green" Anthem Goes Viral
Great Neck music producer and rabid football fan pens 'unofficial' Jets anthem
As the Jets prepared to take off for the AFC Championship game at Pittsburgh's Heinz Stadium, one Great Neck music producer basked in his newfound status as the region's latest YouTube sensation.
"It's like a dream come true," Matt Fox said about his recent Internet fame. "I never imagined that 'Gang Green' would get over 125,000 hits in just a few weeks."
Fox is talking about "Rex's Gang Green," a hip-hop track he produced to get Jets fans excited about the team's latest playoff run, which as of Friday evening had over 125,000 hits on YouTube and plenty of airplay on local radio.
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For Fox, another dream come true is the realization that his song is quickly becoming a locker room favorite for Jets players — pictures of whom fill the shelves in his apartment on Middle Neck Road.
"I actually heard the first time they played it for the team everyone started laughing," Fox said. "That's what I was going for — I wanted to create something that was fun."
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The new Jets anthem was created shortly after Gang Green clinched a spot in the playoffs, and according to Fox, almost immediately snowballed into a YouTube sensation.
"I think because I am such a huge fan, writing the lyrics came easy ... [it] took about a day and a half," Fox said.
Fox enlisted the help of local hip-hop artist Sean Henry to collaborate and record a version of the anthem, which runs just over four minutes.
"By the following Saturday we'd gone viral," Fox said. "It's so surreal."
Though there's no official word yet from Jets management as to whether the team plans to make the Internet hit the official team anthem, Fox is hopeful coach Rex Ryan will include his anthem into his pregame playbook.
"I get excited every time I think that the team might one day use 'Rex's Gang Green' for their pep rallies," Fox said.
Fox, who says openly that he "bleeds green," has been a Jet fan from birth and looks forward to hearing back from the team.
While the future of the Gang Green anthem remains uncertain, one thing is for sure: Fox now owns a piece of Jet history that will stay with him forever.