Rise Up: The Inside Story of Utah Football's Anthem
Written by Michelle Bodkin, Reporter - 247 Sports
From a young age, former Utah receiver Kenneth Scott's mother Trish Banks always encouraged him to write down what he was thinking and feeling as a way to express himself. As a quiet, shy kid growing up in Rialto, California, the practice was therapeutic. Eventually that love of writing turned into something else - a love and passion for writing witty lyrics and creating music. It became something Scott was well known for during his time in Salt Lake City.
“I really got started when I was younger writing- my mom would always tell me—you know my mom, she was my biggest fan in music,” Scott reflected. “My mom would always tell me that if I had an idea, want to talk to somebody or don’t want to talk to somebody to write it down and then just write. I got into writing when I was younger always trying to deliver a message or whatever was on my mind. As I got older I grasped it, but wasn’t fully developed as far as like a true artist.”
Everyone always applies the “six degrees of separation” to Kevin Bacon, but it also works for Scott who seems to know everyone who knows someone due to his friendly and now outgoing nature as young adult. A chance meeting on MySpace many years ago with noteworthy music producer Dame Taylor back in the infancy of social media is what ultimately lead to one of the most viral moments in Utah football history—the release of Scott’s anthem “Rise Up” before the Pac-12 Championship Game.
“We met through mutual friends,” Taylor recalled. “I was real close friends with some of the other guys he played football with in high school and we just connected online. I’ve just been a big supporter of all he’s done and have always been there for him since then. Our relationship has just grown into what it is now.”
For several years now Scott has been working closely with Taylor who has worked with the likes of Akon, 50 Cent, Ne-Yo and many other music industry giants to perfect his craft. Scott has gone from simply writing lyrics to being able to produce his own beats, and even tinker around on instruments largely due to the nurturing he’s received from Taylor who has experienced it all.
“I credit Dame for the development of me with music,” Scott said. “Not too many people know Dame has been knowing me since high school. It’s ironic that Dame came in. He coached me, mentored me and developed me into who I am now. What got me into music was obviously my mom when I was younger, but what’s keeping me going is Dame and his mentorship to propel me in that growth.”
“Rise Up” was a perfect storm waiting to happen between Scott’s renewed energy creating music, and what appeared to be a big season ahead for the Utes. Utah football social media manager Maddie Hansen has been the cog for the Utes’ visibility on the Internet since 2014 (her efforts have been award winning), and had the foresight to reach out to Scott over the summer to see if he’d be willing to put something together for the team.
“They hit me up late July when the team was in fall camp and Maddie thought it would be a great idea for the football team to have an anthem,” Scott said. “You know? For them to come out to and to have something—and to have the fans have something to get hype about. She reached out to me late July to put something together for them.”
Naturally as a former Ute who happened to be a captain on another noteworthy team in 2015, Scott was pumped for the opportunity to give his old squad a sound all their own. First things first, he set to work doing research and trying to narrow down what it was he wanted people to know about being a Ute. Scott also took time to seek some guidance from Taylor as he prepared to sit down and write lyrics.
“You were dancing around the idea of creating a song back in September,” Taylor said. “I was actually surprised to hear the song go by so fast. Especially since we talked about it in September. I think there was an idea to create a song back then and the closer it got to this time I think created more of a sense of urgency.”
Once Scott was decided on the direction to take it, the song virtually created itself.
“It only took about a week to make,” Scott said. “The reason being is I had wanted to do a little more research on the topics I wanted to outline and put into the song. Once I got done writing I called one of our producers—AR15 and I asked if he could give me a beat. In 15 minutes he was like ‘aight bro, I can cook you up something in 15 minutes.’ He sent it to me, I put my vocals on it, sent it to our friend 89 whose name is Mike and he mixed it. I got Dame’s approval and it was good to go from there. It took about an hour.”
Scott pretty much kept the song under cloak and dagger only occasionally reaching out to Maddie through the creation process to make sure he was heading in the right direction. None of the former or current players and coaches knew what he was up to. Once he had a finished product head coach Kyle Whittingham was given a sneak peak for final approval before it was released.
“I kept it such a secret,” Scott laughed. “I only mentioned it to Maddie the social media lady about some topics I wanted to touch on, but I didn’t really talk with anybody. Before the song was released coach Whitt listened to it and it he loved it so that was pretty cool.”
December 5, 2019 at 6:04 pm Maddie dropped the bomb on Utah Football’s Twitter account and the rest is history. From the first baseline “Rise Up” is a gauntlet thrower much in the spirit of old New York street rap. It goes hard both melodically and lyrically—a sound representation of just what exactly Utah Football is. Raw and real it celebrates the Ute’s 15 year come up in the college football ranks to where it currently is today, and yes, there is even a little rivalry smack just for some added fun.
“I wanted to incorporate the old history of the football team with the new,” Scott said. “Like it mentioned in the lyrics ‘we went from BCS Busters to Play-off contenders’—I kind of wanted to tie in the old with the progressing over time. I also wanted to throw some subtle jabs at our rivals like in the beginning with ‘I’m telling you why’. Just some little subtle jabs to make it more fun, to make it more impactful and more hype.”
“It’s their anthem,” Scott continued. “I made it to where it would be like more of an anthem for them to get up to at any point of the season. It doesn’t have to be toward the end, it could be the beginning in the first game, or against the rivalry game. I think one of the fans actually pointed that out with the ‘I’m tellin’ you why’ and how BYU is ‘Rise and Shout’ so the hook ‘Rise Up’ and then ‘Band of Brothers’—I incorporated that. It’s just little things that people picked up on to make it more fun.”
For Taylor seeing the success of a smaller project like “Rise Up” is exactly why he left the big leagues to focus on his new baby “Monster Sessions”—a music development and support system meant to help talented up-and-comers reach their full potential. Guys like Scott are exactly who Taylor wants to help open doors for.
“Being a music producer you gain so much experience in the music environment just from working with songwriters, artists, engineers, working in high pressure environments,” Taylor said. “I’ve just had a lot of experience in the music industry so in order to be good as a music producer you have to be good as a songwriter, and you have to be able to propel songwriters. With all of this experience as a music producer I got online about 10 years ago and I started doing YouTube videos just helping give information to aspiring music creators on what it’s like being a professional in the music industry.”
“About four or five years ago I realized there was a need for me to give back and start helping aspiring music artists so I shifted my focus from being a music producer in the industry to being someone that can create opportunities for other music creators online,” Taylor continued. “I realized that a part of the L.A. community—there were so many people moving to Los Angeles wanting to gain the life or experience I’ve had and there was nobody for them to be able to do that unless someone like me stepped up. I created the platform Monster Sessions which allowed people to come up to L.A. to work in some of the best recording studios in Los Angeles to gain the experience that I was fortunate to have growing up in the music industry. Then we created another platform called Monster A and R which allowed all the music creators from all over the world that couldn’t come to Los Angeles to be able to have an online community that was simulated to be like the environment that I grew up in here in L.A. So to have professional mentorship, guidance—it’s like an online development system that music creators all over the world could submit their music, have a community that they could engage with and this community is going to help everyone get better.”
Today Monster Sessions boasts over 100 different members across 20 different states and countries including Scott who is a rising star amongst their ranks. Scott is hopeful this is the first of many tracks he gets to lay down not only for the University of Utah, but expanding into the Pac-12 as well creating a unique little niche for himself in a competitive industry.
“I think moving forward, obviously the next step is to continue with all sports within the university and also for the conference,” Scott said. “I got reached out to over Twitter about making the intro song for Pac-12 Networks. It’s just keeping the foot on the gas and keep on creating. Keep on working. That’s really it. You have to keep on working and perfecting your craft. The next step would obviously be with basketball season up and gymnastics is next. Just keep creating music to be prepared for those opportunities.”
Taylor said he can also be counted on to help Scott along the way as he grows his brand and reach.
“I think it’s extremely magical to be able to create something the way he did with this ‘Rise Up’ song and I’m going to advise that he really puts some time and focus into the university,” Taylor said. “To reach out and see how he can help add more excitement, more support, more motivation as a player. I think he will be extremely receptive to the university being that he gave so much of himself to the school and he can use his music the way he does to motivate all the other athletes, even the city so I definitely am going to get behind him making sure that he has all of the resources he needs to be able to contribute to the community in this way. I’m excited about it.”
The response to “Rise Up” from not only the fans, but current and former players has been overwhelming to Scott, but he’s excited to keep riding the wave. Up next Scott says fans should watch out for another former player with musical ability to join him on a project he hopes will get just as much play in the very near future.
“After the song got released me and Dominique Hatfield had like a 45 minute conversation planning out the next move,” Scott said. “Me and Domo are super close. That’s like a brother of mine. Domo and I have always been musically inclined in college as far as like rapping with each other, creating music with each other. As far as the future we definitely have something in store for the next thing that we have dropping. It may not be a remix to ‘Rise Up’, but it will be a track of its own for another event. I’m looking forward to that. Me and him are looking forward to it, Domo is in L.A.—Crenshaw to be exact so whenever I do go back out to California I can link up with him, get in the studio and create something that will be really nice for the university. The fact that people want to see that is really awesome and it makes us feel good too. Me and Domo have always been musically inclined as far as wanting to do this as like a career type thing—having people back us up is very cool in our eyes to see that type of support.”