Words by Jesse Serwer
From Shaq to the Reggae Boyz’ Bibi Gardner, athletes are always trying their hand at music—rarely with much success. The West Indies cricket team’s Dwayne “DJ” Bravo might be on to something, though, with “Champion,” a song created prior to the start of the World Twenty20 cricket tournament, to accompany his dance by the same name. With the West Indies team emerging victorious over England on Sunday, concluding a boisterous run, Bravo now has a bonafide anthem on his hands.
The Trinidadian all-rounder, known for his effusive dancing on the pitch, offers a roll call of champions, starting with Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Machel Montano and Bunji Garlin, followed by fellow Windies greats Brian Lara, Chris Gayle as well as Michael Jordan, Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, Serena Williams and, finally, Usain Bolt — clearly a major inspiration of the Champion dance. The video for the song, which was released on March 15th, already has over 4.5 million views — more than any dancehall or soca video we know of that was released this year. Airhorn!
Watch the “Champion” video here and, presumably, look out for more celebratory anthems soon from DJ Bravo.