One day in the offseason, head coach Carolyn Kieger approached sophomore guards Amani Wilborn and Natisha Hiedeman with a request, although not the kind a coach usually makes of a player. Kieger did not ask her tandem of backcourt players to play tight defense or pass more or keep driving to the hoop.
No, Kieger asked them to write music.
“She just said, ‘Hey, why don’t you write a song for Marquette Madness and maybe we can play it or do something with it?’” Hiedeman said.
Roughly a month later, the rap that Wilborn and Hiedeman recorded together made its debut at Marquette Madness in a video entitled “Fly With Us.” The song will be played right before tip-off for every Marquette home game.
“I think it’s nice and it adds a lot of energy,” Hiedeman said.
Writing “Fly With Us” was a collaborative process between the two players. Wilborn and Hiedeman each wrote and recorded their own verses, then both of them figured out what they wanted to say in the chorus. Most of this process took place during the studio recording session only a few days before Madness.
“It just all flowed because we knew exactly what we wanted to say,” Wilborn said.
Ever since the song released, Hiedeman and Wilborn are getting recognized for more than just their contributions on the basketball court. They’ve received positive feedback on the song from both teammates and fans.
“We’ll listen to it in the locker room and just all kind of groove,” Hiedeman said. “A couple of my friends and family … they loved it. Couple of people that was (sic) at Marquette Madness were like ‘Oh, was that you in the song? That was really good.’ Basically all positive stuff.”
Wilborn felt especially comfortable putting words on a page. She writes music in her spare time and has even dabbled in other kinds of writing throughout her life.
“I just did a lot of poetry when I was little,” Wilborn said. “Growing up, it wasn’t really consistent, but it would be on my free time. It was like a hobby of mine.”
Hiedeman, who is nicknamed T-Spoon by her teammates, often tags along with Wilborn to write music. Her lyrical influences include rappers and songwriters like Drake, Lil Uzi and New York City artist A Boogie. The game of basketball itself also played a role in shaping the lyrics, which becomes clear in Hiedeman’s favorite verse.
“Stephen Curry with the shot/three point in the slot/hit the game-winning shot/ that’s what I call jackpot.”
That lyric nicely sums up Hiedeman’s game; she finished last year tied for the team lead in attempted 3-pointers and second on the team in made threes.
The exuberant confidence portrayed in the song underscores something about this team that is vastly different from its recent predecessors. This year’s team is good, and people know it. After back-to-back seasons below .500, Marquette was picked to finish third in the BIG EAST preseason poll. Ten of the 12 members of the Wire sports department predict that the Golden Eagles will go to the NCAA tournament. Attendance rose by 33 percent last year.
All of this is to say that Marquette women’s basketball is becoming more prominent than ever, a fact of which Wilborn is acutely aware.
“A lot of people in the school are excited for this season rather than (sic) last year, where nobody really knew about when we played or anything,” she said. “The fact that people are actually approaching us about the games and how they can get tickets and all of that, it just shows that the school is really behind us.”
“It’s nice that a lot of people are rooting for us this year,” Hiedeman said. “They’re coming to watch us play. I think that women’s basketball is rising.”
And in case there was any doubt about Marquette’s expectations for this upcoming season, Wilborn would like to point you toward her favorite lyric, right at the end of the song.
“Know it’s blue and gold/we gon’ take the BIG EAST.”
