Olivia R. July 20, 2019
In an attempt to grow esports in his hometown, rapper Wiz Khalifa has announced a partnership with the Pittsburgh Knights.
The "Black and Yellow" rapper told Forbes in an exclusive interview that he would create a new theme song for the Knights in addition to joining the esports organization as a strategic partner.
"Music has been involved in sports as long as I can remember. Whether it’s entrance music for a player or to pump a team up before a game music has always been there. Nowadays artists are breaking music as well premiering on different platforms like Twitch," Wiz said.
He went on to say that this partnership would be "another amazing moment in history" that he's happy to be a part of it.
So far, nothing else has been revealed regarding what all the partnership will entail.
"He's always ahead of the curve," Pittsburgh Knights president James O'Connor said of Khalifa. "He's creative and savvy and we admire him and his team for their work ethic. We're really happy to welcome him into the Knights' family."
The partnership was also announced on Twitter, with the description there being "a business and entertainment partnership as only Pittsburgh can do it." The announcement included a link to merchandise commemorating the partnership.
Most of the responses to the Knights' new strategic partner were positive, with some fans tweeting that they had already bought the shirt just moments after the announcement was made.
Wiz Khalifa's first radio hit was the song "Black and Yellow," which references the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers' colors. The Steelers own the Pittsburgh Knights, who currently have teams competing in Apex Legends, Gwent, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobil, Smite, Paladins, and Super Smash Bros.
"Growing up thinking about this wasn't even imaginable. We are taking the Knights brand and esports to the next level," Wiz said.