MVP isn’t just building the Hurt Syndicate—he’s building an anthem, and now he’s breaking down exactly how their hit entrance music came together after walking away from WWE.
During his Marking Out with MVP & Dwayne Swayze podcast, the veteran explained how the track started with some familiar names from the hip-hop world long before the Hurt Syndicate ever hit AEW.
It all traces back to the pandemic, when Westside Gunn, Wale, and Smoke DZA dropped a song called The Hurt Business, inspired by MVP’s WWE faction. At the time, MVP had no involvement—but that changed fast once he heard the track.
“When I finally got my phone back, everybody had sent me links like, ‘Have you seen this? Have you heard this?’ I listened to it and I’m like, ‘Yo, this is fire, this Hurt Business joint!’ But then I was like, ‘Hold on, man, let me hit up Smoke DZA. How y’all got a joint called Hurt Business and I ain’t on it?’”
DZA didn’t hesitate to fix that.
“DZA said, ‘Man, send me the verse, we’ll drop the remix.’ So I went, wrote my verse, recorded it, sent it, and they dropped the Hurt Business remix featuring MVP. It was dope. Everybody liked it, I was very happy with it.”
Fast forward to MVP, Bobby Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin deciding not to re-sign with WWE—and the wheels started turning for a reunion elsewhere, complete with new entrance music.
“I had already reached out to Smoke DZA. I said, ‘Hey man, it’s looking like me, Bobby, and Shelton are gonna get the band back together… and we’re gonna go across the street.’”
With AEW in mind, MVP worked with Cartoon Beats to craft the perfect sound, going back and forth on the beat until it was exactly what he wanted.
“Cartoon would send the beat to Smokey, Smokey would shoot it to me, I would listen to it, and I’d say, ‘Okay, mute this, turn this up, make it more sinister…’ We went back and forth three or four times until he got sonically what I wanted for our sound.”
The hook, “We hurt people, we hurt people,” became the track’s signature, with Westside Gunn originally pitching a far more controversial version that didn’t make the cut.
“Originally, it was supposed to be ‘We hurt [expletive], we hurt Jesus,’ and I’m like, ‘Whoa, I don’t think that’s gonna fly on major TV.’ So they changed it to ‘hurt people.’ When I heard it, I liked it right away.”
MVP also shared a funny behind-the-scenes moment with Shelton Benjamin, who wasn’t exactly sold on Gunn’s unique voice at first.
“When I played it for him, he goes, ‘I don’t know about this song, man… that guy’s voice sounds weird.’ Talking about Gunn, because, you know, Gunn has that very unique voice. I said, ‘Dude, that voice is iconic, man!’”
Once the track debuted in AEW, the response was immediate. Fans sing the hook before matches, chant it during matches, and even belt it out in train stations after shows.
“From the first time it hit, every week you could feel the momentum when it played. Now everywhere I go, people are singing it.”
Limited-edition vinyl copies of the song have already sold out, and MVP teased that autographed versions will be hitting indie shows soon.
“It’s gotten over so much that before we come out, fans in the arena start singing it before the music even comes on. During the match, they chant it. It’s been a blast.”
With AEW’s blessing and hip-hop royalty behind it, the Hurt Syndicate’s anthem is proving to be more than just entrance music—it’s a movement.
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