LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — FIFA has been releasing the official World Cup 2026 Sonic IDs for each of North America’s 16 host cities all month.
The Kansas City Theme, which local rapper Tech N9ne wrote, was released on Tuesday and has been well received based on online comments.
Tech N9ne told KSHB 41 News Sports Business Reporter Tod Palmer on Friday that he wasn't surprised people loved it.
“I’ve been doing this all over the world, man,” he said in an interview at his Lee’s Summit soundstage. “I've been doing this Tech N9ne thing all over the world. I had no pressure. I know what I'm doing musically, so I knew, once I put my voice to it, that it would be a thing.”
Tech N9ne, who co-founded the Strange Music record label with Travis O’Guin in 1999, learned about the opportunity with FIFA in early August.
“My partner Travis hit me up and said, ‘Hey, man, do you know anything about FIFA?’ I'm like, ‘Yeah, but what about it?’” Tech N9ne recalled. “He's like, ‘Do you know how humongous that is?’ I'm like, ‘How humongous?’ He said, ‘The biggest — it's bigger than the Super Bowl. It's bigger than everything. It's worldwide.’”
Tech N9ne said he’s been a soccer fan most of his life thanks to an uncle who loved Pele and regularly bought him soccer balls as a kid.
He’s also been a regular guest at Sporting Kansas City and Kansas City Current games, so he was pumped for the chance to work on Kansas City’s Theme.
FIFA provided the base track for all host-city Sonic IDs.
The first step was to have Hu$h, a producer Tech N9ne has collaborated with in the past, dress up the beat.
“Hu$h just threw that butter on it, man, and made it bang and made it powerful,” Tech N9ne said. “I was so inspired that I wrote it that same night after I got it.”
Lawrence resident Nick Anguiano and his 7-year-old son, DJ, listened to the Kansas City’s new FIFA World Cup 26 Sonic ID, which will become the city’s anthem for World Cup-related events and broadcasts over the next 16 months.
They listened to Tech N9ne’s new song Friday outside the Power & Light District.
“Pretty exciting, right?” Nick said as DJ watched the video transfixed. “The World Cup’s going to be here. That song, it’s going to get people pumped up.”
Tech N9ne’s work is the only one of the 16 that includes lyrics.
“When you call for Tech N9ne — I'm the lyrical, you know, I'm the lyrical guy,” he said.
Typically, FIFA Sonic IDs are instrumental, so FIFA was pleasantly surprised to learn that lyrics were possible.
“If it changes what they do going forward, I'm glad I could be the one to kind of move the needle this way,” Tech N9ne said. “I heard that after our Sonic ID came out, the Kansas City one came out, that all the other cities that were hosting were like, ‘Why didn't we do that? We didn’t know you could do lyrics.’ I said, ‘That ain't on them to tell you; you’ve got to tell them, like we did.’”
It took a few revisions, but Tech N9ne, whose Chiefs anthem “Red Kingdom” has become a signature sound of football season in Kansas City, said FIFA wound up thrilled with the result.
“Obviously, Tech N9ne’s a staple,” Anguiano said. “I just thought it was really cool. I didn’t know that he was the only one with lyrics. That’s really unique and just shows what this place is about.”
Lauren Roberts and Jade Spurgeon — basketball fans from West Des Moines, Iowa, who were in town for the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament — also enjoyed Tech N9ne’s latest Kansas City anthem.
“I like that, yeah,” Roberts said as she listened to it for the first time outside Power & Light. “I thought it was pretty cool and good for KC. It was different, so it really brings out a lot of things unique to KC.”
Spurgeon added, “I thought it was good hype music, too. It got me excited for the FIFA (World) Cup. ... KC, baby — yes, sir.”
Tech N9ne said he was inspired to include “KC, baby” in the chorus by the Kansas City Current’s success last season — and it definitely stands out in the record.
“The ‘KC, baby’ — I think it’s going to be really catchy,” Anguiano said. “It’s just something that resonates with this area and this community.”
Tech N9ne left Saturday for a world tour that includes stops in the coming months in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. But he was thrilled that Kansas City’s first cultural export as a World Cup host city was a hit.
“I'm so happy with the positive responses, way more than the negative,” he said. “... This official FIFA World Cup 26 Kansas City Sonic ID was made to bring us all together with love and respect and understanding and power in numbers, man. Let's get together and let's win everything y'all in life. You know what I mean? Tech N9ne.”
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KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
