Deion Sanders’ Secret To G-Funk Success? ‘Must Be The Money’
Whenever the topic of bad actors or athletes turned musicians comes up, someone is bound to bring up “Prime Time” Deion Sanders’ 1994 single ‘Must Be The Money’. While nobody is going to mistake this for a five star classic of the genre, it has a lot more going for it than it does against it.
Let’s get the elephant out of the room first. Deion Sanders sounds like he’s sleepwalking through his own song. It’s not great. But lucky for Deion that almost everything else about the song lifts him up to the clouds.
The production, a G-Funk flip of the 1980s Secret Weapon hit ‘Must Be The Music,’ stands tall completely on its own. Fitting like a hand in glove with the contemporary Hip-Hop scene of the time.
Then there’s that hook. Sure, Deion’s vocals aren’t great. But they’re also couched by a quartet of female backing vocalists that do most of the heavy lifting. Taking the weight off Deion and allowing him to focus on being “Prime Time”.
Context is also key here. Deion Sanders released ‘Must Be The Money’ at the tail end of 1994. A little over a month into 1995, he had just won a Super Bowl and was hosting Saturday Night Live, where he got to perform ‘Must Be The Money’. The fact that his episode is regarded as one of the worst ever is irrelevant.
How many people do you know who won a Super Bowl, then went and hosted SNL and performed their own Rap song in the same two week span? Only one man. Deion Sanders.
The music video is all sizzle to boot. Deion flinging money around. Deion dancing in sharp, neon suits. Deion surrounded by women at a big nightclub with his name in big lights.
Are you still stuck on his lazy vocals? How could you be where there’s so much pomp & circumstance saturating your senses?
The entire music video plays like The Official Deion Sanders Experience. Whether or not that’s a ride you’d like to be on is your own call. But it’s easy to buy into the hype. Of course, love him or hate him, Deion is all about the hype and getting his teams and his audience ready for a show. As unlikely as it may seem, this song has been following Deion up to the present day.
Especially as Deion has over-performed in his second act as college coach at both Jackson State & Colorado, ‘Must Be The Money’ has reemerged in recent years as a rallying anthem for Deion and his supporters. Almost being invoked on the same wavelength as if Deion had his own wrestling theme.
In that context, it’s easy to ignore the shortcomings and allow ‘Must Be The Money’ to stand on its own genuine merits. Not as a stone cold classic. Not even as an underrated gem of the era. But as what it was always meant to be, Deion Sanders’ theme music.
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