The Time Is Now (John Cena song)
| "The Time Is Now" | ||||||||||
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| Single by John Cena and Tha Trademarc | ||||||||||
| from the album You Can't See Me | ||||||||||
| Released | April 9, 2005 | |||||||||
| Format | CD single, Digital download | |||||||||
| Recorded | 2005 | |||||||||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||||||||
| Length | 2:58 | |||||||||
| Label | WWE Records | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | John Cena, Marc Predka, Julian "Jay" Alphonso Williams | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | Jake One | |||||||||
| John Cena and Tha Trademarc singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"The Time Is Now" is a song by written by Julian "Jay" Alphonso Williams for professional wrestler, actor and hip hop musician John Cena. It is the current entrance theme Cena uses as he makes his entrance to the ring. Currently wrestling for World Wrestling Entertainment, Cena recorded the song in 2005 for his debut studio album, You Can't See Me which he recorded with his cousin Marc Predka.
The rap song was released on April 9, 2005 as the lead single from the album on Columbia and WWE Music Group. The song was later released to iTunes on June 20, 2011.
Background
Cena made his television debut answering an open challenge by Kurt Angle on June 27, 2002.[1] Inspired by a speech given by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to the rising stars of the company, exhorting them to show "ruthless aggression" to earn a place among the legends, Cena took advantage of the opportunity to face Angle. Cena managed to counter the Angle Slam and the ankle lock submission hold,[2] but ultimately lost to a hard amateur wrestling-style pin.[2] Following the near-win, Cena became a fan favorite and started feuding with Chris Jericho, defeating Jericho at Vengeance.[1] In October, Cena and Billy Kidman took part in a tag team tournament to crown the first WWE Tag Team Champions of the SmackDown! brand, losing in the first round.[3] The next week, Cena turned on and attacked Kidman, blaming him for their loss, becoming a villain.[1]
Shortly after the Kidman attack, on a Halloween themed episode of SmackDown, Cena dressed as Vanilla Ice performing a freestyle rap.[1] The next week, Cena received a new character: a rapper who cut promos while rhyming.[1] As the gimmick grew, Cena began adopting a variant of the 1980s WWF logo – dropping the "F" – as his "signature symbol", along with the slogan "Word Life".[4] Moreover, he was joined by an enforcer, Bull Buchanan, who was rechristened B-2 (also written B² and pronounced "B-Squared").[1] Buchanan was later replaced by Red Dogg,[1] until he was sent to the Raw brand in February.
He performed his fifth WWE theme song, "Basic Thugonomics," himself, and it was featured on the WWE soundtrack album WWE Originals. He also recorded a song,"Untouchables", for the company's next soundtrack album WWE ThemeAddict: The Music, Vol. 6. He collaborated on the song H-U-S-T-L-E remix along with Murs, E-40, and Chingo Bling.[5] Cena's debut album, You Can't See Me, was recorded with his cousin Tha Trademarc. It features, amongst other songs, his entrance theme, "The Time is Now", and the single "Bad, Bad Man", for which a music video was made that parodied 1980s culture, including the television show The A-Team. A video was also made for the second single, "Right Now," and premiered on the August 8 edition of WWE Raw.
Composition
"The Time Is Now" was composed by Cena along with Marc Predka, Cena's cousin known by his stage name Tha Trademarc. Having recorded the album with Cena, Predka was featured on virtually every track of the album. Production was handled by Jake One. The song contains samples "Ante Up" by M.O.P. and "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" by Bobby Russell.[6] On October 14, 2008, M.O.P. filed suit in a New York Federal Court against Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Sony BMG Music Sales Enterprise, Stephanie Music Publishing, Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, WWE and John Cena. The group claims that Cena and the WWE stole parts of their song "Ante Up" for his theme song, claiming that the song is unlawfully sampled and clearly repeated three times, during the introduction, and then the second and third chorus. "The Time is Now" who says the M.O.P. is seeking the destruction of the song and asking for $150,000 in damages.[7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Hamilton, Ian. Wrestling's Sinking Ship (p.67)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "SmackDown! results – June 27, 2002". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
- ↑ "SmackDown! results – October 10, 2002". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
- ↑ "John Cena's variant of the 80s WWF logo". WWEOzShop.com. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
- ↑ "H-U-S-T-L-E, MP3 Album page". eMusic. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
- ↑ Yuke's (2007). "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008". THQ.
- ↑ "The Royalty Network vs. Sony BMG et al." (PDF). Retrieved 2012-05-21.