The Story Behind “The Lou” and the City That Changed My Life
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There are moments in life that feel so surreal that you almost have to step outside of yourself just to believe they are real. For me, “The Lou” has been one of those moments. What started as a cold email eventually turned into a song that Cardinals fans now call an anthem and members of the Cardinals scoreboard team have called “the song of the summer.”
Back in 2025, I pitched my song “How Bad Do You Want It?” to every Major League Baseball team in the league. Out of all 30 teams, only one responded: the St. Louis Cardinals. That one response changed everything.
From September 5 through September 7, 2025, my family and I drove 30 hours round trip from Baltimore to St. Louis for the first time. September 6 also happened to be my birthday, and that was the same day I witnessed the Cardinals play “How Bad Do You Want It” live inside Busch Stadium.
Watch the St. Louis Vlog Here:
Funny enough, it was not technically my first time in Missouri. When I was 14, I played for the Baltimore Buzz metro team and we ended up making it to the NABF World Series in Joplin, MO. I somehow ended up making the front page of the Joplin Globe sports section after a diving catch in the semifinal game. I was also named the World Series MVP that year, pitching 6 scoreless innings in our championship win. At the time, I never thought much about it. Looking back now, it feels like Missouri has somehow always been part of my baseball story.
As somebody who grew up playing baseball, that moment inside Busch Stadium was hard to even put into words. I always dreamed of making it to the major leagues as a pitcher. I was even scouted by the Houston Astros for the 2015 MLB Draft, but things did not work out. I never imagined I would get to the league through music. I remember standing there hearing my song come through the speakers at Busch Stadium and rapping every single word to myself while my heart was racing, trying to take it all in. It was hard to process.
The entire trip felt surreal. Seeing the Arch in person for the first time. Walking through Ballpark Village. Eating at Cardinals Nation. Getting to attend the 2025 Cardinals Hall of Fame ceremony and watch the inductees be honored. Meeting Jared from the Cardinals scoreboard team, the person inside the organization who believed in my music before anybody else did.
And somehow, in the middle of all of it, I kept seeing feathers all around the city. That might sound small, but to me it meant everything. My brother Citro loved feathers. He had a whole feather collection and always told me when you see a feather, that means a loved one is near. Seeing feathers around St. Louis felt like a sign that he was there with me somehow, watching it all happen.
Watch the “See You In Heaven" (David Citro Jr. Tribute):
One of the coolest moments of the entire trip was getting to go inside the scoreboard control room at Busch Stadium. Seeing where everything happens behind the scenes gave me a whole new appreciation for what the Cardinals do, and it made me appreciate Jared even more because he was the first person to really take a chance on me. The truth is, by last spring, I was close to giving up on music completely. After ten years of hearing no after no, getting ignored, getting overlooked, and wondering if anything was ever going to happen, it starts to wear on you. So for somebody inside a Major League Baseball organization to not only believe in my music, but to open doors for me and my family, meant more than I can explain.
When I got back home to Baltimore, I knew I wanted to give something back to St. Louis. That became “The Lou.” I hit up my favorite producer Balloon Beats and told him about the idea. After about a month of back-and-forth revisions we finalized the beat and I went right to work researching the city, the team, and the fanbase that embraced me.
The crazy part is that I was actually supposed to record a completely different song that week in December. I was deep in the process of making songs for a new album that I wanted to finish before my daughter was born, but for some reason I could not stop thinking about “The Lou.” Something kept telling me I needed to record it that week. Looking back now, I truly believe that was Citro.
I usually only do one recording session per song, but “The Lou” was different. It is the only song I have ever done where I went back for a second recording session because I wanted it to be perfect. I treated those studio sessions the same way I used to treat baseball games when I was a pitcher. Before every game, I used to listen to “Can’t Be Touched” by Roy Jones Jr. on repeat during warmups. I had not listened to that song in years, but before both recording sessions for “The Lou,” I had it on repeat again. It felt like I was back on the mound. Bottom of the ninth. Two outs. Bases loaded. Up by one run. That was the mindset.
I wanted to get every lyric right. I wanted to get every reference right. I wanted St. Louis fans to hear it and know that it was made by somebody who genuinely cared. I built the song around Cardinals legends, Busch Stadium, Ballpark Village, floodlights, the city skyline, and the energy of St. Louis baseball. I even made the song exactly 3 minutes and 14 seconds long for the 314 connection (the St. Louis area code). Then on 3/14 Day, I sent the song to the Cardinals at exactly 3:14 PM (I had to send it at 4:14pm my time so it would land at 3:14 their time). I wanted “The Lou” to sound like Busch Stadium at night with the floodlights on, a packed crowd in the stands, and the Cardinals coming out for a big game.
When the song released, the response from St. Louis honestly overwhelmed me. The week before release, I posted a video telling the story of how the Cardinals were the only team that responded to me and how “The Lou” came to be. That video ended up getting over 170,000 views across TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. People from St. Louis started reaching out everywhere. They were congratulating me. Sharing their excitement for the song. Telling me I was welcome in St. Louis anytime.
Then release weekend came.
On Saturday, the day after the song dropped, the Cardinals told me that “The Lou” made its debut at Busch Stadium on release night (April 10th, 2026), during the middle of the third inning against the Boston Red Sox. Not only did they send me footage from the scoreboard showing fans reacting to it, but they also sent me a personal video from inside the scoreboard control room. In the clip, members of the scoreboard team were chanting “Double G.” Two different people called “The Lou” the “song of the summer.”
I honestly lost it when I heard that. Usually when people say “song of the summer,” they are talking about a major label artist with a huge budget and a giant team behind them. I am just an independent artist from Baltimore doing everything myself. To hear a billion-dollar franchise like the Cardinals say that about my music was one of the greatest compliments I have ever received.
The love from St. Louis has continued ever since. “The Lou” became my number one streamed song on Apple Music during its first week out. I started seeing Shazams coming in from St. Louis. Fans kept telling me the song should be a walk-up song and played at every home game at Busch. People were calling it the new Cardinals anthem. One fan said, “This is THE LOU! This is our anthem.” Another said, “New Cards theme song!” Another told me, “You are welcomed here any time.”
Those comments meant more to me than people probably realize because the truth is, sometimes the people who believe in you most are not from your hometown. Baltimore made me who I am, and I will always love where I came from. But St. Louis embraced me in a way I never expected. A city nearly 900 miles away made me feel like family.
I was not a Cardinals fan before all of this because I grew up in Baltimore, but I can honestly say I am a huge fan now. I bought Cardinals.TV so I can watch all of the games this season, I find myself watching both the Orioles and Cardinals games at the same time every night (one on TV and one on my phone), and I have even been converting a few Baltimore fans into Cardinals fans too.
And then somehow, it got even crazier.
The Monday after the song released, the Cardinals reached out and asked if I wanted to participate in their pregame selfie cam from Baltimore. They sent me a VIP link. I grabbed my daughter, who is only a month old, ran upstairs to my studio, put on Cardinals gear, set up my tripod, and waited for the time. I ended up appearing on the Busch Stadium scoreboard around eight to ten times during pregame while holding up a sign that said “Stream Double G – The Lou.”
The fact that the Cardinals thought of me for that, especially being out of state, meant everything to me. They did not have to do that, but they chose to. That made me feel like I was not just some random artist anymore. It made me feel like I was part of the team. Part of the family. It also meant a lot to be able to share that moment with my daughter because one day she will be able to look back on all of this and know that she was part of it too. When we made that trip to St. Louis, she had not even been born yet. My wife was pregnant, and we had only found out about two months earlier. Now, here we are months later, and she is only a month old while already being part of this story.
“The Lou” started as a thank-you letter to St. Louis. Now it feels like something even bigger than that. It feels like proof that one email can change your life. One opportunity can change everything. And sometimes the dream you are chasing is not waiting for you where you are from. Sometimes it is waiting for you somewhere you never expected.
So thank you to Cardinals fans. Thank you to St. Louis. Thank you to Jared and everybody inside the Cardinals organization who believed in me. Whether “The Lou” gets played one more time or one hundred more times, I will never forget what this city has done for me and my family. And hopefully this is just the beginning.
Because if this journey has taught me anything, it is that sometimes the city that believes in you first becomes part of your story forever.