On the Spartans' journey to a Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl title, the song was the common denominator in postgame locker rooms.

"He ended up becoming my brother, great human being, great person, pure-spirited person," Dennard said of Lamar. "He was a father, he was a brother, he was a lot of things to a lot of different people."

Listening to "Type of Way" became a team tradition in fall camp of 2013, former MSU linebacker Taiwan Jones said.

It reached the point where former MSU cornerback and Owner of Patchwerk Recording Studio Curtis Daniel III created a "Spartan Dawg Anthem" version of the track with Blaze1, his younger brother and rapper.

Daniel, whose company is based in Atlanta, handled the back end of Lamar's arrival in Pasadena, California for the 2014 Rose Bowl and escorted him into the stadium to surprise the players, he said. 

Rich Homie Quan's Legacy at MSU

Jones said the underdog dynamic of Lamar’s music was representative of the team culture and is what caused them to take a liking to "Type of Way."

At the time, Lamar’s music wasn’t the national fixture it became, and was most popular in Georgia. Before the song went viral, he had never performed a show. The Spartans were not recognized as a national contender throughout their Rose Bowl season.

After Lamar’s virality, he performed a show at Breslin Center. To Daniel’s surprise, Dantonio went to the concert and hopped on stage with the rapper.

"He was more excited to listen to it after the games than us," Jones said. "He would kind of hurry up his speech just to get that song going. That song is going to be a part of us for the rest of our lives."

Jones said when the players heard of Lamar's passing, they exchanged texts in a group chat. He was a part of the team and it was like losing a teammate, he said. 

"The guy was a part of the team. Didn’t matter what color you were, what background you came from, dudes who didn’t like rap," Jones said. “But when Rich Homie Quan, 'Type of Way,' came on after the game, everybody in the locker room was dancing to it. As you could see, Coach D was dancing to it."

The Collaboration Begins

In 2013, Daniel saw the viral videos of the team and happened to have Lamar as a client at the studio.

Daniel said Lamar came into the studio the Monday morning after a Saturday game. Daniel asked him if he had seen the videos, and Lamar had no idea that his song was going viral.

"I went to my car, and I remember I didn’t grab my laptop, I grabbed my iPad," Daniel said. "And I pulled up the video and said, 'this is how they celebrate every game' and I showed him the footage of them partying in the locker room."

As the team started catapulting towards a Big Ten title appearance in Indianapolis, Daniel tried to make plans for Lamar to attend a game against Minnesota as a surprise, and again at the Big Ten Championship against Ohio State, but the artist couldn't make it work.

Daniel was able to get him in touch with MSU Head Coach Mark Dantonio.

"I don’t care what we gotta do, get him there, we’ll make everything right," Daniel said Dantonio told him. 

Daniel said once he had confirmation from Dantonio, he knew he could make it happen.

The Surprise

After withholding information from players and keeping secrets to surprise them, Daniel was able to get Lamar to the Rose Bowl game and escorted him into the stadium.

"I put the Rose Bowl hat on Rich Homie Quan’s head, we were partying and all that stuff," Daniel said. "And then we went into the locker room after the game, and that’s where it happened, all the dancing."

Many of the players had no idea who handled the back end job of getting Lamar inside the stadium. Daniel takes pride in working behind the scenes, he said.

"We was playing in the Rose Bowl and I just so happened to look up in the stands, and he was right in front of us," Dennard said.