Wizards pay homage to city’s musical tradition with the naming Capital City Go-Go

On Friday, the Washington Wizards announced the name of their new G League affiliate–the Capital City Go-Go.

The Washington Wizards honor their city’s renowned musical culture by announcing on Friday, that their new G-League affiliate team will be named the Capital City Go-Go.

According to Wizards’ owner Ted Leonsis, the name was developed from successful go-go nights last season, which spurred Leonsis to meet with the local community.

"“I just think that it’s so endemic to our city,” said Monumental Sports Entertainment founder, chairman and majority owner Ted Leonsis said in the Go-Go press conference. “That’s what we want. We wanted a very authentic voice, something that was named that people had an immediate connection to.”"

Leonsis added, that the name is natural and the organization is paying homage to the long-standing culture, that was pushed to the forefront by “The Godfather of Go-Go,” Chuck Brown, whose family the Wizards embrace during go-go nights.

"“I remember the first year that I bought the Wizards and moved into the office here, looking out my window and seeing Chuck walking up the street,” Leonsis recalled in the presser of the local legend who passed away in May of 2012. “Man, he was just the coolest, the coolest looking guy. I remember he had this great black hat on and the way he strode up the street, everyone running around him giving him handshakes so it just feels right for us and I think the city will bond with it.”"

Esteemed in Washington, D.C., the subgenre originated in the mid-60s with the contributions of Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, Young Senators and Black Heat. The music is a mix of rhythm and blues and old school hip hop and focuses on the usage of lo-fi percussions. It uses a funk rhythm and emphasizes live audience call and response that can be done in dance halls or street percussions.

Younger generations may not be quite familiar with Chuck Brown because In the early 2000s, TCB, a D.C. band, created an innovation to go-go called bounce beat. The innovation gave rise to more recognizable bands such as Reaction, TOB, New Impressionz, ABM, and XIB. Bounce beat carries a deeper tone and relies on instruments such as timbales, drums, bass and keyboards.

Capital City has two logos — a primary and alternate. The primary logo features a Conga drum, the most distinct instrument used in the genre, with stripes that represent the D.C. flag and a classic Washington basketball.

Capital City is also on the logo, which pays homage to the former one-year Capital Bullets team, that relocated to Washington from Baltimore. The alternate logo, on the other hand, features the city map outline with a musical note that has three stripes on it to signify go-go music.

Along with the announcement of the G-League team name and logo, was the news of a new facility on the Anacostia campus where St. Elizabeth Hospital was located. The Go-Go are scheduled to debut in the 4200 seat arena in the 2018-19 season. The venue will also host Wizards practices, Mystic games, events and concerts.

With the changing landscape of sports that is becoming more marketed towards the youth, the NBA because of it’s global platform has been leading the charge. Leonsis understands the importance of reaching a younger audience. He imagines a future where athletes go straight from high school to the G-League, where like baseball and hockey players, athletes are able to be trained by the parent organization and fans can watch them every step of the way. 

"“I’m sure at some point, there will be a change to the rules,” Leonsis said, “Maybe the draft will get deeper and then it will be very very exciting if you can sign someone out of highschool or you know it’s a one-and-done world and the draft is deeper. You put them in your G-League team and now you’re promoting, you’re saying go to St. Elizabeth’s, go watch our future, and maybe if you have a phenom, all of sudden it’s helping the big team.”"

Capital City would operate in the same manner that the current Capitals minor league teams does, the Hershey Bears. He envisions that by NBA teams welcoming G-League team, it would lead to increased performance, nutrition and training of G-League athletes that could potentially fulfill what he desires of the league becoming second-best in the world.

Leonsis also announced, that on Monday the organization will unveil their E-Sports team. A partnership that the NBA has with Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., the developers of NBA 2K, that allows franchises to own 2K teams in their professionally competitive gaming league.