John Cena: Know how “You Can't See Me” became “Unexpected Cena”
John Cena's “You Can’t See Me” went viral as it was being memed on social media. “Unexpected Cena” became the viral hit of the summer in 2015. Read more
- SportFit
- 3 min read
John Cena, the 16 times World Champion, celebrated his first victory exactly 10 years ago at WrestleMania 21. He celebrated his first WWE Championship victory at a sold-out Staples Center as the sound of horns blared from his then-brand-new entrance theme, “The Time Is Now”. John Cena made sure that everyone knew that he is entering the stadium. Another song of him which went viral was “You Can’t See Me”. Cena recorded the song in 2005.
"The Time Is Now"
"The Time Is Now" was composed by Cena along with Marc Predka, Cena's cousin known by his stage name Tha Trademarc. During the recordings of the album with Cena, Predka was featured on virtually every track of the album. Production was handled by Jake One. The song contains signs of "Ante Up" by M.O.P. which in turn samples "Soul Sister, Brown Sugar" by Sam & Dave, and Pete Schofield and The Canadians' rendition of "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" originally by Vicki Lawrence. However, M.O.P. filed suit in a New York Federal Court and alleged that Cena and the WWE stole parts of their song "Ante Up" for his theme song, arguing that the song was unlawfully sampled and clearly repeated three times, during the introduction, the second and third chorus. M.O.P. sought the destruction of the song and $150,000 in damages. They dropped the lawsuit two months later.
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“You Can’t See Me”
“You Can’t See Me” is also the song which is now played on his entry at WWE. John Cena, himself has rapped in the song. The song is also known as being part of the Internet meme "Unexpected John Cena". As at the start, the song wasn’t famous and trending until it was memed into the social universe. It was when “Unexpected Cena” became the viral hit of the summer in 2015.
Cena’s status as the most popular WWE wrestler of the last decade has undoubtedly contributed to the song’s durability. However, while other WWE star’s entrance themes get cycled out every few years, the original horn arrangement has helped Cena maintain his goal of an entrance theme that evokes the spirit of Rocky Balboa and stands out to this day among various trend-chasing WWE entrance themes.