Tyrese Haliburton’s name has been echoing far beyond the Pacers’ locker room, and now his father has added his own reaction to the mix.
The buzz started in 2025 when New Orleans rapper Rob49 released “WTHELLY,” a single featuring Chicago rapper G Herbo. Rob recorded the track in one take, and it quickly took off on social media. One of the reasons it caught fire was the Pacers connection, with lyrics that referenced Indiana’s two-time All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton.
Rob said the song’s rise went well beyond what he expected. “I knew ‘WTHELLY’ might be big, but I’m not gonna lie, to be a game changer is crazy,” Rob says of the song’s runaway momentum in a 2025 interview with thefader.com. “The only thing I wanted out of ‘WTHELLY’ was to change the culture and make people start saying ‘what the helly’ - but it wind up being bigger than that forreal.”
That crossover even reached courtside at Pacers games. In an interview with Sportico, Pacers senior vice president of marketing and content Tyler Beadlescomb said the organization leaned into the moment because it reflected what the players actually enjoy.
"Our players love music, television and consume things like everyone else," Beadlescomb said in a video interview. "The genuine excitement that came from Tyrese and the team is something that we tried to carry through when we brought this [rollout] to life.
… There was nothing about this that was forced. It was something that we all loved."
Rob’s own path to the record also comes with a basketball backstory. Per The Fader, he played the game growing up before an injury forced him to stop during his junior year of high school.
“I’m kind of glad I stopped playing basketball in 11th grade,” Rob says. “I ain’t wanna be one of them athletes [whose] dreams don’t come true [and] now they just wanna kill themselves.”
Haliburton has already acknowledged the song publicly. Earlier this season, when asked about his name being mentioned in it, he told reporters, “That’s Fire, shoutout Rob49, that’s fire.”
Since then, the phrase has become part of the Pacers’ postgame vocabulary, with Haliburton and teammate Pascal Siakam both using it in interviews with the team’s media members.
Now Haliburton’s father, John Haliburton, has shared how it all hit him. In an interview with journalist Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson, he said hearing his family name in the record felt especially meaningful.
“All right, let’s be real-let me throw it at you. That’s my name.
That’s my last name. Tyrese has that name because of me.
So, to hear my last name in a record because of my son? I thought it was one of the best things that could happen in this world.
To be recognized like that forever, because that song will be here forever,” said the elder Haliburton.
He also described the moment he first heard the track, saying Tyrese already knew about it before he did. “The first time I heard it, Tyrese already knew about it because he was already kicking it.
But I hadn’t listened to it yet because his music and my music are usually different-I’m an ’80s and ’90s R&B and hip-hop guy. Tyrese loves the old school too, but he’s new school and loves the beats.
I was scrolling through X [formerly Twitter] and saw the song. I went, “What is that?”
I replayed it, and I immediately called him: “Tyrese, did you hear this song?” He just laughed and said, “Yeah, Dad.”
I was like, “Whoa, okay!” It became even more real when I actually met Rob49 and he was sitting right next to me.
"Very humbly, my chest stuck out. I know where I come from, I know where this began, and I know how it’s going to end, so I am just beyond grateful.”
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