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“What the Helly Burton?” That’s all it took for Tyrese Haliburton to light up like he’d just knocked down a clutch three. Following Indiana’s 119–105 win over the Charlotte Hornets, the Pacers star couldn’t hide his excitement when asked about a recent shoutout from rising rap force Rob49, per X.
I asked Tyrese Haliburton about rapper Rob49 name dropping him in the song, “WTHELLY.” Ty’s reaction was pretty funny. #Pacers PR even had the song cued up and played it (which you can’t hear), and Pascal Siakam got jealous. 😂
Ty: “Shout out Rob49! That’s fire!”
🎥 Pacers pic.twitter.com/EfdHoAs3fB
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) April 3, 2025
James Boyd of The Athletic closed the press conference with a curveball question: how did it feel hearing your name in a rap track that’s currently blowing up on TikTok? Haliburton’s grin said it all. “Yeah, fire, shout out, Rob49. That’s fire.” “I heard it the first time, and I was showing the guys, and I was, like, oh, this song's like, big, on TikTok, and everybody like laughed at me.”
The track he’s referring to is “WTHELLY,” a chaotic, high-energy heater from Rob49 that sounds like it was brewed in the same lab as a Panera Charged Lemonade. The New Orleans rapper barrels through lines with unrelenting energy, throwing out name after name with the same careless confidence that helped make his appearance on Travis Scott’s Utopia memorable.
“What the Helly Berry? What the Helly Burton?” The sequence hits like a punchline and a meme at once — no wonder it’s viral. That second line is what geeked up Haliburton.
Good Company, Good Vibes
Afterward, still riding the high, Haliburton turned to his teammate Pascal Siakam and asked if he’d heard the song. Siakam’s reply? “No, no I’ve never heard that one. Was he actually saying your name?” After Haliburton clarified that LeBron James also got a shoutout, Siakam nodded, possibly a bit tongue-in-cheek, “Okay, that’s some good company right here.”
Also, whether or not Siakam was trolling, Tyrese Haliburton’s enthusiasm was unmistakable. It’s not every day a 23-year-old NBA star gets immortalized in a hit rap track. For a player who leads with flair on the court and embraces the culture off it, “What the Helly Burton” might just be his new favorite catchphrase.
