Mardi Gras in the Azalea City has a soundtrack that goes well beyond brass bands. For 15 years, one of the most recognizable entries in that local songbook has come from twin brothers Wesley and Whitney Grant, known together as the hip-hop duo 2 Major Twinz. Their track “Mardi Gras Song” has become a fixture at parades and Carnival-season events across Mobile, and with this year’s festivities building toward their climax, the twins looked back on how the song came to be and why it has stuck around so long.
Whitney Grant, describing Mardi Gras itself, said it offers an escape from ordinary life. “It’s an experience that takes you away from your everyday worries,” she said. “It’s an experience where you’re having fun trying to catch simple things such as moon pies and beads. On a normal day, they’re things that you wouldn’t pay attention to. During Mardi Gras, they become this important commodity.”
The duo’s roots in hip-hop stretch back to childhood, growing up during the genre’s formative years in the late 1970s. An older brother kept the household stocked with the latest tapes from acts like Run-DMC, the Fat Boys, EPMD, Public Enemy and Whodini. “We were influenced by the newness of hip-hop,” Whitney said, “and one day, we wanted to be a part of it.” The twins say they got their own start in the local scene around 1998, alongside other Mobile-area artists such as Sonny Bama, Mr. Bigg and C-Nile.
They’ve watched that scene transform dramatically since then. “It’s a lot different, because there’s a ton of artists now,” Wesley said. “There was kinda a lot back then. Now, it’s hundreds. With social media and all this technology, anybody can be a star, per se. There’s not many gatekeepers anymore. As long as you got an electronic device, you can be a hip-hop artist.” He pointed to promotion as another major shift: what once required grinding it out in person can now happen with a single post. Whitney added that social media has also let local artists connect with performers outside Mobile, helping build reputations back home in the process.
“Mardi Gras Song” itself grew out of a simple calculation about longevity. “For one, it’s the love of Mardi Gras,” Whitney said. “As far as our career, we were thinking of a song that would last forever. So, we thought about making a Mardi Gras song. We thought, ‘Well, they have to play it every year if it catches.’ So, that was pretty much the reason — to get it played every year and describe Mardi Gras.”
That bet paid off. The twins say audiences respond to the song with the same enthusiasm no matter how many times they’ve heard it. “It’s like we’re doing it for the first time every time,” Wesley said. “People just love the song and react to it while we’re performing. After we get through performing, they tell us how much they love this song. It’s a year-round thing. People talk about it all the time, no matter what part of the year. It’s been well received.”
For Whitney, the reaction carries extra weight given how hip-hop can treat its veteran artists. “It’s a great feeling to get that reaction,” she said. “It’s further validation that even though we’ve gotten older, we still belong. With hip-hop, you reach a certain age where people want to toss you aside. So, that song actually transcends age groups. From young to old, they like it. That’s why it’s been able to have the staying power that it has.”
The song’s reach eventually extended beyond Mobile, thanks to the good-natured rivalry between the Azalea City and New Orleans over Mardi Gras bragging rights. A videographer working in the New Orleans area was searching YouTube for Mardi Gras footage and music when she came across “Mardi Gras Song.” She used it in a video that went on to rack up roughly 2.5 million views on Facebook. Wesley said he initially missed the tag notifying him of the video before learning from someone else that the track had gone viral in New Orleans. The moment even generated its own write-up about the video’s popularity.
Looking ahead, the twins say new music is on the way, including a club-oriented rap single called “Straight Drop” aimed at car-audio culture and club atmospheres. They don’t expect it to be their last rap release, even as they continue building a parallel presence in Southern soul. Over the past couple of years, the duo said they’ve also had songs played on WDLT 104.1 FM, balancing output across genres.
As for what they look forward to most each Mardi Gras season, Whitney pointed to the chance to perform the song live year after year, along with the parades themselves and reconnecting with old friends. Wesley added one more thing to that list: seeing their fans.