Congratulations go out to the Raleigh vocal trio Troop 41, who have earned some hardware: a gold record for cracking the 500,000 mark on digital downloads of their basketball-themed hit "Do the John Wall." The song first emerged in the spring of 2010 with a video that went viral, eventually amassing 11 million plays on YouTube. The major label Universal Republic picked up "John Wall" and released it early this year. Now Troop 41's goal is to avoid being just one-hit wonder, which they'll try to do with another single, "Are You Ready."

When last heard from, local rap trio Troop 41 was going viral with "Do The John Wall," a song about the Raleigh-born basketball star. Almost 4 million YouTube views later, it's still growing, with a No. 20 debut on Billboard's Heatseekers Songs chart this week. And it might get even bigger in 2011, because "Do The John Wall" will be coming out on a major label after the first of the year.

"We got signed to Universal Republic off the John Wall record, which they found on the internet from the video," says Troop 41 manager John Brown. "Now we hope the sales of that will go good, and we'll work towards an album deal."
 

Sometimes the smallest things can turn into a career, or at least a hit song. A flexed fist, say. So it is that Raleigh rap trio Troop 41 is going places with "Do The John Wall," a hip-hop song about Raleigh's current favorite native-son basketball player (who is expected to be the first player taken in next week's NBA draft). See this story from Thursday's paper.