‘We Not Done’: How Detroit rapper 42 Dugg’s song took over Michigan high school football

After a 10-6 win over Harper Woods in the Division 4 regional finals, Dearborn Divine Child coach Chris Laney delivered an impassioned speech.

He told his players how proud he was of every single player on the roster, how the only belief the team needed was inside the locker room and how the road continues into the state semifinals against an undefeated Goodrich team defending its state title.

At the end of the speech in the south end zone at Westland John Glenn High School, with a crowd of family and fans sitting behind him, Laney finished his message with the three most popular words of the 2025 Michigan high school football season.

“We not done,” Laney said, leading to his players mobbing him in celebration.

Divine Child players were singing “We Not Done” over and over after pulling off the upset of the playoffs. The phrase comes courtesy of Detroit rapper 42 Dugg, who released a hit song called “We Not Done” in May.

John Glenn officials in the press box played the song during the halftime break, causing both sidelines to erupt with energy as Dugg’s signature whistle and the one-of-a-kind voice started bumping through the school’s speaker system.

The night before, Detroit Cass Tech students who bused down I-94 to watch the Technicians beat Saline 42-28 in the Division 1 regional finals chanted “We Not Done” throughout the win as senior C.J. Sadler dazzled with a four-touchdown, two-interception performance.

“Our student section, our student body around Cass is, it’s just we’re not done,” senior linebacker/nickelback Marcus Jennings said Friday. “We’ve got to finish what we started.”

The song has become the anthem of the 2025 football season in metro Detroit for players and students. The song’s title and oft-repeated hook share the same message as what coaches and players preach throughout the summer and fall as they vie for a run in the single-elimination playoffs to reach the state title game at Ford Field.

WE NOT DONE: 2025 Michigan high school football playoff bracket: State semifinal matchups, locations

In the playoffs, players and coaches are fighting against elimination in a 48-minute battle on the gridiron. The victorious team celebrates gets to spend one more week preparing for another battle with its brothers, lining up with the message of “We Not Done” that 42 Dugg says 22 times in the 2-minute, 55-second song.

In the Division 2 district finals between Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and Birmingham Brother Rice, the suit-and-tie-wearing Brother Rice student section chanted “We Not Done” throughout the first half of the Catholic League rematch.

By the end of the game, which St. Mary’s won 35-14, the Brother Rice students dispersed and it was St. Mary’s assistant coaches singing the song’s hook to themselves and laughing after dealing out a dose of revenge against their rivals.

For Cass Tech, it has been a subtle reminder from the players, starting in the summer during seven-on-seven competitions all the way up to the state semifinals. The Technicians are the defending Division 1 champions and on a 22-game winning streak, but have loftier goals they are still fighting for.

So if you were wondering where one of the main messages from the 2025 Michigan high school football season originated, it started with one of Detroit’s own.

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Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com; Follow Jared on X or Bluesky.