49ers getting notice for boombox-enhanced entrance to games

SANTA CLARA — Behind the scenes, one 49ers rookie is making a lot of noise. The scouting report: plays big, looks intimidating, rallies everyone.

The 49ers are 3-1 since a super-sized boombox began escorting them out of their locker room to the field. Yes, a boombox.

It pumps out music as the 3-foot-by-2-foot beast balances on the shoulder of Nick Kray, coach Kyle Shanahan's assistant and the 49ers' on-field deejay during practices.

"It's starting to become like, you know, 'Our thing,'" nose tackle Earl Mitchell said. "You've got to have those things that keep you going."

The 49ers keep going to the win column at a hip-hopping beat after an 0-9 start.

Cue: the boombox craze.

"It's all in an effort to get guys hyped before kickoff," right tackle Trent Brown said. "I wouldn't know if you could attribute all the success to the (boombox).

"But, you know, maybe it helps get the pregame jitters out a little sooner, or get the blood boiling a little sooner."

When teams get hot, often a rallying cry, catchphrase or unofficial mascot emerges.

Like Jim Harbaugh arriving as coach in 2011 and wailing after wins: "Who's got it better than us?!"

Like the 49ers special teams dancing to Future's "Tony Montana" before kickoffs that 2011 season — and a song Kray has played upon veterans' request at practice.

Like the University of Miami awarding its "Turnover Chain" necklace to players who steal the ball.

"It definitely gets you turned up. I like it," running back Carlos Hyde said of the 49ers' boombox escorts.

Of course, Hyde and the 49ers also like another arrival last month: quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who's 2-0 as their starter.

Wait, Garoppolo has three "O's" in it, as does boombox. Oooh boy.

It was Brown who introduced the boombox to the 49ers locker room back in training camp when he received a customized one.

Kray got his own last month, and its immediately made magic, ushering the 49ers from their Levi's Stadium locker room to their first win, on Nov. 12 against the New York Giants.

"I know the players, they like the music," Shanahan said after that win. "It gets them going, which I don't disagree with. I do, too.

"Sometimes when it gets quiet, it gets a little dull, so they like the music going," Shanahan added. "There is a quiet time from when they leave the locker room and they have to sit in our hallway before they come out where it's just, I guess they say it's awkwardly quiet for them for five minutes. So they wanted to bring a boombox around."

It's actually called a Bumpboxx, made by a Stockton-based company who connected with Brown this past summer at a concert. Tunes blast from the Bluetooth-enabled box that weighs 28 pounds and costs between $500 and $900.

"It's cool," Mitchell said. "It's kind of got a '90s vibe to it, or '80s, when you'd see people rocking boomboxes like that."

"Swag Surfin" is the most frequent anthem Kray plays for the 49ers.

"He's been doing this a few games now," Hyde said of Kray. "I've got to tell him to change that song, the 'Swag Surfin' song. I want him to play Future's March Madness."

It's the past the 49ers are trying to replicate, and it shouldn't be lost on anyone that boombox systems were a hit back when the 49ers were launching their 1980s dynasty.