June G. - Hip Hop's My Bitch (Official Version)

Country Music + Rap = Secret Soulmates Part One

To anyone who is a connoisseur of both rap and country music, the similarities of rap and country should be no surprise. Both unapologetically portray worlds that hum below the mainstream of American society (but nevertheless make the force felt): one being the largely African American and Hispanic lower to middle class and the other America's rural and largely blue collar whites. Both are flat out honest in their music, one will show you the rough, money, sex and power pursuing world of the inner city and the other will show you the same in the country.

Both communities are conservative, God fearing and honest. Due to racial, cultural and geographical differences, the two communities don't cross over much. I mentioned this to a girl I dated years back (who was black, incidentally) and she said that, as much as they hate each other, they cross over in sporting events like Oakland Raiders games or professional wrestling events.

I'm not the first to recognize this similarity. Just about every white rapper has tapped in to the cultural similarities. Kid Rock merged rap with blue collar flag waving in order to deem himself an "American Bad Ass." Everlast took up the blues and helped make Fenders and Casios friends. Brother Ali echoes Everlast's gospel style in his songs, complete with guitar use. Eminem, in his more sentimental moods, frequently samples Ozzy Osbourne, Queen and Aerosmith, stalwarts of any suburban rock station. Meanwhile, Mos Def and Pharoahe Monch have brought gospel and blues beautifully into their work and Kid Cudi has sang acoustic ballads.

Yelawolf, an up and coming Alabama rapper of mixed white and Cherokee ancestry, showed working class unity in his video "Kickin." The song is not his best work (though it is good) but shows a great panorama of skateboarders, rednecks, police, Atlanta rappers and even a guy in a sombrero with none of it being awkward:

Now that's really multiculturalism.

Let's do a little compare and contrast. Here's Lightning Hopkins sing about that tried and true scenario: you make a good home for a woman, then they up and leave.

Now let's turn around and look at Mos Def, singing about a pretty ghetto gangsta woman:

Next comes Yelawolf, once again, with his song "Break the Chain," which samples Fleetwood Mac. The chorus, "Alabama dirt road, Dixie flags fly," is sung flawlessly over synthesizers, drums and chopped up Fleetwood Mac samples in one of the best steps at connecting the worlds of country and classic rock to the, at first glance, far different world of rap.



The similarities between the two genres, from gun loving to blues over women and a general embrace of masculinity, are so strong that this "Secret Soulmates" column will have to be a regular feature of the blog. I can already think of more than a few songs and artists that would work well in the next rendezvous.

Pharoahe Monch - New World Symphony

A-Game for both Pharoahe and the producer Kanye West. Both are on fire.

Wow, so I just looked it up and this song was put out back in 2005. Chances are it didn't get publicized enough so I'm keeping the post up. While we're on the subject of Pharoahe, his album is being dropped in the United Kingdom first and reviews are already up:

W.A.R. isn’t like any emotionally charged album, as it is fuelled with the immense lyrical product of Pharoahe and brilliant production credits from an array of new and established beatmakers, including Exile, Marco Polo, M-Phazes, Samiyam and Diamond D. Even when adopting the cliched ‘pulpit rapping’ formula on ‘Let My People Go,’ Monch delivers remarkably with organs and signature choir to back him up.

Guests on board come at no surprise as the more introspective collection of Styles P, Little Brother’s Phonte and Jill Scott all provide further recollections for the Pharaohe’s enriching concepts. Even when returning to slap emcees upside the head on ‘Assassins’, the former Organized Konfusion spitter rains in on the onslaught alongside Jean Grae and Royce Da 5’9″ who literally crashes into the track.

Along with Royce on his new album, Pharoahe Monch also had Mr. Porter doing production for his last album Desire and appeared on Slaughterhouse's first album, so he seems pretty well tapped into the Detroit scene. Someone should call up Marshall Mathers and tell him to sign Pharoahe. He would be great alongside Slaughterhouse, Yelawolf and Eminem.

Pharoahe Monch - The Great Underrated Rapper

Pharoahe Monch is one of hip-hop's most underappreciated MCs. He launched into hip-hop as part of a group, tied along with Prince Po (whose career since has been even less eventful) in the group Organized Konfusion. Organized was brilliant. The samples were expertly done, the symmetry between Pharoahe and Po was near perfect when they were at their peak but then all of a sudden the gig was up. Pharoahe Monch ended up on Rawkus Records, where he recorded several songs with Mos Def and released an album called Internal Affairs, which led with the classic Godzilla sampling track "Simon Says:"

Yes, as you can tell by the full denim suit and the Timberlands, we're going back to the late 1990s. The song was alright and Pharoahe's humor seemed to make him enduring. A friend I introduced Pharoahe to described his flow as "a black Eminem," and with a knack for the humorous, the graphic, the uplifting and the depressing all in one schizophrenic package, the two certainly are very similar.

Like Eminem, Pharoahe took a really long sabbatical of eight years as Rawkus Records folded. A level of depression seemed to unfold on him as well, as the rapper does introduce in "Free," the first track of his 2007 album Desire, "I give birth to verses in churches with no confession, So please pardon my post-partum depression."

Desire was a fantastic album, which was underrated as the classic that it was. One of the most poignant tracks was "Push" - wherein Pharoahe unleashed in an epic gospel-tinged reassurance that even got him singing the words of the savior.

Pharoahe hasn't let up at all and has an upcoming album called WAR (We Are Renegades). The one track that he has released so far - "Shine" - is available to stream or purchase on the Amazon Affiliates widget to the right of this article. Here is him performing the song live in New York City: