Phonte, who released Foreign Exchange’s Love in Flying Colors in September, spoke with HipHopDX about his favorite television shows of all time, comparing some of them to rappers.
“My Mount Rushmore of TV shows consists of ‘The Sopranos,’ ‘Six Feet Under,’ ‘The Wire’ and ‘Breaking Bad,’” Phonte said in an exclusive statement to HipHopDX. “Admittedly, I’ve never watched ‘The Sopranos’ outside of a few episodes because the subject matter bored me. Between ‘Goodfellas,’ ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Casino,’ I pretty much have all the Mafia I’ll ever need. But ‘The Sopranos’ laid the groundwork for all that came after it, so it gets my respect for being a forerunner. All the other greats are standing on its shoulders.”
Phonte Praises “Six Feet Under” & “The Wire”
Phonte also explained why “Six Feet Under” and “The Wire” made his “Mount Rushmore of TV shows.”
“‘Six Feet Under’ was visually one of the most gorgeous pieces of television ever,” Phonte said. “It handled the themes of family and mortality in such a heartbreaking way. It’s one of the few shows that will have you looking over your life and re-evaluating everything in it.
“‘The Wire,’ to me, is still the greatest of all time,” Phonte added. “There has never been a show to take such a brutal look at American life and how our institutions, government, the education system, drug-law enforcement, have failed us on every level. ‘The Wire’ was genius because it showed that in life, there are rarely ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys.’ There are simply people who do the best they can with the hand life has dealt them.
Phonte Compares Nas & Jay Z To TV Shows
Phonte continued, describing TV’s greatest shows, according to him.
“With that said, while I think ‘The Wire’ is the greatest, ‘Breaking Bad’ is the best,” Phonte continued. “Hands down, if the primary purpose of TV is to entertain and engage, I dare you to find a show that is flat out more entertaining and addictive than ‘Breaking Bad.’
“To put it in a Hip Hop perspective, ‘The Wire’ is Jay Z and ‘Breaking Bad’ is Nas,” Phonte added. “In terms of everything he’s accomplished and the way he’s turned himself into a global brand that transcends Rap music, Jay Z is the greatest rapper of all time and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who could argue intelligently against that point. But if you’re asking me on any given day who I would rather hear rap? It’s Nas all day. Period. In terms of flow, voice, content, skill, influence and overall bar for bar track record? Nas is the best because he makes for a more engaging listen. That’s the best analogy I can make to sum up the everlasting ‘Breaking Bad’ versus ‘The Wire’ debate.”
Earlier this year, Phonte also compared several rappers, including Eminem, Kanye West and Snoop Dogg to TV shows via Twitter.
Good shit!
50 and T.I. might be offended though
not as much as ross should be
Nobody cares about 50 Cent look at the number of Retweets on his.
so people retweeting that ross is like sons of anarchy, over the top and fake means they care???
niggas using retweets now as a measure of success LOL
Tyler is over the top and he triumphed, Em is over the top and he triumphed, 50 put sensationalism over substance and it was his downfall. u mad Stan?
How is anyone on here a stan? All I saw was someone take a shot at Rick Ross and one of his groupies come running to his defense within minutes!
The only stan I see here if that old racist guy who cheer leads for Rick Ross on every article if anyone says anything at all not positive!
Wow, why the attitude Stanly? I don’t listen to Rick or 50 but you seem like a butt hurt Stanly pissed because I said nobody retweeted your god 50. Go suck on the makeshift cock on your G U not poster fanboy because Officer Ridky needed his career Stanley U Mad Stan?
people who call others Stanley are the ultimate lames
must be some white skinned geek using that word Eminem made up 4 times in 3 sentences.
Butt hurt Stan boy bringing race into the debate because he is a prick licking Stan for 50 and got Ethered.
i saw no stanning anywhere but i see a hater
holloween 1 dvd says on it nite me came home. diddy comess backk homee.
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/tLJr49Ewomk/mqdefault.jpg
diddy comes back back home
You watch way too much TV, dude.
This is the shit! Haha spot on.
I was just watching Sons of Anarchy last night and I gotta agree. Ross makes some banging entertaining music but its hard to take him seriously cause its just so over the top and we all know he doesnt tell the truth very often.
I don’t listen to rappers for seriousness and truth, I listen to them while I am working out in the gym or at the club on weekends. I use music for entertainment and when I want seriousness and truth I read a book. I’m a full time student so I like to have fun on my downtime.
BruthaDee we know you dont workout fat boy. We seen all your selfies you take. Student my ass you like 40
To add on to what I said to Anon1 i have mastered the art of selection, I have my workout rap, my chill rap, my consious rap and the rap I listen to if im with some honeys. Fake thugs hate on Drake but ask em what type of music they listen to around the honeys and watch their face.
Ross is my go to police rap. I play that shit when I’m patrolling my hood like Zimmerman
Good stuff and thought provoking …tigalo…tigalo tigalo
This story is a month and a half old. This is pathetic. Other Hip Hop blog sites were able to post this story right away. I used to be this sites biggest fan, now I’m becoming it’s biggest hater. It needs to do something.
When is the last time this site premiered a decent hip hop song?
When is the last time this site actually had an EXCLUSIVE story?
I mean they are calling this a “hiphopdx exclusive” and they are copying and pasting tweets from Phonte’s twitter handle. THis is pathetic. Do better. I’m going to stick with Davey D’s blog now. THAT’s A REAL BLOG
yeah even most of their news stories and new songs are a day or 2 late compared to the other big hip-hop websites and blogs
davey d is a real HipHopper and hes from the rap game so hes more about the actual rap game than he is about traffic an ad eevenue.
the quotes were exclusive. the tweets were not. so the story was exclusive.
Those Tweets are from September 30th so you have to ask why HipHopDX is rehashing them now.
#SonsOfAnarchy is Rick Ross: An over the top, completely unbelievable spectacle that still managed to triumph in spite of itself.
Like Ross SOA had a lot of potential when it started but just got worse and worse over time. Same old fake shit every episode/record. Try something new
50 Cent = a great premise but a docus on Sensationalism over Substance was the downfall.
damn homie that word “downfall” makes it sound like he fell or something. 🙁
Everyone knows 50 Cent fell off!
Don’t change the fact that he did more in 1 year than most rappers will never achieve!
p.s. Oz is one of my favorite shows of all time!
ever
I’m not watching Oz ever again I might puke when I see that racist Jamar dude
not even they part where he gets killed?
Black people cant be racist tho. LOL yall mad cause yall cant have our culture? You are sitting 2,200 miles outside of civilization. LOL YEP
Says @BruthaDee, the most ignorant racist nigga this website has ever seen
He had serious potential with GRODT but then he got corny and attracted the wrong fans and the streets turned on him. At least he has money and nice cars.
“Oz” is 50 Cent; a gritty show with a great premise whose downfall was due to a focus on sensationalism over content. RT @QG5000 what’s Oz?
Phonte (@phontigallo) September 30, 2013
yeah dude we can read. we saw all the tweets above no need to repost them
Does it hurt you when you read it twice Stan boy? You butt hurt that snitchy cent is a has been while Drake is running the rap game and will be hot longer than your Stan God? Hahahahhaha!!
yeah im a stan because i pointed out how redundant his comment was.
Fresh Prince of BelAir is Will Smith no doubt
LOL
I agree with every single comparison he made. Great analogies.
Phonte is always spot on and funny as hell. He can also sing and rap well.
50 never had substance he was just an Industry creation hyped of the success of Em who murdered him on every track.
Only substance Rick Ross has he puts in girls drinks to have sex with them without them knowing
no one gives a fuck about Rick Ross
“the success of em” hahahaah
em and dre didnt show up until after wanksta so your statement is false sha money and JMJ got 50 hot watch your fuckin mouth
LOLoL @ the butt hurt 50 Stans attacking Officer Ricky every time somebody says something about their idol. Cockgobbling Stanleys, Drake shits all over your fallen off idol.
“butthurt”, “cockgobbling”
why do these white skinned geeks use so many homsexual terms to describe thing? why are gay thoughts so prevalent in your mind?
damn…I don’t have an issue with any of those analogies. All were pretty fucking spot on.
Birdman = Omar from the Wire
No.
why not? they both gay
Omars a gay thug Birdman just gay
Interesting but I don’t really agree that Nas is like Breaking Bad or wire jay z.
yeah they need to be some classic shit
Like Seinfeld or something
Those two shows have already achieved classic status.
just before I looked at the receipt of $7368, I have faith that my sister had been realey bringing home money parttime from there new laptop.. there uncles cousin has done this 4 only 19 months and by now paid for the debts on their villa and purchased themselves a Nissan GT-R:. Related Site http://www.Fb39.Com
Was this a fucking joke? haha These tools couldn’t rhyme their way out of a fucking paper bag… and mentioning Hailie that’s just stupid…
its more funny comparisons than being entirely true. the analysis of the artists themselves are more true. im surprised more rappers aren’t butthurt about some of these truths.
up to I looked at the paycheck saying $8258, I didn’t believe that my best friend had been really bringing in money in their spare time from there labtop.. there moms best frend haz done this for only 8 months and just paid for the depts on there villa and got a gorgeous BMW 5-series. useful reference http://www.Fb39.Com
Totally agree with Reece… He always bitches about how much he hates rap and the industry.. Yet still drops shit, then bitches about it some more. Your young motherfucker, go get a degree or some shit, goddamn.
Dexter = C Murder?
Change of Heart is Game obviously
Hustling’s still inside of me, and as far as progress
you’d be hard-pressed, to find another rapper hot as me. Hov
Two Broke Girls is Nas
LOL Quoteman was that you? I laughed
Kanye West is Keeping Up With the Kardashians
Rick Ross is the Biggest Loser
Remy Ma is Prison Break
Papoose is X-Files
Joe Budden is Love & Hip Hop
some good ones in here
Vanilla Ice is Dallas
Tyga is 90210
Big L is Six Feet Under
Eminem is Dexter
Jay-Z is Family Guy
Co-Fucking-Sign with that Lupe comparison.
Lil Wayne is Robot Chicken
Drake is The Young and the Restless
Mac Miller is Save by the Bell
Foxy & Kim are 2 Broke Girls
Frank Ocean is Under the Dome
Trina & Jacki-O are Pretty Little Liars
Game is True Blood
DMX is Breaking Bad
LOL game being True Blood… more like Fake Blood.
I guess he is a fairy like Sookie Stackhouse
reporting shit from over a month ago
this website is fucking hilarious
this is funny
Game made 50s downfall!!! Drake runs rap Su Woo gang Bang Bang Bang!!
Good joke.
meanwhile game is posting fake photos he stole from someone elses instagram making up stories about the prince of saudi arabia giving him all these bottle and watches when some cat posted the same photo 6 months ago.
game is the lamest nigga in rap. how you got money but still lie and front online?
Damn that was on point..
Yes on point have to agree. Although i did not know all of the shows.
Lord Jamar is The Boondocks LMAO
I can actually see that
A show that talks a lot about black culture that whites cannot understand
Lord Jamar is Fox News: full of shit
This is what fucks up the music people talking about all this shit but not buying shit this guy talking but is he buying anything? FUCK this hating critical annoying as fuck people who all they do is talk shit barely make anything with their life and don’t buy albums
lololol
Also you have all that time to really think of artist and a TV show? Also Em is not flawless maybe to you because you so trashy and just talk shit all day
Yep and you had time to post an irrelevant comment ..Slow hand clap for you …Well Done Good Boy
Diddy – Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Tony Yayo – The Weakest Link
Ma$e – Deal or No Deal
Dr. Dre – Doctor Who
2Pac – The Walking Dead
MC Hammer – Dancing with the Stars
Matt Hoffa – WWE
Obie Trice – Cheers
R. Kelly – Sweet 16
Mr. Cee – The Client List
Chief Keef – honey boo boo child
Seinfield is Outkast: Arguably the greatest catalog in history yet refuses to come back regardless of the fan requests and money offers
Seinfeld did do that reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm though
I started getting confuse of what Hiphop/ rap music is all about when they said ether was better than Take Over and how everyone wants the be Take Over now or God of rap when the Hova of rap is still alive.
Why I find this flawed? It appears as if too many list of TOP 5 or any list of Rap icons feature almost exclusively artists that debuted after ’94 or later. Almost ignoring the Golden Era completely leaving out the Iconics: Run DMC, LL, Rakim. You can’t do that. Get tired of seeing it. Learn some Rap history and understand the pioneers. LL’s Career actually spans the length of Law & Order. He ought to get far more consideration from younger generation bloggers than he does. In many minds he is the GOAT for what he did before 1994 alone.