Three years ago, Phonte Coleman of the now defunct North Carolina hip-hop trio Little Brother caused a stir on Twitter when he compared hip-hop artists to TV shows. His descriptions were brief, but replete with humor, wit, and dead-on accuracy. He must have released two dozen tweets with this theme, showing that the man has a voracious appetite and keen insight both for and into television and hip-hop. Take a look at this sample tweet:
As much as I enjoyed the comparisons, why should Phonte have all the fun? He’s not the only guy who sees the correlation between rappers and television programs. Here’s some of my comparisons using rappers and TV shows from all across the board in both respective areas. Some of you may have seen me make some Tweets about this back in early February, but now I have the visuals to go with my assessments.
Shameless is Lil’ Wayne:
Hilarious and random mix of sex, drugs, class, race, alcohol, and lampooned social issues.
Comedy Central Roast is Chino XL:
Equal-opportunity insult comedy. After all, who DOESN’T Chino take shots at?
Firefly is J. Dilla:
Groundbreaking, genius, and taken away from us entirely too early.
Chappelle’s Show is the Notorious B.I.G.:
Gifted performer who peaked on his second season and then faded from the public eye.
Dexter is Slaughterhouse:
Darkly humorous and creative in both slaughtering and disposing opponents.
Real Time With Bill Maher is Immortal Technique:
Has intelligent viewpoints and no fear of attacking/lampooning all sides of the political spectrums.
House M.D. is Kanye West:
Brash, arrogant, narcissistic, but has to be respected nonetheless for his brilliance and superior skills.
Diff’rent Strokes is G-Unit:
You don’t hear much from them anymore and the most popular member is bankrupt.
Twin Peaks is Kool Keith:
Complex, highly bizarre, disjointed, seemingly stream-of-consciousness, but never-endingly fascinating.
ER is the Native Tongues:
The cast switches up after a few years, but despite the drama you’re hooked on each episode’s positive results.
Power is Run the Jewels:
A Black man and a White man partner up and aggressively plot to take over the urban landscape.
Inside Amy Schumer is Nicki Minaj:
Where frank, unabashed sexuality oft-times overshadows their immense talent.
The Walking Dead is El-P:
Depictions of an apocalypse that keeps growing more interesting every season.
Blue Bloods is the Boot Camp Clik:
A large New York City family that splinters and doesn’t always play by the rules, but comes together occasionally.
The Leftovers is Mobb Deep:
The hard-hitting, darker, second outing was more widespread critically acclaimed than the first was.
True Detective is Sadistik:
Literate, cerebral, dense, clever, and morbid, but darkly appealing and insightful.
Heroes is Wu-Tang Clan:
Super-heroes with a strong first album, but subsequent releases weren’t as good. Their solo careers fared better.
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