Your Favorite Rapper’s Favorite Rapper

“I want to dedicate this award to Kanye West, Andre 3000, and Phonte of Little Brother.” Drake, after receiving his BMI Songwriter of the Year Award in 2011

For casual hip-hop and music fans, recognizing the names and accomplishments of two of the three men mentioned above would be relatively easy. The last name, however, would be a struggle. Phonte Coleman is your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper and yet he has been commercially ignored for quite some time. Highly acclaimed, versatile, and skilled, his lyrical ability and subject have allowed him to cover everything from married life to career and commercial strife. A gifted MC, he’s more recognized for his singing nowadays. Serving as half of the duo, the Foreign Exchange, both he and Nicolay, a Dutch producer, brought a blend of rap and jazz to the music scene. He gained notoriety, however, for being a part of the trio, Little Brother, a partnership comprising Rapper Big Pooh and producer 9th Wonder. Their debut album, The Listening, and subsequent album, The Minstrel Show, were praised in hip-hop as classic works of art. Phonte garnered the same attention as…