If you're like most of America, then you're probably going to be spending your Sunday evening pretending to like soccer when the United States' mens national team takes on world power Portugal during the second round of group play in the 2014 World Cup. The boys in (red, white, and) blue are riding high off of a dramatic opening game conquering of our nemesis, Ghana, and while our country is admittedly nowhere near the stature of the team we're facing on Sunday, we can at least say that one of our best players is a professional rapper, too (via WSJ).
That's right. Our fearless crypt-walking captain and forward Clint Dempsey (the one who got his face demolished on this play) is also a rapper who released his second foray into this different "game" yesterday (check out a 2006 single with the late Big Hawk here). The track — "It's Poppin'" — is the lead single from a sophomore album that finds Dempsey, 31, spitting some sports-related lyrics ("I'm all about them W's / Can't afford no L's") while paying homage to his working class Nacogdoches, Texas roots with lines like "see my followers I'm not common / though I was raised off that Ramen..."
It's pretty standard in the world of sports guys who also rap, but before you get all up in arms about athletes dabbling in entertainment, take note of the fact that Dempsey — who raps under the name Deuce — is donating the proceeds from The Redux LP to the East Texas Food Bank, which has been fighting hunger in the area's impoverished neighborhoods since 1988.
Have a listen to the track below, and then buy that bad boy here. Watch Dempsey do what he does best on Sunday when the United States takes on Portugal in the hopes of moving on to the World Cup's knockout rounds. More broadcast information is available here.
