Thee Phantom

A Philly MC known for pushing the envelope sets his sights on music's most serious stage

by Deesha Dyer

By: Jessica Kourkounis

While other underground MCs were rockin' LaTazza and The Five Spot, Thee Phantom was conquering the Kimmel Center. And while his peers are hoping to book a gig opening for Lil Wayne, he's got his eye on Carnegie Hall.

Backed by a crew that could play your wedding — a violinist, a cellist, a harpist, etc. — rapper Jeff McNeill has perfected the most complicated of pop blends: classical and hip-hop. He calls it introducing Beastie Boys to Beethoven. "I was just messing around and took Paul Revere and blended it with Fifth Symphony."

His journey began in North Philly, in the late '80s. "I was like many other kids on Friday nights listening to Lady B's Beat Street show on Power 99," says Thee Phantom. "When I first heard hip-hop, I knew that this was something I had to be a part of." Simultaneous to his attraction to the form was a nagging curiosity for mixing it up. He wanted to experiment with it, to bend its artistic limits. He tried his hand at being a breakdancer, a DJ and graffiti artist, but MCing is where he felt he shined.

Now, an orchestra on a hip-hop stage isn't the rarest thing in the world these days, especially at award shows. Jay-Z and Jamie Foxx have performed alongside live classical instruments, and while Kayne's fleet of violin-playing hotties appeared to be bow-syncing, somebody somewhere played those strings for him.

But Thee Phantom is no mere tourist to this genre-blending. He lives at the border, which is not always a comfortable place. He has to pay the musicians out of his own pocket. And although he does have his fans, he remains largely unknown outside our fair city.

Backing his hard-hitting beats and storytelling rhymes with classical music wasn't his toughest challenge. That seems to come naturally to him. Selling it is another story.

"I pretty much encountered skeptics right off the bat. After my first performance with a string section in '99, I heard things like, 'It's not real hip-hop.' 'It's smoke and mirrors.' 'You're a dope MC, you don't need all that up on stage,'" he says. At age 12, he played his first classical/hip-hop attempt for his best friend. "He ejected the tape and flung it across the room."

There was, however, one person who believed in him besides his mama and that was Eric Haeker, who ran an organization called Arts in Motion. "He was the one who commissioned the musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia to accompany me at the Kimmel Center."

In 2004, Thee Phantom self-released a 12-inch called "Beware." It reached No. 1 on a Staten Island college station. Soon he was performing at universities up and down the East Coast, another road less traveled by underground rappers. His new album, Making of an Underdog, comes out March 15, the same day he performs as the halftime act at a Sixers game (speaking of underdogs).

The next big challenge is Carnegie Hall. It took a whole lotta convincing and campaigning, but the esteemed Manhattan concert hall has decided to give him a shot. On Dec. 5, he'll headline his own show with his crew, the Illharmonic Orchestra. It comes with a hefty price tag. "I'll need to sell approximately 4,000 albums, or 40,000 single downloads from iTunes, to cover the cost of Carnegie," he laughs. "When you consider Ke$ha sold 610,000 copies of her single in a week, I don't think I'm crazy by trying to pull this off." He's also giving other bands a chance to open up for him, so watch for that announcement on his Web site soon.

"My hope is that I can inspire future generations of hip-hop music makers to push the sonic envelope and help the culture continue to move forward."

Thee Phantom plays the Sixers halftime and post-game concert, Mon., March 15, 7 p.m., Wachovia Center, 3601 S. Broad St., theephantom.com.