Entertainment
NO BOUNDARIES
Hip-hop is a medium that can be used to express identity, free from the confines that other genres with more “rules” present. Saint George is an amazing example of rap today knowing no boundaries. He cross-dresses, he brings up many interesting topics with his lyrical content, and he draws influence from across the board. Recently, CULTURE caught up with Saint Gorge, AKA Phil Matthews, to hear his thoughts on gender identity, rap, cannabis and being genderqueer.
Saint George got his start with the local rap group Sap Boys, who started up when his friend bought a high-quality microphone. He dabbled in rap on an amateur level as a high schooler and realized he could get back into it once he started rapping with his friends.
“I would describe my sound as being a sarcastic, bordering on misanthropic, queer interpretation of trap, with a heavy push on cult horror movies, bondage and drug use,” Saint George stated. “I don’t really know about the hip-hop scene in Denver—people tell me that it exists but I never see it. I don’t really try to make positive or conscious hip-hop, but I feel like for having a really raw scene that has sick all-night warehouse turnouts and dope underground rap shows, I feel like that is really lacking.”
Saint George also shared that his influences run from the rapping styles of Das Racist and Eshon to doom metal, and he is familiar and comfortable with the “darker, more horrific side” of rap music.
“I mean cannabis is a constant theme in my music. I love blunts, I love backwoods—I smoke ‘em when I’m writing; I write about smoking them; I smoke when I record.”
Saint George incorporates cross-dressing into his image, juxtaposing harsh lyrics with a feminine and often garishly glamorous appearance. He sees this as an homage to the women he admires for being beautiful. Although Saint George is not transgender and identifies as male, he can appreciate the work and effort that goes into the feminine aesthetic.
“Some of my major style icons and some of my best friends who influenced me are women,” he explained, “so they have perfect eyebrows, makeup, and I’ve always thought that was cool as fuck. To me that was just another way to be dope, so as far as the gender expression factors into my music, I think it’s just a way of sort of using what is the standard language within hip-hop as a way to be sort of transgressive.”
When it comes to cannabis, Saint George is an advocate, but recognizes that the cannabis industry needs to be more inclusive of minorities and lower-income individuals.
“I mean cannabis is a constant theme in my music,” he stated. “I love blunts, I love backwoods—I smoke ‘em when I’m writing; I write about smoking them; I smoke when I record.”
“I think that economically it’s a net positive, but I really don’t agree with how easy it is for outside investors to come in to a neighborhood like RiNo,” he continued. “First it’s dispensaries and art galleries, and then you have one really successful dispensary or art gallery or vegan market, and all of the sudden, the neighborhood has been revitalized, and who is benefitting from that? It doesn’t seem to be benefitting Colorado’s poor; it just seems to be benefitting the gentrification of Colorado. I wish that more of the money would be fed directly back to the communities.”
