Team USA Soccer Captain to Release a Rap Album

Adding to his impressive professional football/soccer resume, which includes being the highest-paid American soccer player ever along with scoring the fastest American goal in Sunday's match with Ghana, Clint Dempsey is set to release a rap album, titled 'The Redux.' Dempsey goes by the rap name 'Deuce,' a name he used in US Soccer's 2007 rap video 'Don't Tread.'

On the album, in collaboration with his friend/rapper Steven Molanders (colloquially known as the rapper XO), Dempsey raps about going from rags to riches as a child living in Texas, 'banging G's' (scoring goals), and being 'Captain America.'

Rhyme schemes are nothing new for Dempsey; as a child, he was apparently rapping all the time, and just as with soccer, he was constantly practicing and improving.

"He'll just call you sometimes and start free-styling-he doesn't even say hello," says Dempsey's longtime friend and music producer Mike Chehadé.

His public rapping career began with what many would consider serendipity: his sponsor, Nike, recorded him rapping to himself while practicing and posted the clip online. The video was received positively by fans, so with a bit of coercing, Dempsey made the 'Don't Tread,' video.

Outside the usual spotlight, Dempsey spent two weeks in Los Angeles during the off-season to record the album. He's been surprisingly mum about it, not even mentioning it during his interview with Rolling Stone. According to Dempsey, he didn't want to draw any attention off of the team and its World Cup ambitions. It is a respectable move by the team captain, especially now that their chances against Portugal have increased drastically with Portuguese defender Pepe receiving a suspension due to his red card in Portugal-Germany game. Another Portuguese defender, Fabio Coentrao, went down with an injury in the same game and his status is uncertain for the match against the US.

Dempsey has said that he doesn't plan to think about the project until the World Cup is done. A portion of the profits from the album will go to the East Texas Food Bank.