Artist: Rhymefest
Interviewer: da MetroGnome

So you like the song “Jesus Walks” huh? Well, we sat down with Rhymefest, who helped Kanye pen out those verses. See what my man, also raised on Chicago’s South Side, has to say in regards to Gangsta rap, freestylin’, the working class, and his newest endeavors. Also in attendance was his manager, DJ Indiana Jones, and friend/producer, Payne.

SoundSlam: What do you, as an MC, like or expect to hear from other MCs?

Rhymefest: I feel like rappers are here to say something, or change something…not like just the everyday that people are already doin’. You have an opportunity to set a trend, so take the opportunity and do it.

Payne: Yeah, it’s like that gangsta shit is played. Everybody has heard that shit all over. They need to be talkin’ about how to get outta that.

Rhymefest: That shit been played since Tupac died, but rap just ain’t caught onto it yet. I just watched this video about Tupac, and it reminded me that before ‘Pac came, wasn’t nobody, in interviews, talkin’ bout “I’m a Thug”, “Fuck the System” or any of that. Like NWA and Geto Boys was doin’ it in songs, but then you’d see them and they’d be mild-mannered. Pac was the first one to take it to the next level, like “Mafucka!” Now, I thought it was ignorant, and I still think it’s ignorant, know what I’m sayin’, I thought it was some bullshit and I still think it’s some bullshit, but he’s the first one to do that. And that revolutionized music because now you got somebody that you look at and you be like “they real!” It’s more than just music, he’s real. And ever since then, all these thug mafuckas made it so popular to get shot or go to jail because it makes you “real.” But the point is, they don’t realize they behind the game, that they late and that’s why Gangsta Rap is dead. You can say you don’t like it, but I feel sorry for Gangsta Rap because it’s not gangsta rap no more. Really, what’s makin’ it happen are the alternatives like the Kanye’s, the Outkast’s, or the party rap. Like, Bonecrusher, Lil’ Jon, that’s not Gangsta Rap, that’s club-party music. Even that Lloyd Banks (he sings “I’m so fly”), that’s R&B-party. That ain’t gangsta rap. The last Gangsta Rap that I know to come out and be successful, might have been, maybe, “Wanksta.” But that even had an R&B feel to it. But really, somebody was straight like “You can’t fuck with a nigga like Ice Cube…”, like that shit, you ain’t seen that in a loooong time. So everybody comin’ out like “the streets, the streets” and they got all they “from the streets” shit confused with “What am I s’posed to do? Lil’ Jon? Because I gotta be real in the streets!” instead of just being like “Who am I?”

SoundSlam: A lot of people do it to themselves though because they try to market themselves as something they’re not just because that’s what’s workin’ right now.

Rhymefest: Yeah, but you know what? That’s where you get people like Shells, or Cassidy. You take Shells, who’s a battle rapper, who’s first single probably shoulda been with Primo, or probably shoulda been with what his lane is, but he get a video and he like “yo, the first song I ever heard was ‘Juicy’ by Big” and he totally playin’ himself because it’s like “nigga, how old are you? 8?” Nawmeen.

SoundSlam: I know, the first time I heard that I thought: ‘damn, dude must be like 14 then.’

Rhymefest: Yeah, and he tryin’ to say what he think people wanna hear, like “yeah, I called my man up and told him listen to it on the phone” and people be like ‘yeeeeaah, I remember the first time I heard ‘Juicy’, but really, he played himself because he’s doin what he think people want. If you tryin’ to have your finger on the pulse of people, I think the best way to do that is to have your finger on the pulse on who you are because a lot of people go through the same situations.

SoundSlam: Who do you think does that the most effectively then?

Rhymefest: R. Kelly.

SoundSlam: Really?

Rhymefest: Yeah, he’s grown up a lot. He’s grown up as far as ‘Step In The Name Of Love’ and that’s like what your mom and pops are partial to, or at least mine’s, but if you look at “Best of Both Worlds” and things he’s done like with ‘Ignition’ and all that, but for some reason, it’s like, he knows what young people wanna hear, old people wanna hear, and he know how to execute it perfectly. He’s not the greatest singer, to me, but he’s so hip. He’s got the whole package. He can pull it off. But as far as rappin’, I think Em’s a little out of touch. Ummm, I think Kanye. Definitely myself, but other than me, I’d say Kanye. Because, it’s like, he has his pulse on the conscience of the people, meaning that it’s the things people think, but don’t say, or say to they boys, but won’t say it to somebody they don’t know. Like, you know, “we all self-conscious, I’m just the first to admit it.” We all like, ‘yeeeeaahhh, I am, but I ain’t gonna tell nobody b/c then I’ll be weak and get run over.’ You gotta have your finger on the pulse of who you are and when you talk about who you are, you’ll find a lot of people like that. Like, I got this line in one of my raps where I be like: “I used to get teased like you wouldn’t believe/ Kids said I acted white because I could read” and you know how many black people came to me like ‘yo, me too!’ But, yo, Jim Jones ain’t gonna be like “Yo, kids said I acted white because I could read.” He gonna front and be like “nigga, I’ll shoot you because I can’t read!” Who are you? Just don’t be afraid to say who you are. And if you can articulate it, then you’re a great artist.

SoundSlam: So, do you still rock that blue mechanics shirt in your live shit? Because I know I’ve seen you do that in battles and shows before.

Rhymefest: Oh, my Blue Collar shirt. Yeah, the last battle I rocked that in was in Boston, at this big Superbowl battle. But you know, give ‘em somethin’ to talk about because chances are, they gonna just talk about my shirt.

SoundSlam: Oh, is that why you do it? Is it to set people up or is it social commentary?

Rhymefest: It was settin’ people up, but it was really as social commentary, as far as why I be wearin’ it. Like, if you look at my mixtape, it’s that shirt, it’s Blue Collar, and that’s the people I’m representing when I battle. And the reason I did it is because a lot of white rappers been getting affirmative action at battles and shit, like as sympathy vote, and all they gotta say is one little thing and it’s like “yeeeahhhh, one for the team!!” nahmsayin? And so, I used to have a problem because it’s used to shock and awe me so much that it would throw me off of my game, and I could never battle white rappers, but then I realized ‘Oh shit, that’s all that’s left is white battle rappers.’ And so, I had to get over that real quick. So, I’d be getting beat by these whack cats.

SoundSlam: Are you tryin’ to step away from people that consider you a battle rapper, or battle rapper only, because you’ve murdered people?

Rhymefest: Ain’t nobody gonna consider me as that. The majority of the world hasn’t heard Rhymefest. They don’t even really know me battling, I mean, maybe they have heard of me battling, but it’s not like I got a Juice vs. Supernat thing, or a Cassidy vs. Freeway thing where it’s like “he’s a battle rapper”…I haven’t been marked as a battle rapper yet. I’ve been marked as ‘cold,’ or ‘I heard this song, it’s good’ or ‘he co-wrote ‘Jesus Walks’ or whatever. Nobody’s really heard me yet, so I’m gonna come out as an artist first and people be like ‘yo, that song is dope!’ Like, I just got out of this battle at Long Beach (CA) where I was tearin’ boys off, and like, I’m gonna go on 106th and Park on Freestyle Fridays, as an artist, and when the winner from last week is lookin’ around like “where’s the challenger”, I’m gonna RIP ‘EM and everybody gon’ be like “did you see that one!?” I’m gonna do it backward b/c they say battle rappers don’t make good artists, but I’m gonna be a good artist that’s a good battle rapper.

SoundSlam: I mean, it’d be important, too, if you could get on national tv, like Swan did. You know, he was on that MTV shit, and I was there at Scribble Jam when you battled him. Then, with that MTV battle he was on a year or so ago, that put him out there and people started hearin’ about him.

Rhymefest: Yeah. Him and I have been talkin’ too.

SoundSlam: Oh word? Bout what?

Rhymefest: He wanna do a song with me, and I told him I’d do it, if he let me use the Scribble Jam battle tape on my album.

SoundSlam: Okay. Some of the sound quality from that on your mixtape cd was pretty bad and I couldn’t hear all of it or pick out all of the lines.

Rhymefest: Yeah, hopefully we can get it better. We can get the Scribble Jam tapes.

SoundSlam: Who recorded it, or what was it taken from?

DJ Indiana Jones: Yeah, you take it from the video tapes and put it down on cd, but you also take it from the actual Scribble Jam recordings which was taken from the boards.

Rhymefest: Yeah, the Scribble Jam DVD sounds much better, but we’ll still go back and get the stuff from the cameras so it sounds live and organic, and you can hear the crowd.

SoundSlam: Yeah, that’s dope.

Rhymefest: Naw, but it was good. What was ill is that he kept comin’ back at me.

SoundSlam: Yeah, he’s fresh. I saw him rippin’ people apart last year too.

Rhymefest: What’s fucked up is that he can’t get a break. It’s like he can’t fuckin’ win, haha, something always happens. It’s always the “x factor” with him, like “If Such and Such Wasn’t There, You Would’ve Won It That Time!”

SoundSlam: So, when it comes to battles, I know people are hella critical, and since you’re a human, you already happen to have some lines in your head. And with the Scribble Battle, didn’t you use that line, “and like February, Black/ Your ass is history,” from an old Molemen track?

Rhymefest: Yep, Yep, but it came at just the right time. It was one of them old lines, but I just brought it back out. But there’s a difference when, well, I think, and this is just me, but, for instance, with Eminem, a lot of the lines you’d hear in his freestyles, you’d hear on his album, too, nahmsayin’? But what I did is I was ballin’ ‘em backwards. I took a line from my song, and used it in my battle.

DJ Indiana Jones: It’s colder, really, if you think about it, because you’re gettin’ done by somebody’s record. I think it’s funny, hahaha.

Rhymefest: As long as I win, I think I did the right thing. See, I don’t conform to the ‘morals of hip hop’ b/c I don’t think hip hop has formulas or morals. Like, I used to think when I was growin’ up, “Man, when NY is talkin’ about when they freestylin’, they comin’ off the top of they head,” so I used to always go off the top of the head, until I got real good at it, real good at it, real good at it, then I find out, ‘awww, they writin’ they raps first.’ So, when I go to NY and I be off the top of the head, they be like “(Awwghh)” and they got all twisted and everything. And then when you battle, like Eminem, man, he ain’t off the top of the head, those are written raps, but he do be winnin’ and he did sound good, haha, so it made me think, there are no rules. And since there are no universal rules, what’s the most effective way for you to win. I’ve tried it all. But for me, it’s a mixture of goin’ in with lines that make me feel comfortable, like a few filler lines that you can fall back on if you run outta shit, but you can never beat the spontaneity of lookin’ at something, and everybody knows it’s straight off the head. But then you might hit ‘em with a little filler line, but only at the right time. You’re still cuttin’ and pastin’ in your head. Can’t nobody tell me I ain’t freestylin.

SoundSlam: Are you gonna keep battlin’?

Rhymefest: Yeah, but battles for bigger stakes. Like, I heard there was a battle in Miami for $50,000, but it was with a lot of the top guys, like Jin, Cassidy, Shells, Jae Millz, and other cats, and I guess Shells crushed Jae Millz, Jin crushed Cassidy, and then I guess Jin crushed Shells. I think I can murder any of ‘em though, but I guess all rappers got egos.

SoundSlam: So, what type of conceptual ideas do you have for your upcoming record?

Rhymefest: I’ll tell you about some of them. When people hear my music, I want them to hear and feel how I felt when I listened to BIG, to Kool G Rap, to Slick Rick, I used to hear magic. Because it was funny, it was stories, like “The Vapors,” and it all made you feel like you were gonna be something, and it represented my life and what I want to be. Those artists created worlds, and they created characters within those worlds. And they added all types of colors to it. But, anyways, that’s where we’re at…we’re buildin’ the world with the Kanye’s, the Talib’s, the Common’s, the Outkast’s, the Dead Prez’s, and we’re rebuildin’ our own colorful worlds. And with me, I’m comin’ to make my contribution to the world with my characters, my own neighborhoods, my stories, with the odd things in life, like, for instance, I got this one song about this girl that I grew up with. And we were friends growin’ up, and I had a little crush on her. Then in High School, she started developin’, and I had a little crush on her, but I didn’t say nothin’ because I didn’t want to lose our friendship. So, at the end of the song, in the last verse, I’m at her wedding marrying another guy. And I start off, like, you know, ‘I’m glad I could be here to see you get married,’ but then I started spazzin’ out, but then I end up leavin’ with the maid of honor and shit. But, with each chorus, I’m singin’ classic hooks from all the classic love songs growin’ up, so in one chorus you got me singin “Girl, you know that you need to stop giving me/ the silent treatment/ baby”, but at the same time, in the other speaker, you got me goin’, “My dear, my dear, my dear/ you do not know me very well, so let me tell you…”, and then the next chorus I’m singin’ “The girls look sooo good, but they minds are not ready/ Oh Nooo”, and then at the same time I’m goin’ “Bonita Applebaum, you gotta put me on”, and then in the last chorus, I’m goin’, “There are times/ When you neeeeed someone/ Who will be by your side” from “the Light”, but at the same time I’m goin’ “You Got What I Neeeeed”, but it’s got all the crazy classic choruses, but it’s up-to-date, and over a Kanye beat, not that that means anything, but still. So, it’s nostalgic, it’s a story, it’s a change, it’s funny, and it’s oddly, ironically, true, that you’ll be friends with a chick for sooo long, and then she’ll get with another guy, (SoundSlam: Yeah, people can relate to that.) yeah, and then you jealous. But, I’m still the hero because I still leave with a girl. So, that’s what I want to bring to my world. I want to bring humor, I want to bring socio-political dialogue, and not only askin’ “WHY?” but givin’ my solutions, and givin’ my interpretations of what it all means. But what’s funny, and what I haven’t written yet, but I know I need to write, but it’s the hardest song for me to write: a battle song. A lot of battle rappers can’t get into concepts and ideas, but my dilemma is that I can’t get out of them. It’s easy for me to battle with spontaneity and lines, I can think of that shit, but I’m like, how do you write three straight verses of “I’m the shit!” with all that braggadocio. That’s not in my heart. When I write, I think of a wider audience, and it’s hard for me to think just like that. But, I’ve been listenin’ to a lot of Redman, and Cannibus, and Eminem, and the beat has to be just right, too.

SoundSlam: Do you have that beat yet?

Rhymefest: No, not yet.

SoundSlam: Do you always write to a specific beat?

Rhymefest: Yeah, I’ll tell you what: one thing I hate the most, and I can tell, is when somebody write a rap, and then get another beat, and try to blend them together. That shit’s whack, man. And you know why they do it? Because they fuckin’ lazy. Cuz they like, ‘I don’t wanna throw that rap away, but it didn’t really fit that beat.’ They tryin’ to fit a triangle into a square. I mean, sit down, think, and write, and take some time. Rappers, and people nowadays, have short attention spans. In music, everybody seems to want the here-and-now. Like, with movies, nobody wants to sit and watch a movie with a dope plot. They just like “Where are the explosions?” or “Where are the aliens?” Like, recently, I really been gettin’ into a lot of independent movies, and I’ve been readin’ the sub-titles and all that. I’ve seen some wonderful movies, like “The Motorcycle Diaries” about Che Guevara before he became a revolutionary, “Maria Full of Grace” about that girl in Colombia who was smugglin’ drugs. And, to me, that’s hip hop, where you can sit, listen, think, look, and expand, and not only use it as entertainment, but as a lesson to grow from. So, I’ve determined that within myself, I’m going to try to entertain people, and help bring their attention spans back to normal. We’re backwards because we’re a “Right Now” generation, where it’s like “I wanna fuck, right now” like “If you don’t fuck me now, I ain’t fuckin’ with you”-type shit, or how we can email from our cell phones because we can’t wait until we get home. And I’m a victim of it, too. I’m guilty. But, we still need to know the beauty of reading a book, and digesting it, and sitting for three hours. But rappers can’t sit for three hours and make another song, or thinkin’ how can I make this work. They want to sit for a ½ hour and write some lyrics and put on a beat and if it don’t fit, put on another beat. That’s what I told the producers I’m workin’ with on my album, you’re not just givin’ me a track, and I’m gonna rap over a beat. You’re gonna come to the studio and we’re gonna create. People don’t wanna do that no more. Producers and rappers have been gettin’ over b/c they been sayin’, “I’m gonna send you a beat, you gonna rap over it, and I want 50%” when really, you just took two hours to make that beat, and you want $30,000 for it. Like I told Q-Tip, me and him are gonna sit down and make some shit. Me and Primo talked about it already, I’m gonna go to the studio, and we’re gonna make some shit. So now, it’s just a matter of if you have time. And my record label working things out.

SoundSlam: Who are you gonna employ, as far as producers, for this upcoming record? You mentioned Tip and Premier.

Rhymefest: Ummm, really, anybody who is willing to come and create. I’m talkin’ to Kwame, who produced that “On Fire” track. Also, Just Blaze, Mark Ronson, LG, me and Kanye are workin’ on some stuff, Sage and Payne and John Henry from Indianapolis. And actually, it looks like the lead single is gonna be local, from Sage and Payne. I’m not lookin’ for a formula, like a Kanye beat with that hook, but rather it’s gotta work real well.

SoundSlam: Word up. Now, I know one of the things you’ve become noted for recently was “Jesus Walks”…did you co-write that with Kanye (Rhymefest: yeah)? Okay, that’s what I thought, but I’d also heard that you’d written that for Kanye.

Rhymefest: Yeah, and you know what, at the end of the day, if I co-wrote it, hell yeah, I’m gonna say I wrote it. It’s like, if you’re a co-owner of Ford, and the average person asks you if you own Ford, you’re gonna say ‘yes’ to ‘em, nahmsayin? I still get my share and my credit, and at the end of the day, even if I say I wrote it, it’s still Kanye’s song, you know what I’m sayin? But I’m grateful because wherever Kanye goes, whenever he talks about the song and the creation of it, he’s give me credit for helpin’ write it.

SoundSlam: Yeah, I feel you, and that’s how it should be. Well, is there anything else you want to say before we wrap this up?

Rhymefest: A lot of people complain about the horrible state of hip hop, or the horrible state of mainstream hip hop, but a lot of times those are artists, or wanna be artists that are mad because they know that they’re not gonna be able to break into the mainstream of hip hop and be successful at it. So, what they do is they complain about how bad everything is, like “sour grapes anyways.” But I’d like to take this opportunity to say that hip hop is good, it’s alive, it’s strong, and it’s getting stronger everyday. If you look at the last year of hip hop, you had Ghostface Killah come out with a wonderful album. Dead Prez, Kanye West, Outkast, and regardless of whether you like those people’s styles, they have added to the creativity and the skillsmanship of rap, production, and concepts. And you’ve seen people like David Banner come out and flop. You’ve seen people like Trillville come out and flop. You may see a lot of hot singles, but the only hot albums that are sellin’ diamond are people who can actually rap: Jay-Z, Outkast, etc. So, I think that if we love the culture of hip hop, then pause for a minute, and stop hatin’, stop complainin’ for just a second and see the beauty of the culture.

SoundSlam: Aight. Oh, one last thing: when’s your record tentatively scheduled to drop?

Rhymefest: Next summer….be on the lookout next year.