Interview with Rhymefest

Jul 17, 2006

Interview with Rhymefest · by Jalylah Burrell

You know what my mission is? When you walk away from my show I want you to think, “I saw God.” For real. I want you to think-not me as God-but like the spirit. You know what I was looking at? A Michael Jackson concert. I felt like, “Wow,” I saw God. I know the people that were there felt that and I felt it over the DVD. I want you to remember the feeling you had when you walked away. Not the words. Not the, “look I rap so good look at me rapping,” even though the words are great. I want you to remember the feeling of the music and the feeling of seeing somebody up there working hard for you. That makes sense?

A choice quote from working man’s rapper Rhymefest from a brief conversation we had a few weeks prior to the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival. Since I didn’t have the word count to use any of these quotes for the BHF preview I was writing, it seemed appropriate to resurrect it here at Rafi’s House of Hip Hop et al.

Rereading the transcript I was reminded how impressed I had been with ‘fest when my boy Rafael and I caught him opening for Little Brother at CMJ and I was motivated to download (from iTunes no less) Blue Collar. I was pretty satisfied with the whole. While I can’t quite match the enthusiasm of The Onion’s Nathan Rabin (whose writing I love), I’m much more aligned with his viewpoint than that of the Times’ Jon Pareles who offers up the following backhanded compliment,

Rhymefest can’t match the way Mr. West twists moods during a song, but he gets a few surprises into songs like “All Girls Cheat” and “More.” And with Mr. West between albums, it’s good to hear that same Midwestern pragmatism — tenacious, plainspoken, earnest but not humorless — from another rapper who cares about something more than himself.

On the subject of West, I think ‘fest has been really challenged by this ghostwriting situation. A while ago I saw him at one of those cheap ass beer concerts at the Hammerstein Ballroom with my girl Sabrina. He came on between sets from co-headliners Ludacris, Missy Elliot, Erykah and Common, as did Remy Ma in Chanel Snowboots, a liquored up Big Daddy Kane who served as the evening’s emcee and Skillz. Skillz, spit a verse or two from “Ghostwriter” and the audience was geeked so ‘fest comes out and prefaces his mini showcase with a little dig about how he was supposed to be on “Jesus Walks” and later was surprised to find out his verse had been cut. Crickets. Angry crickets. I felt so bad for him. Skillz might be able to throw stones at Diddy and J.D. with no repercussions but West might be a sacred cow outside of internet blogging circles. From his response to my requisite West question he’s changed his tune, which will hopefully endear him more to audiences because his message is substantive and well delivered.

JB: Why did your album get pushed back?
Rhymefest: Heavy Sigh. When you bringing an album out especially me and what I’m offering in this album I don’t want to just bring it out just to say its out. I want maximum awareness. I want anticipation. Not only that, I needed time for people to get to know Rhymefest. For me to travel around. Do more shows. Do the Nick Cannon Wild ‘N Out. Do the AOL sessions. So the central park and the Brooklyn festival. So that when the album dropped people were aware of what they can expect.

JB: So what do you feel like people have learned about in the past year as you’ve been building a buzz?
Rhymefest: Although I’m funny and a little cynical, I’m very serious. I have a moral compass. I have a mission. I can easily be one of their favorite rappers. This is not a job or a money making mission for me. This is a career?

JB: Do you think being outed as Kanye West’s ghostwriter has helped or hurt your career?
Rhymefest: I don’t think that I’m a ghostwriter. I don’t see myself as a ghostwriter. And actually I’m offended when people say that I’m Kanye’s ghostwriter. It’s obvious that Kanye is a very talented individual whether it be lyrically or production wise but the same way that I’ve helped Kanye in writing songs he’s helped me so then would that make him my ghostwriter? He has helped me write choruses. He has sad no don’t put that line there, or say it more like this. That’s what crews do.

JB: Now most emcees sort of vacillate between talking about povertyand excess. Why did you entitle your album Blue Collar and why do you refer to yourself as Mr. blue collar?
Rhymefest: Well, Blue Collar represents work. It represents someone who works hard goes every day, struggles to try to be successful to try to take care of their family. Blue collar symbolizes family values. What I’m saying is in the hood you don’t have to deal drugs. You don’t have to pimp your women. You don’t have to hustle and go to jail and gang bang. You can work and be successful and there is no shame in it. And that’s why its important for me to not only talk it and name my album that but to after and during be in the community and be an option for the shorties of what they can be.

JB: I heard you at CMJ in the fall performing on that same bill as Little Brother and I remember you calling out Webbie and his rape talk on the song “Gimme That” and linking it to the Superdome and what was going on there during Hurricane Katrina. Now, I know I appreciated that constructive criticism. Why don’t you think other artists are speaking out about on issues like that and why do you speak out?
Rhymefest: It’s not Lil’ Webbie as an individual that I was speaking out against. At that time I was very emotional about hearing about rapes in the Superdome. Very disturbed and then looking at what I did as an artist and the state of hip hop, of where I was, and seeing that we were making songs about raping people. You know. Oh God. I was disgusted. I was disgusted. I was furious. And that’s my fire my sense of mission. I think people downright are scared. People want to make money. Certain people are scared that they’re not gonna be real if they represent themselves. Other people feel as though it’s gonna mess up my money and they don’t care if someone gets raped. They don’t care if someone gets killed. They don’t care if someone gets hooked on drugs or goes to jail. They just want to make their money. So you have half of the people that are scared and the other half of the people that are capitalists. But this is not just in rap music. This is in every career. Everywhere you go. Someone in Enron wanted to tell. Someone in Enron was scared to tell. Someone in Enron said “hey don’t mess up my money I’m trying to get out of here! With the stocks. So, same thing in rap. And I’m just one of the few who is not afraid.

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Class, moxie and chops. Guest blogger Jalylah Burrell is the Katherine Hepburn of Hip-hop blogging. Peep her words at She Real Cool.

Comments for "Interview with Rhymefest"

I like Rhymefest as a subject of interviews. He seems very sincere, grounded, and smart.

I’m just not sold on him as a rapper. he’s not horrible or anything, I just haven’t heard anything that stood out to me. Maybe I’m biased cause I hate his verse on Kanye’s “We Can Make It Better”:

“They poison our Newports…Johnny Cochran dead, who gon give us us free now…Clinton aint in office, who gon give us sht free now….Who gon make it better for the thugs in the penile.”

It’s as if Rush Limbaugh wrote this verse to goof on black people.

— eauhellzgnaw Jul 19, 07:58 AM