Rhymefest Interview

Not many rappers could boast of winning a Grammy Award before releasing their first album. Then again, not many rappers are like Rhymefest (aka Che Smith). The Chicago emcee was the unheralded hero who co-wrote and found the sample used in Kanye West's Grammy-winning "Jesus Walks." The whack-tose intolerant emcee whose initial claim to fame was defeating a then relatively obscure white rapper known as Eminem in a Scribble Jam freestyle battle back in '97, recently talked to your Rap Guide about his groundbreaking album (Blue Collar), why he turned down Kanye West's label offer, and why Chicago may never be a hip-hop hotspot. School's in session, grab your pen and pad!

Hip-Hop Needs a Balance

Henry: At what point did you realize that you wanted to be a rapper?

Rhymefest: First, when I realized that it was something that I was talented at. Secondly, it was something that I could use to help shape and change the world through a song like “Jesus Walks.” Thirdly, and this is even more recently, when I realized that there’s no balance in hip-hop – there’s no balance on the radio. At those points, I knew that I was chosen, not because of wanting to make some money or to get some girls.

You mention a lack of balance, what elements are we missing from the game right now?

People are starving. We just released “Dynomite” recently, did you hear it?

Yes

Did you like it?

Absolutely

We put it on iTunes, and 200,000 people downloaded it within one week. People will tell you that nobody wants to hear hip-hop anymore. They turned “hip-hop” into a bad word like you would go somewhere and people would say “oh he’s a hip hop rapper.” And according to mainstream, nobody wants to hear that. “Backpack” – all these things are bad words, it’s almost like calling somebody “a liberal.” So, those 200,000 that downloaded "Dynomite" in one week prove that the people are starving for hip-hop – the very thing that some of the powers that be told us is no longer desired.

What was the label’s reaction to the massive downloads?

I’ll tell you what; I appreciate J Records and I signed to J Records because Clive Davis is one of the last label heads who takes time to develop acts. When you look at the artists on J Records – Alicia Keys, Mario, Fantasia – these are not just random pop acts. These are artists who are making good music.

But these are all R&B acts. Busta Rhymes said in an interview that Clive Davis is cool when it comes to R&B artists, but that he neglects his hip-hop artists…

Well, in my case, Clive Davis took a chance on Rhymefest when nobody else would. What, am I not hip-hop? I am the essence of balance in hip-hop. I’m one of the last of my kind. I love what Busta Rhymes is doing. Busta Rhymes is hip-hop; he was on J Records, but I have to disagree with his statement to a certain degree because of what I’ve seen J Records do with my records.

To Sign or Not to Sign: Kanye West vs Mark Ronson

You know a lot of people expected you to hook up with Kanye’s label [G.O.O.D. Music]. Was that a possibility?

Yeah, it was a possibility. Kanye West offered me a deal with G.O.O.D. Music, Mark Ronson offered me a deal with Allido Records. It was a difficult decision to make. A lot of people would think…well the obvious thing would be to go with Kanye West. But, in my analysis, you wouldn’t know unless you were in my shoes. And, in my shoes, what I saw was a guy who I vibed with which was Mark Ronson. He took me to London and showed me the world, and got me vocal lessons.

Vocal lessons?

Yeah, dude got me vocal lessons. One of his things was: if you’re doing a song, you gotta be able to hold it, too. He taught me a lot. Kanye taught me a lot as well, but Kanye is one of my best friends. So, if I sign with one of my best friends and I don’t like the way he does business, and we fall out or whatever, what happens? So, what I did was, “I’m gonna sign a contract with Mark Ronson, I’m gonna continue my friendship with Kanye.” If Kanye and I didn’t work out, we wouldn’t be friends; it’d be a done business and a done friendship. If me and Mark Ronson didn’t work out, we would probably still be friends, we wouldn’t be business partners no more. And that’s exactly how it’s working out, like Kanye still works with me. It’s a thin line to walk when you’re a rapper signed to a rapper, who’s gonna be the star?

So, this is really a case of ‘eating your cake and having it’ because you wanna save both your friendship and your business partner, is that what it is?

Well, I gained both Mark Ronson and Kanye West. Mark was the one that hooked me up with ODB [Ol’Dirty Bastard of the Wu-Tang Clan] before his unfortunate passing. I’m one of the few people that last worked with ODB. I’m sure I would still have great music, but for better for worse, I’ve done incredible things in my career even before I put an album out.