by Alex Shtaerman
Since snagging a Grammy for co-writing Kanye West’s breakout hit Jesus Walks, Chicago native Rhymefest continues to gain ground. Steering away from some of rap’s more redundant themes, Fest aims to chronicle the struggles of the average man on his aptly titled debut album Blue Collar which is set to hit stores in early 2006. According to Rhymefest the streets are not full of gun slingers and dope dealers, the streets are full of regular people trying to live life while often hard pressed just to get by and make it through the day. “This is the black experience. This is the real street experience that is not profiled in our music”, declares the battle tested MC. But while Blue Collar deals with average life, the album’s cast is anything but. With production from Kanye West, Cool & Dre, Mark Ronson and Just Blaze as well as guest appearances from the likes of Carl Thomas and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard, it seems almost certain that Rhymefest will soon be bringing his working class rhymes into your living room.
RIOTSOUND.COM: You got your debut album dropping in early 2006; for fans who have heard of Rhymefest but haven’t had a chance to hear your music, what should they expect from this record?
RHYMEFEST: Well, the name of the album is Blue Collar. And that’s what it is; it’s about the struggle that we go through to even get to a position to even try to start accomplishing our dreams. It’s real street and when I say real street I’m not talking about selling drugs and shooting people. I’m talking about the experiences we go through in the hood. Like if you go on my block right now in Chicago, you might not see seven people on the corner selling dope but you might see eight people at the bus stop going to work, you know what I’m saying?
I grew up in a situation where our mother was a drug addict, how do it feel when you go to school and another little girl in 8th grade tell you – my brother just sold your mother a rock. How do it feel when you grew up and you never knew why your little nieces and cousins ain’t act right but then you find out that your uncles and [other] cousins molested them? This is the black experience. This is the real street experience that is not profiled in our music. I went to the mall a couple of months ago and I saw an Army recruiter out there in a Hummer playing Chingy and [the slogan] said – drive a Hummer for a Summer, join the Army. That’s just wrong, they recruiting us out these bare high schools, telling us – yea, the Army can get you anywhere, you like rap music, you can rap in the Army! [laughs]
So my thing is – we ain’t talking about that and we say to talk about that ain’t street. It bothers me when I hear people trying to criticize Kanye for not being street or for not being [this or that]. You know, that’s like saying Marvin Gaye ain’t street ’cause Curtis Mayfield made Pusherman and Marvin Gaye made Mercy Mercy Me. Stevie Wonder ain’t street because he made Ribbon In The Sky – what are you talking about you idiot!? You know what I’m saying? This album Blue Collar is bringing it to the real street, the average guy, the working man.
RIOTSOUND.COM: Like with any city, Chicago Hip-Hop has certain stereotypes about it where many people expect the music to be of a certain style and feel, how do you see that?
RHYMEFEST: I think the beautiful thing right now about Chicago Hip-Hop is that it’s the essence of like when New York was at its pinnacle. None of us sound alike; Common don’t sound like Kanye, I don’t sound like Twista, Twista don’t sound like Doe Or Die, everybody has their own unique thing that we do in Chicago. Part of it is because the city is so segregated and we all from different sides of town with different experiences. The West side [of Chicago] looks like a whole other city even though it’s in the same city.
It’s beautiful that we’re all unique and don’t feel the need to bite something just ’cause it seemed like it was successful. Twista, Common & Kanye are all successful and none of them sound alike. So it just gives us new guys the energy to say we can do what WE do. We can stay in our lane, we ain’t gotta front to make it. What I love about Chicago rappers is that while we still got a little country drawl, while we do have a West Coast bounce, we still stay true to lyrics and substance and that’s beautiful. So where do I fit in that? I fit in because I’m unique and that’s the tradition of Chicago.
RIOTSOUND.COM: Your first single off Blue Collar is Brand New with Kanye, how did that record come together?
RHYMEFEST: When me and Kanye went to work together I was like – yo, I want something that’s like nothing else, I want something original, something fresh, something new, I don’t want something just to get by, I don’t want whatever you gave somebody else, give me something new. So he says – something new, how about this? He started playing the beat and I was like – ohh, nigga what!!! And there it is.
RIOTSOUND.COM: You’ve been rhyming for many years; how would you characterize the road you’ve taken to get to the point that you are at today?
RHYMEFEST: I got a record deal when I decided that I wanted a record deal, not when I could get one. It’s been a learning experience, my whole life is one big learning experience and I am proud now to be able to feel seasoned enough to deliver it to the world and that’s what I’m preparing to do with this Blue Collar album. I’ve been through a lot of battles, I’ve been through a lot of heartache, I raised a family, I got a son coming up in Hip-Hop. So it’s kind of like a blessing and a privilege and an honor to get paid to do what I love. I’ve worked a lot of jobs, I’ve worked over fifty jobs before I got a record deal and that’s another reason I named my album Blue Collar, it’s telling my story.
RIOTSOUND.COM: Has there been anything that comes along with being known and recognized that you really haven’t expected?
RHYMEFEST: Of course, of course, I’m realizing that people listen to [what you say] or people will make up things about you even if you don’t say anything [laughs]. People gun for you; there are many more attacks that come your way. I realize that what I say now holds more weight. People like for their rappers to be superheroes or action figures – an action figga nigga [laughs] – and for a guy to tell somebody he’s blue collar, it’s challenging. But I deal with it because I’m a man and this is what I want to do with my music.
RIOTSOUND.COM: You got Twista, Common, Kanye, ODB as well as a couple of other artists that are featured on Blue Collar; can you talk about some of those collaborations?
RHYMEFEST: Twista and Common are not on the album as of yet, I’m still trying to reach out to them brothers. As of now we got Kanye, ODB, Mario, Carl Thomas, Bump J – the main thing with this though is when you buy a Rhymefest album, you’re getting a Rhymefest album. It ain’t a mixtape and it ain’t a compilation, you going to get who you paid for. One of the things [I’m really proud of] with this album is the production. We got Just Blaze, Cool & Dre, Mark Ronson, No ID, Kanye West, ‘cmon dudes its crazy!
RIOTSOUND.COM: In earlier years you gained a lot of respect for your battling skills and at one point you defeated a then unknown Eminem. This is probably a silly question but when you battled Em did you have any sort of feeling like, this dude is gonna make it one day or something to that effect?
RHYMEFEST: How could I know that, I didn’t know. People look at it like – oh, you battled Eminem?! – ’cause we’re all dickriders. Like – oh, you had a chance to sign with Kanye and you didn’t?!! Oh my god that’s Kanye West!!! [laughs] C’mon, that’s the dude I grew up with, you know what I mean. I’m not a coattail rider but I do understand and I know greatness when I see it. It did make me very proud and happy that someone like Eminem made it to the height that’s he’s made it because that inspired me and gave me hope like, if this guy can make it then I can make it. It inspired me that Kanye made it; if he can make it and he’s a regular guy, then I can make it. And that’s what this is all about, helping people realize that they can fulfill their dreams. I’m very happy and proud of them brothers. [As far as] my battling thing, it wasn’t for self glorification, it wasn’t for stripes. I battled as a preparation for performance, for what I’m doing right now, which is being an artist. My biggest challenge in the battle wasn’t my opponent, it was myself. I only lost if I beat myself not if they beat me.
RIOTSOUND.COM: Like you said, a lot of people were questioning why you didn’t sign with Kanye. Was it because Kanye’s success inspired you to build something of your own as opposed to just following in Kanye’s footsteps?
RHYMEFEST: No, it wasn’t a selfish thing or a pride thing or something like that. It was more of a thing that Kanye was [one of my friends] and if the business [between us] didn’t work out, it would hurt our friendship. Mark Ronson offered me a deal and my thing was – to sign with Mark Ronson would be to build a friendship through business. And if it don’t work out we still got friendship. So I signed to Mark Ronson and I still deal with Kanye, I’m always going to be a G.O.O.D. Music member whether we got paperwork or not. It was just that I wanted to preserve our friendship more and I didn’t know what kind of business [Kanye] did at the time. Now I’m able to look at what kind of business he does and I could judge better for the future.
RIOTSOUND.COM: As you mentioned, you worked with a lot of great producers on Blue Collar; who are some producers that you haven’t had a chance to work with at this stage in your career that you may want to work with in the future?
RHYMEFEST: Rza, other than that I’m fine.
RIOTSOUND.COM: You got Blue Collar dropping in early 2006, what else should the fans be looking out for as far as Rhymefest?
RHYMEFEST: I’m coming out with a Grime Mode mixtape, Grime Mode is the name of my crew. The Grime Mode mixtape is going to be crazy. Also I’m about to host a few battles. [We’re going to] get the best battlers from different cities and take the show on the road and do some big shit like – step right up, step right up, battle the best ones in the world, know what I mean. We may have something where we go to different cities and maybe you can win money if you come on up and [win a battle].
For more Rhymefest news & info stay tuned to www.Rhymefest.com
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