Rhymefest won a Grammy award for co-writing the song "Jesus Walks" with Kanye West. The song was Kanye's biggest hit from his debut album The College Drop-Out. Rhymefest has a record deal with Mark Ronson's Allido Records and he is preparing to drop his debut album Blue Collar Popping later this summer. Kanye is featured on the first single "Brand New."

Rhymefest called me a "100 Watt Light Bulb." This was like the ultimate compliment. You have to read the interview to understand the significance of this info. My Rhymefest interview is classic. I had a lot of fun interviewing him and what's so weird is I didn't even expect it. I didn't know much about him prior to the interview but it was a lot of fun.

Hey my name is Dorrie Wheeler I am with Thabiz.com. How are you doing?
Rhymefest- I'm fine. This is what I'm talking about. They have me on here with all of these male interviewers that are asking me all of these masculine questions like "What's your favorite football team?"

So you are from Chicago right?
Rhymefest--Yeah I am from Chicago.

Where at ?
Rhymefest--I'm from the Southside of Chicago. You know about Chicago?

Yes. I lived on 112th and Throop.
Rhymefest- Really, I grew up in Jeffrey Manor.

Jeffrey Manor. That is like so funny because just yesterday I was thinking about these friends I had in college. I went to Southern Illinois University and I had these friends that rapped and they were from Jeffrey Manor and they used to always talk about rapping and how when they went home they were going to holler at Common. (This was like in 1993). I live in Virginia now though.
Rhymefest--I went to South Shore.

Listen to Rhymefest & Dorrie chit chat

For real? I went to the agriculture high school.
Rhymefest- Oh I'm sure you did that's why you had those educational opportunities. So you live in Virginia?

Virginia Beach
Rhymefest-How do you like it?

It's nice. Laid back. Chill. Nice place to raise a little family. Little yard. Fence.
Rhymefest-I moved to Indianapolis because it was near Chicago but still had that home town feel.

Did you go to any Pacers games?
Rhymefest-No.

See, I'm asking you one of the masculine questions.
Rhymefest-No. I'm waiting for the Bulls to resurrect themselves. I might be waiting awhile.

So you just won a Grammy for Co-writing "Jesus Walks." Did they actually send the award yet? That is what I always wonder.
Rhymefest- Yo, by the time they sent the award I didn't even care no more. It was like 8 weeks later. You know what I mean? It's kinda like the whole feeling of getting a Grammy. I was conflicted. My hip-hop sensibilities, there used to be a day we were like, "Fuck a Grammy," you know what I mean. So I was like, "Hmm...should I be happy." I was a little conflicted about how I should feel but I also know that no matter what awards I get, or what awards people give me, the real reward is when people come up to me and say, "You co-wrote that song? That song changed my life." or "I love this other song you got, this is what I'm going through." To me, that is the best feeling. You know what it's like? It's like when you want to graduate from high school you are like, "I can't till I get out of here the world is going to be open up," but then when you graduate and get it you are like, "Whoo, I don't feel no different." Like, you know what I'm saying? Now I have to go to college. That is what awards are like to me. It's like "Ooh, I'm going to get an award." Then you get it and sit it on the mantle and you like, "I still gotta live like they didn't give me any money with this award."

How did you go about getting your record deal?
Rhymefest-You know. I went a different route with getting my record deal. Kanye offered me a deal with Good Music and I didn't take it. Part of that is like, Kanye is my friend. If you have a star quarterback your team what do you need another quarterback for? You know what I'm saying? Kanye is the rapper, Kanye is the head producer. You know what I mean? I felt like as a friend if I would have signed with Good Music and I wouldn't have been a priority to come out with as an artist. Even if I would, I don't know if I would or wouldn't have but if I wouldn't have been it would have affected our friendship.I would rather keep our friendship so I signed with Mark Ronson at Allido Records. Now Mark Ronson he is the guy. His father was in a rock group named Foreigner.

I know about Foreigner. (laughs) (I didn't share with Rhymefest that I am the girl who created imissthe80s.com, I felt like bursting into the chorus from "I've been waiting for a girl like you)
Rhymefest--His father is a member of Foreigner. You know how when people sign you to their Indy deals they give you a chain, to me represents slavery. What Mark Ronson did instead of giving me a chain he took me on a tour around the world. He had an album come out on Elektra called Here Comes The Fuzz, I opened up for Justin Timberlake for 3 months. Wherever he DJ'd I performed. That carved me and shaped me as an entertainer. We got in the studio, he produced me. A lot of people think a producer is somebody they give you a CD and you write the raps to the beat. Quincy Jones is a producer. Kanye is a producer. The Neptunes, Mark Ronson they are producers. Someone who sits in there with you and you help write the song and ya'll go over it and they say, "Don't say it like this, say it like that." That vibe, that chemistry. That's production. He produced. When I was ready. Clive Davis heard some of my music. He liked it and gave me an opportunity.

How did you come up with your name Rhymefest?
Rhymefest-- My thing is I wanted to highlight that I could rap. I can rhyme anyway you want. Rhymefest is like a festival of rhymes. It also has a little quirkiness to it, a little silliness. When you hear the name Rhymefest it's like you may think this is a hip-hop dude but you still want to hear what he has to say. My real name is Che. I was named after Che Gueverra. My name Che came from my grandfather. My grandfather was in Vietnam. He had an ethnic platoon and when they were surrounded by the Vietnamese and one of the Vietnamese stepped forth and looked at my grandfather and said, "Black Man go home. This is not your war." Every since that day, he named all of the children and grand children after revolutionary figures and I got Che.

Here's a question for you. I interview a lot of up and coming artists from the Midwest. A lot of them complain a lot. I really get this feeling that, I guess you are going to be in the group now too, but Common, Kanye, do you feel that people feel like because you are from the Midwest and you made it you are supposed to help them too?
Rhymefest--I do believe that everybody has the responsibility to help someone. My crew is No ID, he did 5 songs on my album, a guy named Micky who is signed to Virgin and a singer named K Fox. Now all three of these people are from Chicago. And by me having the international opportunity that they they need, if they had it people would love them. But all three of these people--K Fox was signed to Def Jam they never put her album out. Micky was with Cash Money they never put his album out for one reason or another. Rhymefest has an opportunity. The reason these people got signed is because they got something. Cause they work hard. We all know No ID right?

I've heard the name.
Rhymefest-- He produced "I Used to Love Her." He did Common's first three albums. Somehow Common forgot about him in the mix. My thing is people who have a track record and I know they are willing to work hard, I messes with them. But people who talk about, "I rap, put me on," get real. Get a job.

I heard from this girl today and she said "Yeah, I'm from Chicago, I called up to the radio station and told them I had a song would they play it, what should I do?" I was like, man I don't even know.
Rhymefest--Some people don't know where to get started. You know what someone told me. I'm going to tell you Dorrie, it's Dorrie right? From listening to you Dorrie, I'm going to tell you because you are like me. You are a 100 Watt Lightbulb. Sometimes us 100 Watt Lightbulbs look at 50 Watt lightbulbs and be like, "Why can't you just burn brighter." They can't because they are just 50 Watts. So what I learned to do is let a 50 Watt Light Bulb be a 50 Watt Light Bulb and us 100 Watt Lightbulbs we'll all burn together and shine.

Awe, that's sweet cause I am an author, a designer a journalist I'm doing a million and one things.
Rhymefest--I can hear it in your voice,also in the fact that you don't have tolerance for ignorance and the further you get in your career and the further we get in our career and the more knowledge that we are going to encounter and the only things we can do is be patient with them. What I was saying is that we have to have patience with these people and know that these are the people that are going to support it. I don't like when artists, and when I say artists I mean people like Common, Kanye and myself, they have a responsibility to the community. It's not necessarily putting people on. It's coming back and being there and doing things when they don't have anything to sell. I'm not talking about Common or Kanye, but I'm just saying people who made it are not there all the time unless they are selling something. To me that's political. That's what Bush does. That's what Jesse Jackson does. That ain't what Rhymefest does.

When does the album come out?
Rhymefest-- The album comes out in September. It's called Blue Collar Popping. It's about a regular guy just trying to make it with dreams of being more. It could be your uncle, your father, your cousin, your boyfriend, your husband but this guy wants to get more in life and be fly but he works at the post office. And this guy will buy him a Cadillac and pay $800 a month on the lease because he doesn't want to look like he works at the post office.

That's so true.
Rhymefest-- It's blue collar but it's poppin' because he's fly.

I know people at home who's boyfriends will spend one whole pay check on their Hummer note.
Rhymefest--Or "I'll pay my rent with one and just balance it like that."

You have the whole summer to promote the album will you be touring and everything?
Rhymefest-- Yes. I feel like this. I feel like you do this. You go out now and get that Common BE album. Two months later you get that Kanye West Late Registration, 2 months later in September you get Rhymefest Blue Collar Poppin and then you will have the trilogy.

How did you get involved with The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival?
Rhymefest-- Well, I got involved in that with Alleto records and Mark Ronson. That is the kind of artist I am and I feel honored that they have artists like me, Q-Tip, Brand Nubian, Dead Prez, at the inner city event with black people and they are not trying to expel real hip-hop to just white people. It's not like blues and jazz. We still support artists that want to talk about something. I love that.

What's the first single?
Rhymefest-I'ts called "Brand New".It's me and Kanye going back and forth. Kanye is saying like "I don't like it unless it's brand new." And I'm saying, "Well I can take something used. It's new to me. Can I do a verse from Brand New for you?

Rhymefest spit a verse from "Brand New" for me and it sounds like a hot song.

When you said in the song, "kick it for free," it reminded me of high school. We used to just be happy to go down to the lake and when people get older they want all of these expensive dates so I like the song.
Rhymefest- That's that Chi-Town we can kick it for free.

This was a nice interview, I enjoyed talking to you?
Rhymefest- I enjoyed talking to you too, you 100 Watt Lightbulb.

Artist Mentioned in this Interview-Mikkey Related Terms-Chicago

Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2005
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She is the founder of Thabiz.com and Imissthe80s.com and writes for the Rap, Teen, and 1980s section at Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer and a publisher. Please contact Dorrie for advertising inquiries, lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights, paying entertainment jobs, or general comments.
Visit Dorrie on the web at www.sparkledoll.com or e-mail her at webmaster@thabiz.com.
May not be reprinted, copied or distributed. You may link to this interview.
Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com May 2005.