Rhymefest and Lupe Fiasco (2006)

This piece was done for Chicago Magazine. Going into it, I was very interested to learn about how 'Fest and Lupe viewed the challenges of being artists out of Chicago because each had a very different road to national prominence. The story that ran can be seen here. This is a longer version.

BY DAVID JAKUBIAK Originally appeared in Chicago Magazine in September 2006

Rhymefest (Che Smith) and Lupe Fiasco (Wasalu Muhammed Jaco) sit on the cusp of stardom. Raised in Chicago, they represent the hope launched by Kanye West that the non-gangster’s urban experience can lead to platinum CD sales.  For the 28-year-old Rhymefest, whose major label debut “Blue Collar,” dropped July 11 on J Records, this means depicting the working class complete with frustrations, late rent payments and after work drinks. For the 24-year-old Fiasco, whose debut “Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor” is due August 29 it’s the lyrics of a supremely jazz-loving, skateboarding misfit. The two didn’t meet until two years ago, when, after both spent some time working with West on Late Registration in California they wound up on the same airplane back to Chicago. As they prepared for their major debuts we got them back together again to talk their music, each other, representing Chicago, and working with West, with whom ’Fest won a Grammy for “Jesus Walks,” and with whom Fiasco recorded the hit “Touch the Sky.”

Lupe, how would you describe Fest?

Lupe Fiasco: [He’s] very creative, very conceptual, and at the same time he’s very positive – and not too positive where it’s unrelatable – it’s a real honest positivity. The concepts and the creativity are what really grasp me. He did a song [on the mixtape A Star is Born] where played, what was was it? Ghostface versus…

Rhymefest: Ghostface versus 50 Cent and Nelly versus KRS-One.

Lupe Fiasco: He actually emulated Ghostface and rapped how Ghostface raps and then, turned around and rapped like 50 Cent raps and they battled each other.

Rhymfest: At the same time, Lupe did a song called “Switch,” where he switched his style. When you look at me and Lupe that’s what we are. We are chameleons of hip-hop. You can tell, when you listen to both of us, we’ve drawn from the history and the love of hip-hop.

What are your responsibilities as MCs?

Lupe Fiasco: It’s recognizing you have a voice that’s heard by more than one person. There are strong willed people and there are weak willed people, so you have to be careful what you say because people will believe it. And that goes on your record with God. If you get trapped in the studio world, and there are kids listening and old people and politicians who think hip-hop is bad, it’s going to come back to you.

Rhymefest: A lot of people ask me about Oprah Winfrey’s view of rap music and I have to put myself in the place of a middle-aged black woman who’s a billionaire and who hasn’t really heard rap since The Sugar Hill Gang. Let’s say one day she turns on whatever mainstream radio station and listens. I don’t know, I probably wouldn’t like rap music either.

Lupe Fiasco: In London there’s been a debate over whether they should ban hip-hop because some people think hip-hop is influencing something called knife culture, which is kids packing knives and going around stabbing people. They’ve got a point. If you listen to the radio, and you listen objectively, in some cases you’ll be disgusted, in some cases you’ll be insulted and you’ll be like, ‘these people have a point.’ People don’t say stuff just to say it. Politicians didn’t go after Too Live Crew because they were black, they were really degrading women.

Rhymefest: In hip-hop there’s denial. We are in America and there is freedom of speech, but as a black man I have a responsibility to my child. I know when someone waves money in your face you can think ‘I can eat just by rapping this.’ But do you have to eat at the expense of my child? A lot of rappers say, “That’s the responsibility of the parents.” But a lot of us grew up without two parents. A lot of children with parents are exposed by what other children are doing. It’s more complicated than that.

Rhymefest, you’ve lived in Indianapolis for the last four years. Lupe, you’re still living in Chicago. Do you have to leave Chicago to have a chance at stardom?

Lupe Fiasco: Maybe for like two days to have a meeting with your label. You don’t have to relocate or anything like that. If you work for a corporation and their headquartered in Dallas, they might relocate you. Sometimes it’s necessary to do that. Every rapper has left where he was at to go to New York for a meeting, for an audition, for something. That’s where the industry is.

Rhymefest: During the making of my album I lived in New York for about eight months and it goes back to something Kanye told me, “If I’m trying to sell bathing suits and I live in Alaska, who’s going to buy bathing suits? I need to go somewhere warm.”

You have both worked with Kanye West, what has his role been in bringing the Chicago scene to the national audience?

Rhymefest: Kanye is the king of bridge building. A lot of times Chicago artists don’t work with each other, Kanye works with us. I hope we learn from that.

Lupe Fiasco: He was pop culture to the extreme. He came out and hit on every niche. He was probably the only universal artist that came out of Chicago. He was like Nelly out of St. Louis or Eminem out of Detroit. They have rappers around them who fit a niche, but rarely is there an artist that hits every niche.

Speaking of Kanye being a bridge builder, do you have any songs together?

Lupe Fiasco: No, no yet.

Would you do a song together?

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah.

Rhymefest: It is one thing for us to put our boys on, but to really be a powerhouse as a city we have to combine the forces of other artists who have albums coming out. For example, I don’t really know Bumpy J that well, but Bump was the only one who responded to me when I reached out. Honestly, I reached out to everyone, but Bump is the only one on my album.

Is there any competition between you?

Lupe Fiasco: No.

So ’Fest, there’s no chance of getting you on a skateboard?

Rhymefest: If Lupe works a blue collar job, I’ll get on a skateboard.

Lupe: Come on, man.  

How has Chicago prepared you or held you back from commercial success?

Lupe Fiasco: One of the things I love about Chicago is that it’s the crossroads of everything. Chicago has influences from everywhere, that’s why I can do a “Switch,” and why Rhymefest can do a Ghostface versus 50 Cent battle. When you’re in Chicago you hear everything.

Rhymefest: Chicago is not a sound, it’s a sensibility. We’re the home of the blues, we’re the house of house music. Chicago is the national headquarters of the Nation of Islam, the national headquarters of Rainbow/PUSH, Dr. King called it one of the most segregated cities he’d ever been to, Chicago was founded by a black Frenchman. It’s a sensibility. When you listen to an artist from Chicago you’re hearing the racial, the cultural, the soul, the passion. You’re listening to the best that America has to offer.

Lupe Fiasco: I second that.