- published: 28 Nov 2007
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Che Smith (born July 6, 1977), known by the stage name of Rhymefest, is an American hip hop artist from Chicago, Illinois whose first official album, Blue Collar, was released on July 11, 2006. He co-wrote Kanye West's "Jesus Walks", which won a Grammy at the 47th Grammy Awards. In October, 2010, Rhymefest announced his candidacy for Chicago's 20th ward alderman. He placed second in the February 22nd, 2011 election, and was defeated by incumbent Willie Cochran in the April 5th, 2011 runoff election, placing 45.4 to Cochran's 54.6.
Rhymefest was seen on the MTV show Punk'd when Kanye West was the subject of a practical joke on the set of his second music video for "Jesus Walks." Rhymefest was the first to greet West as he stepped out of a van after it had been revealed to him that he had just been "Punk'd." Rhymefest was on the set of the video to give his input as he was writing the track. Also appeared on TRL along with Kanye West and other stars introducing new artists to the game such as Pharrell Williams introducing Robin Thicke.
Kanye Omari West ( /ˈkɑːnjeɪ/; born June 8, 1977) is an American musician, film director and fashion designer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Janet Jackson. His style of production originally used pitched-up vocal samples from soul songs incorporated with his own drums and instruments. However, subsequent productions saw him broadening his musical palette and expressing influences encompassing '70s R&B, baroque pop, trip hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronica, synthpop, and classical music.
West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, his third album Graduation in 2007, his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak in 2008, and his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010. West released a collaborative album, Watch the Throne with Jay-Z in 2011, which is the duo's first collaborative album. His five solo albums, all of which have gone platinum, have received numerous awards and critical acclaim. As of 2012, West has won a total of eighteen Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all-time. All albums have been very commercially successful, with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy becoming his fourth consecutive No. 1 album in the U.S. upon release. West has had 5 songs exceed 3 million in digital sales as of July 2011, with "Gold Digger" selling 3,086,000, "Stronger" selling 4,402,000, "Heartless" selling 3,742,000, "E.T." selling over 4,000,000 and "Love Lockdown" selling over 3,000,000 placing him third in overall digital sales of the past decade. He has sold over 30 million digital songs in the United States making him one of the best-selling digital artists of all-time.
Konee Rok is an American music video and documentary director. He has done film and video work with many popular artists in hip-hop, rap music and break dancing culture.
He has directed music videos, documentaries and commercials featuring Grammy Award winner Rhymefest, Kanye West, Raekwon, rapper Cassidy, Little Jon and DJ Jazzy Jeff of the Fresh Prince. His documentary on MC Juice tells the story behind the freestyle M.C.'s battle against rapper Eminem. He directed the Chicago street gang film Trust None with Psychodrama and Crucial Conflict.
He also has directed numerous video projects in the underground hip hop and break dancing community.
Rok is currently working on several music videos for Rhymefest's upcoming album "El Che", as well as a documentary about rapper Common's "Resurrection" album.
On February 11, 2011 Raekwon released the Konee Rok directed music video for “Shaolin vs Wu-Tang,” the title track from The Chef’s upcoming album of the same name. The video features a hybrid of cartoon martial artistry with live action of Raekwon laying down his vocals.
Mr. Blue Collar, yeah... you know what?
It's time for me to give a testament to where I came from
The streets of Chicago, Southside
Yeah, Mr. Blue Collar
I gotta do it like this
You can take the boy outta slum, can't take slum outta son
I should be lynched, I'm so high-strung
At 15 my mother tried to have me aborted
You gotta kill us both doc, I'm not the only one
It's a package deal, comin up like a pack of rats
fightin over scraps, the streets is ill
Take a trip to the city of wind, the city of sin
My block'll have you born again
But it ain't like church, life hurts
Drug raids, she stuffin rocks down her baby's diapers
It go the other way too when your mother's on hype
and you gotta serve her blow 'fore you go to school
So I spit like a fool to the chorus
Military jail time all they got for us
I seen how they deal every Hoover and Jeff Ford (how?)
Lock up all our leaders, let the ghetto eat us
I'm the ghetto Regis, in Che-vy Caprices
And niggaz that front can get blown to little pieces
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know why? Cause it's
All I do - workin hard for scratch
Talk shit get your jaw deattached
All I do - though I'm still in the streets a bit
A brother ain't fin' to take no shit
All I do - lil' buddy, this could get ugly
Trust me, cause this is
All I do - before I explode, I give you my ode
In the summer, rain, fall or cold
Spittin bars is felt to carve wealth
And stay hungry to the death I will starve my-self
To keep what I got and have what I want
And stay real them my niggaz knowin half of 'em don't got
The gift to ball, a rhymers fit
Thought we still want the finest shit (all I do)
Is take whitey's bread, keep a nice spread
Hit the club and try to leave without bustin no heads
I don't care about a deal, I've been poor all my life
Cocksucker I ain't afraid of how the shit feel
Sit still, soak the moment in
You got somethin bad to say, nigga hold it in
You afraid to die? You ain't a soldier then
Chi-Town stand up, we supposed to win
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know why? Cause it's
This for my people locked up for pushin diesel
Deliver us from this evil God (all I do)
Or gettin home from the gig and got a gang full of kids
You feel the stress like (all I do)
Setbacks, yeah you gotta expect that
Get back and grind nigga (all I do)
Now you can let yourself breathe
Throw yo' hands in the air and release say (all I do)
Mr. Blue Collar