Chicago rapper Rhymefest has announced having a music video for every record off his upcoming sophomore album, El Che.
Fest also talked about his issues within the music industry.
Rhymefest’s recent video discussion with HipHopDX continues, as the Chicagoan revealed that June 8th’s El Che has added visuals. “I have a video for every song on the album.” [On June 1], when [El Che] comes out, you’ll see it when you pick it up,” said ‘Fest of his sophomore album…The patsy is everybody involved, except for the person that you don’t see. Everybody you see is the patsy,” he said. “The deejay is the patsy because they might be like, ‘Yo, I love Rhymefest or I love Immortal Technique, but I can’t play them ’cause I’ve got to play this.’ What they don’t realize is you’re killing your own future because radio is dying, and it’s dying because you keep playing this. And people stop listening because you keep playing this, and you’re putting yourself out of a job.” (Hip Hop DX)
Recently, Fest compared the upcoming album to his 2006 debut, Blue Collar.
“I think this album is a lot harder than Blue Collar, because as an artist I feel that I am deeper than the practical joker that I was made out to be on the previous label,” he said in an interview. “I felt like they were trying to stick me in a box to where I couldn’t explore and show fans my conscious and lyrical side, which is wild because that’s who I am. One thing I know about the joker is that he is never looked at as the one who is taking the company to the next level and I definitely want to show people that I am more than the funny guy; so this album is way more of me than before.” (XXL Mag)
Earlier this year, Fest spoke with SOHH about not rushing out his new album.
“I feel like because of the break that I took, the years that I took, I want to maximize and sell as many records as possible when El Che comes out. I feel like I lost a lot of fans, like, I lost a lot of people’s attention. So now, I have to do things in order to make the sale and the sales of this new album successful. I have to try and get as many of those eyes and ears back as possible. Basically, I ain’t about just dropping an album. I gotta go out and be a live n*gga.” (SOHH)
Outside of his album, the rapper recently discussed hip-hop losing its essence.
“One thing I didn’t realize is that Hip-Hop doesn’t exist anymore,” he declared in an interview. “C’mon, think about the 4 elements:graffiti, breaking, deejaying, and emceeing. Emcees don’t exist. That’s somebody who gets on the stage, doesn’t have to rap, but can hype up the crowd while the DJ is playing. He has all the chants, all that sh*t. Everybody now is “listen to me, listen to my raps.” No one can hype up a crowd no more like that. Emcees are dead…So Hip-Hop as we knew is like jazz at this point. I can’t really get mad. It exists on a scale so small you might as well call it dead. But even from Disco we got techno, Bass music. From Hip-Hop we got Soulja Boy, Drake; the hybrid singing rap. We got to call it something else because it ain’t Hip-Hop. It’s not bad; it’s evolved into something else.” (All Hip Hop)
Check out a recent SOHH Rhymefest interview below: