One of the most closely-watched elections in the world of hip-hop was the recent campaign of Che “Rhymefest” Smith for local office in Chicago. Jason Johnson interviewed Rhymefest the weekend before the April 5th runoff election for the 20th Ward Aldermanic seat. On Election Day, Rhymefest came up short, losing to incumbent Alderman Willie Cochran.
Now, a little more than a week after his loss, ‘Fest tweeted some observations and lessons learned from the hard-fought campaign.
One of the things I learned in my political journey is that mainstream media is similar to worldstarhiphop media
— Rhymefest (@RHYMEFEST) April 15, 2011
Rhymefest cites this interaction with an editor for the Chicago Sun-Times as a key example:
An editor at the Suntimes was asked how did she know I has mysoginistic lyrics if she never heard my music her answer "the internet said so"
— Rhymefest (@RHYMEFEST) April 15, 2011
But the Sun-Times wasn’t the only media outlet caught up in this narrative. Other media outlets followed suit:
the fact that many major local news sources let the role of me as Gangster Rapper play out without question showed me how things worked
— Rhymefest (@RHYMEFEST) April 15, 2011
I found that many established news sources are no more then tabloid journalist looking for shock stories not imformative pieces
— Rhymefest (@RHYMEFEST) April 15, 2011
The media coverage had an impact on the campaign:
although I will say that even tho people asked me if the stories were true or not, not many people believed the news reports straight off
— Rhymefest (@RHYMEFEST) April 15, 2011
And then there were the campaigns of his rival candidates. Specifically, Rhymefest expressed outrage that one of his fellow candidates, Reverend Andre Smith, had endorsed him right after the primary, only to switch sides to Cochran at the last minute.
the 20thward just saw a rev. lie scheme & manipulate an Officer run an illeagal campaign & a rapper ask his hood for redemption
— Rhymefest (@RHYMEFEST) April 15, 2011
Nevertheless, Rhymefest is looking ahead to his next album and his next challenge.
I dive back n2 my music I know ecxactly the type of sound I want I can visualize this next project this is the first time its been so clear
— Rhymefest (@RHYMEFEST) April 15, 2011
