Rhymefest: Train of Thought

“You don't know what death is, until your ass left breathless/I'm the bomb nigga catch this/I'm Saddam [ex]'cept I got weapons/Make like a frat get steppin’, [be]'fore your punk ass get stepped in…You can't do it like I do/I don't care if you Moes, Folks, Bloods, Crips or Piru/I'm a Pyro’, light it up and fire too/Off in a bag lady back ask Badu/Before Common or Andre or D.O.C./If they all fucked her then I want my piece/I'm a conscious rapper two fingers up bitch peace/Your revolution's so fake it's like I gotta release/See you dudes with grills is more real/I don't like what they say but at least they ain't living in bone field/Ducking and dodging, acting phony as hell/Coming home when you got a damn record to sell/You'se a bitch nigga/I'm a say it again, you'se a bitch and something in this bitch gotta give/I hope you fake niggas die so real niggas can live/Or God just forget about the fact that he can forgive and kill us all/'Cause all of us is killing the children/They sold Myspace for $500 million/Sold Youtube for $1.6 billion/You in the projects fightin' over a building/You'se a bitch nigga!” —Rhymefest, "Angry Black Man on an Elevator"


WHAT DOES THE TITLE OF THE SONG MEAN?

The whole thing is, the elevator represents the ghetto. So it's like the ghetto is a small, confined space. And it's like, when you trapped in a small, confined space, it brings out our anger and our frustration with the world.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAY, "I'M SADDAM, 'CEPT I GOT WEAPONS"?

Our government is looking at people overseas in Iraq, talking about, do they got weapons of mass destruction, when there is a weapon of mass destruction growing in the ghettos of America that ain't no attention being paid to...Black people are not on the agenda. And what you do, when you leave us off the agenda, there's a weapon of mass destruction being built in our attitudes.

WHY DO YOU CALL ERYKAH BADU OUT LIKE THAT?

At the end of the day, this is hip-hop. I guess I said it in a real crass way, but I'm just saying I think she's fly and I want a chance, too. She's a desirable woman, and I don't wanna cause no offense to her, but, hey, she likes rappers.

WHAT'S A FAKE REVOLUTIONARY?

You got these guys out here rapping about something, but then you don't even come to the hood until it's time for you record to be released. Don't nobody see you until you're like, "Yeah, man, we gotta suppost each other, brother." Come on, man!

WHAT'S YOUR GRIPE WITH MYSPACE AND YOUTUBE?

This wasn't no 60-year-old man or Viacom that created MySpace—these are young, independant people that created these mediums and sold them to the bigger companies. Why, as Black and Latino people, are we not htinking on a way bigger level?... We are the ones that spawn the growth of these forums.

HOW IS THAT KILLING THE CHILDREN?

We're killing the children by giving them false illusions of what wealth, value and worth is... We've gotten into this thing where money is so important that we've made it our God. And we've taught children that money is God.



XXL Magazine/August 2007 No. 94