The homey Fest just dropped his new joint, “Familiar Faces,” and while it’s dope…it also gives me an excuse to post possibly my favorite YouTube clip of all time. First, the song:
The track samples Gary Jules’ “Mad World,” which is generally known as the song used in the first Gears of War commercial, but if you’re really cool…you know it as the soundtrack for SAD PANDA!
Fin.
Ruby Hornet just posted up a great interview with Rhymefest that I highly recommend y’all check out. They talked about how Fest’s approach to music has changed over the years, his “Stolen” video, how you have to be the change you want to see in the world, and much more. Here’s a sample:
RubyHornet: When you speak about that perspective, how important is it for you as an artist to be able listen to other people’s experiences and stories? We think of emcees as great speakers, but is there an exchange that has to happen? Do great artists need to also be great listeners?
Rhymefest: I think anybody who is going to be successful in anything needs to be a great listener. Let’s take Barack Obama. The other day Barack Obama was speaking at a town hall meeting. Somebody stood up and started yelling, and the people started booing him. He said, ‘wait, wait, wait. Don’t boo him. What is he saying?’ And the guy said, ‘you never do the pledge of allegiance. Do you love your country? We didn’t even do the pledge of allegiance, and you’re talking about America.’ And people started booing him. [Obama] said, ‘wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We didn’t do the pledge of allegiance. Somebody was supposed to do that before I got up and started speaking and they didn’t. You know what sir? You lead us in the pledge of allegiance and I’ll say it along with you.’ He put his hand on his heart and the audience roared. What if he wasn’t a good listener? Imagine how the Republicans would have killed him with that. You know, he played it smooth. Listen, this song that I’m coming out with, “Stolen.†It was because I was listening that I had the inspiration to make another song. It’s because I really listened to somebody who really lived through it. Don’t get it wrong, Alex. You can listen, but I’m not making any excuses for ignorance. Ignorance has no refuge.
Amen. Read the entire interview here, and be on the lookout for El Che when it drops. It’s going to be a great record.
No, this isn’t about Fest’s missing iPod, it’s a little deeper than that. Here’s the video for “Stolen” off Rhymefest’s upcoming El Che project. I think we’ve finally reached the point where the pendulum swung so far to one side, it’s only natural that artists like Nas, Killer Mike, Wyclef, Kanye, Lupe, ‘Fest, etc. are releasing great music with substance. El Che should follow up nicely where Untitled left off. Shout to Konee Rock for directing this piece, good ish fellas.
Swiped from Eskay‘s again.
Disclaimer: I like Koopa, but this might be an all Chamillionaire WLotD week. He’s had a lot of questionable lines recently, which is probably a product of releasing so many punchline heavy verses. If you do that, you’re bound to have some that don’t quite come off. Herrrrrrrrre we go:
“When it come to fans, I got hella like copters”
–Chamillionaire, “What’s Up”
BTW, “What’s Up” is a new joint from Rhymefest featuring Cham and Jadakiss that just leaked last week. If you missed it, here you go:
Damn, I wish I spotted this earlier. One of the best dudes in this crazy industry (plus one of the best MC’s), the homey Rhymefest, recently contributed to a book called Be A Father. On June 2nd, they held a release party for it in which Fest and his son Solomon interviewed each other, posing 5 questions that they’ve never asked one another. Andrew from FSD posted up a few video clips of the event that you can watch here, but I thought the last 2 were particularly moving:
(Part 3)
(Part 4)
Very dope. I hope more dads in our culture get their ish together and provide the love and support that Fest does for Solomon.
As an added bonus for y’all, here’s the Sound Session intro that Fest did a while back: