Word Is Bond Page #8

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you know?

It's just like

having scabies or...

I don't know what it is.

It's just this... I dig.

I scratch until I draw blood.

They say it's the water.

[Colberg] It even affecting

how the trees and stuff turn.

All this used to be

greenery in the summertime.

[Tracy and Colberg]

Everything's dying.

[Tracy] I pray a lot about it.

- [Colberg] Mm-hmm.

- [Tracy] You know?

You got people that just

don't even live here,

they coming in

to help us out.

God bless them.

God's touching

everybody's heart

to come here, 'cause

we definitely need help.

[Royce Da 5'9"] Everybody's

donating a performance.

So it's for a good cause.

I'm just glad

that I got invited

and I'm able

to help out somehow.

- [crowd cheering]

- [male announcer] Yeah!

Flint, make some noise

out there!

Shady Records

is in the building.

[indistinct]

What's up, TJ?

Uh-oh.

Let's go!

[both] Hey, hey, hey, hey

- [TJ] Come on!

- [Royce Da 5'9"] Hey, hey

Get 'em up, get 'em up

Everybody say 5'9"

- Hey

- [crowd] 5'9"!

- [both] Say 5'9"

- [crowd] 5'9"!

- [both] Say 5'9"

- [crowd] 5'9"!

- [both] Now make noise

- [TJ] Come on!

I'm the verbal-spit

Smith Wesson

I unload with sick spit

The quick wit could split

a split second

Bomb with

a lit-wick expression

You hear a tick-tick,

then you testing

My saliva and spit

Could split thread

into fiber and bits

So trust me,

I'm as live as it gets

Everybody claim

they the best

And they head the throne

since B. I. G. is gone

If you ask me,

they "Dead Wrong"

[Rhymefest] I used

to always say, "Man,

Chicago is the consciousness

of hip-hop."

If you... think about this:

everybody who really

sustainably made it

- in hip-hop out of Chicago...

- [man] Was conscious.

[Rhymefest] ...was conscious.

Period.

- [man] Yeah.

- [Rhymefest] You know

what I mean?

Like, Chicago has a spirit,

and the spirit will not

allow you to, like,

leave if you just

on bullshit, period, right?

- [students] Right.

- You can be on bullshit,

but you gotta have something...

substance in yourself...

or this city will not

let you...

[students murmur

simultaneously]

Everybody you know

from Chicago that's sustainable

is, like, ill,

like Barack Obama, Lupe...

[man] That's it right there:

substance.

That's what Chicago is.

If you've been born

and raised in this city,

you travel through these hoods.

Chicago makes you.

Donda's House started

two years ago.

My wife is a high school

English teacher.

And I said, "I could use

my creative

and my resources

and people I know,

and you use your skill

to create curriculum,

and let's create

a hip-hop curriculum.

Let's teach creative writing,

studio etiquette,

conflict resolution.

That's the same thing

that Dr. Donda West,

who's Kanye's mom,

gave to me:
a safe space.

I remember me and Kanye was,

like, making some rhymes,

and I was talking about

how many b*tches I f***ed,

how many people I killed,

how many drugs I sold.

And Dr. Donda West

pulled me to the side.

She didn't know much

about rap.

She was like, "Rhymefest,

did you really, like,

have sex with all those women

and kill all those people?

And, you know,

I know you, like, 15.

I'm not judging you.

I'm just asking."

And I'm like, "Nah,

I'm just trying to get famous.

Like, that's what is

on the radio."

And she said,

"Would you be comfortable

living in a lie

you told on yourself?"

She was like,

"You should tell your truth,"

and changed my life.

Every young person need that.

Dude, rap don't mean nothing,

music don't mean nothing

unless you're combining it

with some kind of movement.

This is my movement.

Even if you got good music,

who are you?

Everybody rap.

Everybody got beats.

You gotta be... well, you have

to be somebody before the music.

- [woman] Right.

- Yeah.

Now Che bustin' in

to hit 'em

F*** the cynicism,

I'm quick to give

Y'all niggas

constructive criticism

Like, "Wait,

you basically suck"

His mother said,

"My son wanna rhyme"

I'm like, "Ma'am, I don't

agree with that decision"

I don't believe

that I write for anyone.

Everyone that I work with,

I consider a collaboration.

You're gonna be in the room,

and I'm gonna say something

to the track,

and you're gonna say, "Ooh!

But what if we..."

[speaks gibberish]

And I'm like, "Yeah!"

And then we're gonna

build something together.

We're gonna build that.

You know, in the case

of "Glory,"

me and Common

sat on the phone.

Common was like, "Yo, man,

we gotta make

something glorious.

We gotta have something

that's, like...

man, from the heavens."

And I was like,

"Yo, you know

what we should do?

We should pray

to the ancestors."

Now, this is the first time

this ever happened.

"Let's ask them

to write the song."

So we asked Dr. King,

Fannie Lou Hamer,

Mike Brown,

Medgar Evers,

Emmett Till,

Eric Garner.

We asked all

of the recent martyrs

to guide our hands

and write their story.

[snaps fingers]

Two hours later, it was done.

It was so fluid.

Hands to the heavens,

one man, no weapon

Goes against,

yes, glory is destined

Like, one of my favorite lines,

you know, is, uh,

No man can win a war

individually

It takes the wisdom

of the elders

And young people's energy

This is the story

we call victory

Coming of the Lord,

my eyes have seen the glory

A human being can't write that!

Yo, I got a shorty, man...

15 years old,

living next door to me.

Every time I step out,

he's like,

"I can't believe you live

next door to me."

But what does that do

for where he think he live

or who... like, that...

that's what we lost

in integration.

We lost the doctor

that live next door,

the artist

that live next door,

the lawyer

that live next door.

As black people in America,

we so traumatized...

that we're always trying to run

from ourself and our community.

[man]

Che "Rhymefest" Smith says

that he was robbed today

at gunpoint.

It happened about 7:30

this morning

as Smith was sitting

in his car

at 43rd and Cottage Grove.

Smith says someone

got into the car,

put a gun to his head,

and threatened to kill him

before taking his wallet.

The Grammy-winning performer

had a message for the robber.

I help so many young people

in this city.

You don't have to rob me.

[stammers]

Come to me.

Contact me.

I will help you get a job.

[man] Smith also

expressed frustration

with the Chicago police,

saying that officers

were distracted

and even swore at him

as he tried to make a report.

Flexing like your

toothpaste, Arm & Hammer

You ain't, trippin' like

your shoes ain't laced

Got so many bars, I need

space, it's gonna come to me

No rebate, I'm macking it

like a clean slate

I'm always up on it

like I'm not a teammate

I reap success, and so

I progress, so it has to

Be fitting, I seem great

I'm too big

like Sean and Rihanna

Stay sharp

like teeth of piranha

Honor me like I'm a Ghana,

Africa, I'm a Shaka Zulu

Who you know can step on

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