I’ve never paid much attention to Rhymefest. To me, he was always just Kanye’s boy, and due to the mainstream acceptance that would obviously afford him, I never picked up his album or gave his music a chance. I’m a mainstream hater, I guess. However, a couple recent actions by Rhymefest have made me think twice.

Last week I attended A Tribe Called Quest concert in Denver, CO. Although I went just to witness the Tribe reunion, I was impressed by the opening act of Rhymefest. He put on an entertaining performance, laced with important social commentary, and made a great impression. Today, he managed to make another.

Back in June of this year, a Conservative British politician named David Cameron made a move to ban hip-hop in England because he felt it encouraged knife and gun crime. The article, titled “Cameron attacks Radio 1′s hip-hop,” received a lot of negative feedback, and Cameron became another in the long line of Conservative politicians that have used some kind of attack on hip-hop to further their political careers.

Today, I came across an article entitled, “Cameron: I won’t ban hip-hop,” which told the story of Rhymefest and his quest to convince Cameron that he was wrong about hip-hop. Rhymefest defended hip-hop music as a reflection of urban society, and called on politicians to concentrate on beating poverty rather than criticizing musicians.

“Politicians, if they don’t like what we are saying, then have policy that uproots the disease of poverty instead of policy that promotes poverty and makes the rich richer. If you have policy that kills the disease of poverty, then you can kill the symptom of negative rap … Rap music comes from urban rebellion. What we doing comes from our frustration. Why do we got to change? Why can’t the things that cause us to yell out and cry for help change?”

Rhymefest quoted in Cameron: I won’t ban hip-hop

Apparently, Cameron found sense in Rhymefest’s words, and is now looking to develop projects that harness the cultural power of hip-hop artists and their music.

Big ups to Rhymefest and his drive to tell the truth about hip-hop. Instead of criticizing rap artists that display negative imagery in their music, we should make an attempt to understand what experiences they’re trying to share, and what changes can be made so that others don’t have the same experiences. As Rhymefest said, hip-hop music is a reflection of urban society … let’s open our minds and try to learn from that. Peace.