What does it mean to carry the torch?
James Baldwin impacted history through his thought-provoking writings and powerful skills as an orator. Rhymefest grew up in Chicago with the teachings of the author, poet and activist. The Grammy-winning artist said Baldwin served as a griot, a storytelling teacher with words of wisdom regarding manhood, spirituality, race and politics.
"In our community, James Baldwin is a modern prophet," Rhymefest told Kick The Concrete in a video interview. "He’s one of the last prophets of our modern era, not just a writer, not just a poet or a novelist, but a teller of fortunes. ... In Black American culture, and I believe, if received, in American culture, that’s what James Baldwin is. So I encountered James Baldwin as early as I encountered hip-hop, which is just like a part of the culture."
Friday marks Baldwin’s 100th birthday, and Rhymefest, born Che Smith, is celebrating the occasion in Baldwin's birthplace, New York. He is speaking at the New York Public Library's opening for its Baldwin exhibit and then performing at Lincoln Center’s Baldwin 100 event because Baldwin's legacy serves as an inspiration for his art and public service.
Rhymefest's latest musical project, "James & Nikki: A Conversation," is a modern interpretation of the 1971 sit-down conversation between Baldwin and fellow poet and activist Nikki Giovanni. He's taking Baldwin's message a step further and running for a seat on the Chicago School Board.
Rhymefest, who wore a campaign button while chatting expertly about his points, is no stranger to education. He attended Chicago Public Schools as a child and was mentored by Donda West, Kanye West's mother, who was an educator. He hosts arts programs for local youth through his nonprofit Art of Culture. Last year, he taught college students through a Pritzker Fellowship at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics about how cultural movements, such as hip-hop, can impact society.
Through these experiences, Rhymefest believes that engaging students through "a modern, culturally relevant curriculum" is the answer to healing struggling schools.
"For decades what we’ve been getting in Chicago is poverty management, is child warehousing, is underserved communities," he said, "with people who were the alleged experts of education, but they were stealing money. This is a $10 billion a year apparatus and it’s been in the business of education, but not in the business of children."
He explained, "The message of Baldwin is education. The message of poetry is critical thinking skills. The message of instruments in jazz and blues is mathematics."
Rhymefest previously ran for political office in 2011 when he sought to be elected alderman. He wasn't successful that time, but is inspired by the opportunity that Chicagoans are voting for 10 members of the school board for the first time. Previously, the mayor appointed all members of the board.
Besides his knowledge in education, he also said his ability to create partnerships, such as working with Golden State Entertainment, a branch of the Golden State Warriors, will help close Chicago Public School's budget gap of half a billion dollars.
He has the endorsements of Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, three state representatives and two county commissioners.
Although he grew up with the writings of Baldwin, which include classic works such as The Fire Next Time, Go Tell It On The Mountain and Giovanni’s Room, Rhymefest found a deeper appreciation and connection with the thought leader in creating "James & Nikki: A Conversation."
When scrolling through social media one day, he came across a clip of the sit-down between Baldwin and Giovanni where they discuss the roles of Black men and women in society. He was struck by their authentic, challenging dialogue and wanted to recontextualize their ideas for today's listeners.
Something he appreciated about Baldwin was his willingness to listen and learn. He was 46 and Giovanni was 28 when they chatted with each other for the nation to hear.
"Baldwin comes off just in a quick look like someone who you might think is a know-it-all, who you might think can’t be corrected," Rhymefest said, "or who we may think is so confident in his assessments that he must be the expert on everything. ... She was the obvious student, she was the obvious mentee. However, she was also the teacher and he was also willing to listen and he also learned from her."
So Rhymefest was intentional about having a woman on each song as an equal counterpart, "not a woman rapper, but a woman co-author. Not a woman feature, but a co-author. To counterpoint some of the things that I was even coming at that I couldn’t see from the blindside of my masculinity."
Masculinity was one of the topics Baldwin explored in his work as he processed his experiences as a Black gay man in America. He was the oldest of nine siblings and felt the responsibility to take care of his family growing up. In 1948 at 24 years old, he left the United States for France where he was able to thrive creatively. He traveled extensively until his death in 1987 at the age of 63.
"Who You Talking To?" with Freddie Old Soul opens with Baldwin saying, "A man is built as he's built and there's nothing you can do about that, whether he's wrong or right." The song then describes a day in the life of a man today, who asks, "What's in it for me?" and pondering purpose and instant gratification. Freddie Old Soul asks him to reflect on how his own decisions led him to his current position.
Baldwin also wove spirituality into his works. His stepfather was a preacher and he spent his teenage years in the pulpit as well. He later shunned traditional Christianity in favor of a more universal spiritual approach but continued to use Biblical imagery in his writings.
Rhymefest mirrors Baldwin in this topic as well and carries his own view of spirituality on "James & Nikki." On the single, "Creator," he and Brittney Carter analyze how to take initiative for one's own circumstances. They discuss how the power of prayer, forgiveness, self-love and a sunny vacation are keys to finding happiness as Giovanni and Baldwin exchange words about love and truth. The project concludes with the reflective "Surprise" where Giovanni and Baldwin analyze the difference between a writer and a teacher and the intentionality of words before Rhymefest offers a call to live with the lens of life's fragility.
"There is such a thing as a living word," Baldwin said, echoing a title for Jesus Christ. "No tyrant in history was able to read, but every single one of them burned the books."
Rhymefest said that we are continuing to face these dangers as proposals such as Project 2025 would implement sweeping media bans. PEN America reported that the 2022-2023 school year saw a signficant increase in book bans.
"It’s a way to keep everyone else as ignorant," he said. "I think sometimes, people are vying for power, but sometimes the only way they can get it is to make everyone else stupid. And we have to fight against ignorance, whether it’s enforced upon us or willful."
He points to Baldwin's quote from The Fire Next Time, "God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water — the fire next time," as a line that he asks local youth to use when analyzing the current state of affairs.
There's a fiery line from "Glory," which earned Rhymefest a Golden Globe and an Academy Award with John Legend and Common, that reflects Rhymefest's mission for empowering the youth. "They marched with the torch, we gone run with it now."
He recalled a conversation he had with Reverend Jesse Jackson about how the phrase "passing the torch" shouldn't be taken lightly. Each person has to rise to the occasion.
"He said, 'Power doesn’t concede itself. You must rise to the occasion of power and take power,'" Rhymefest said. "'Power’s not something that concedes to itself. So in this country, in our legislature, in the Civil Rights Movement, no one passed us a torch, we had to take the responsibility to light the fire.'
"I’ve had really good teachers, so when I listen to 'the passing of the torch,' I’m able to tell that to other young people that I can be an example, but you have to light the fire."