Black Thought & Rhymefest Have A Grown-Man Conversation In Their Newest Collabo

Che “Rhymefest” Smith was a guest on the World Music Foundation podcast. In addition to a comprehensive look at the veteran MC’s career, ‘Fest shared a new song called “O.G. Philosophy” featuring Black Thought and R&B veteran Raheem DeVaughn.

For episode 17 of the non-profit podcast dedicated to opening minds through music, the Chicago, Illinois MC was a guest to discuss Hip-Hop, his upcoming Hollywood credits, his hometown’s youth, and shared a sneak peek at a song from his collaborative project with The Roots front-man and Raheem.

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Love has been at the center of Rhymefest’s creative journey since publicly falling out with Kanye West over the condition of Donda’s House, a community and arts non-profit named after West’s late mother. The two icons who penned “Jesus Walks” have since made up, and ‘Fest has kept himself busy with music (M3 with DJ Jazzy Jeff), life-changing trips (Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong), and movies (as “Big George” in Emilio Estevez’s The Public).

In that same year of 2018, Producer S1 (aka Symbolyc One), who co-produced Kanye West’s “Power,” spilled the beans that he was working with the super-group of Rhymefest, Black Thought, and Phonte. Since then, ‘Fest clarified that several tracks were recorded by him, Thought, and Raheem DeVaughn.

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After going through topics ranging from helping Chicago’s youth, tackling race and instability between Black Americans and Africans, spirituality, and taking listener’s on a brief journey of his trips around the world — ‘Fest and host John Gardner turn their attention to new music. Rhymefest’s upcoming album, Love Lessons Part 1, has been taking shape ever since last April when the Ebro In The Morning crew raised the subject. “What does it take for us to get this Black Thought, Phonte, Rhymefest super-group that I’m reading [about] on the paper here?” Ebro asked. “I don’t even think Hip-Hop knows they need this. Let me start there.”

With five or six joints in the can (including “Make Noise,” which appears at the end credits of The Public) — “O.G. Philosophy” marks a new look into the possible in-the-works project. It is a conversation over the song, about embracing wisdom, age, and reflection. “If [‘O.G. Philosophy’] is any indication to how amazing this album is gonna be, I’m through the roof about it,” John shared to intro the show. “iTunes says I’ve listened to this track about 30 times already,” he continues, which means that 2020 is going to be a hot one for this trio of awesome rhyme-spitters.

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Listen to “O.G. Philosophy” at the 1:02:00 mark on the podcast.