In an interview with The Daily Beast to promote his upcoming documentary, In My Father's House, Rhymefest takes credit for a majority of the songwriting on Kanye West's biggest albums. The 38-year-old MC has an impressive songwriting resume but doesn't feel he has received the credit he deserves for his contribution to the music world. One incident in particular that irks him is the fact that he wasn't invited onstage to accept an Oscar for his role in the making of Common and John Legend's song, "Glory." "I wasn't onstage," said Rhymefest. "They didn't mention me when they talked about it. It does kind of bother me that I go to my friends' $20 million houses and last year I was trying to figure out how to pay my mortgage. It's not their fault, totally. When you look at the way artists get paid no, streaming has decimated the income of the writer, so the writer doesn't really have a career anymore. My ASCAP royalty checks went from a lot to almost nothing...[But] I wan to Common to be successful forever, because he has a good heart."

Later in the interview, Rhymefest dives into his relationship with Kanye West and his impact on Kanye's music--most notably Ye's song, "Jesus Walks." "I stumbled upon the sample and it was supposed to be on my demo," said Fest. "But Kanye had access. He was already signed to Def Jam and had an album slated, so this is the point where you could become selfish or practical. He rapped the song better than I probably would've at that time. He knew more about the industry, and he made the song a success. So he should get the credit for that. But he wouldn't have all that without my words."

Later, Rhymefest claims that he has written songs for Kanye that he has not been properly credited for. "I've written for all of Kanye's albums with the exception of 808s & Heartbreak," he said. "There are a lot of songs that my name isn't even on."

The Chicago MC also commented on the new age MCs coming from his city and had some interesting things to say regarding Chief Keef. "He's exploited. I think many rappers these days have afflictions, such as Asperger's, bipolar disorder and autism. They need advocates but we turn it into entertainment. The media is turning autism into entertainment. When I look at Chief Keef, I clearly see someone who has autism. Look at the way his face is structured, or his insensitivity to violence. He needs an advocate. But someone put him out there and exploited that child."

 

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