Rhymefest has followed up a blog post, in which he blasted both Interscope Records and its newest signee, Chief Keef, with an explanation for his outburst.

In a lengthy blog post last week, Rhymefest attacked up and comer, Chief Keef, for glorifying violence, and giving a skewed impression of his home city, Chicago, Illinois.

In an interview with WCGI’s The Morning Riot, Rhymefest explained that the comments were not solely directed at Chief Keef, but offered a reflection on a larger problem, namely, a certain image of the city being exploited for commercial gain.

“I meant to say what I said. It’s really not about Chief Keef as much as it is about exploitation,” he said. “It’s no coincidence that one of the most violent periods that Chicago has ever seen, that this is what represents us musically. This is what represents us as a people. We have a history here and then when we get to senseless violence, the prison industrial complex is real.”

Rhymefest explained that he was not averse to the type of music Chief Keef produced, but that he did have a problem with the disproportionate amount of it within Hip-Hop.

“I don’t have anything against any particular kind of music. My problem is the imbalance of the music that we get. So if all of the diet of the music that you get is kill kill kill and we’re going to glorify that, then that’s what we are conditioning our shorties and they’ll never end. They’ll do it, they’ll sing about it, they’ll rap about it and that’ll be it.”

- By Fiona Guest