Grammy-winning rapper hopes to be Chicago alderman

CHICAGO — Hip-hop artist Che "RhymeFest" Smith is throwing his Grammy in the ring.

The 33-year-old rapper, best known for co-writing the Grammy-winning song "Jesus Walks" with his friend Kanye West, announced Thursday that he is running for alderman on the city's South Side.

In a city known for political deals made in smoky back rooms, Smith kicked off his campaign inside a car detailing "spa" a few feet from a sign that warns "No Drinking, No Smoking, No Cursing."

And as he launched one of many city council races that will be decided in February — all of which will be overshadowed by the contest to succeed the retiring Mayor Richard Daley — he did so with what is certainly the most unusual opening line of the political season.

"The definition of revolution is love," he said, beginning a sometimes lyrical 10-minute speech and another 10 minutes of questions — at least one of which began with a man, obviously a fan, telling Smith how successful he was.

He touched on his hopes to revitalize the community that is dotted with empty, weed-choked lots, boarded-up and crumbling houses and storefronts. He talked about how the area is plagued by crime, children who turn to crime because jobs are rare — underlining of it with a video that has been posted on his campaign website after circulating online for days.

"Chicago, we come to take care of business," he says to end the brief video.

Smith sounded nostalgic when he talked about being a third-generation South Sider, recounting his grandmother telling him stories about how decades ago the community was one, where people said hello to each other, fed each other and found jobs for each other.

"This is the ward that we are going to take back for the people who live here," said Smith, dressed in a tan suit without a tie. "We are the 20th ward and we will reclaim our grace."

Just how he would do that, he wasn't saying. Nor did he detail what exactly he thought the present alderman, Willie Cochran, has not done or has done wrong.

"I am not talking about incumbent Cochran," he said. "I'm here for the community."

Cochran did not immediately return a call for comment from The Associated Press.

About as close as Smith came to specifics was when he talked about how he wanted to eliminate some of what he said is red tape from various city agencies that prevents residents from buying property and business owners from opening and expanding their enterprises.

Nor was it clear how a run for alderman would fit into a career that he himself said has taken him as far away as Hong Kong, Israel and Europe.

"Time needs to be made," he pronounced. "And time is being made."

Later he suggested that he will be spending more time in Chicago and less on the road.

"I have scheduled my rap career in a way where we are going to take hip-hop back to being local," he said, adding that he would be happy to give up some of the spotlight to devote himself to helping the next generation of rappers.

In Smith's statement, West praised his friend, saying he "has always been dedicated to improving the community he grew up in."

In its own way, Smith's race raises the same kind of questions about who is throwing their support behind whom. If that question in the mayoral race centers around just who Mayor Richard Daley wants to succeed him or whether President Barack Obama will weigh in on a race that now includes his former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, in this race it is the role Kanye West might play.

While he made sure in his campaign literature that everyone knows that he knows Kanye West, Smith did not promise that the producer-turned-rapper would hit the campaign trail.

"When we say campaign, no, no, no, no, no," he said. "I'm talking to Mr. West, like, 'Brother, you need to open a business here,'" he said.