Rhymefest Faces Write-In Challenger In Chicago School Board Reelection

Rhymefest entered Election Day seeking a four-year term on Chicago’s school board, two years after the rapper won his first seat. The November 3 election puts his work in public education back in front of South Side families.

His District 10a race includes write-in challenger Tameka Walton, a nonprofit director, Chicago Public Schools parent and former Local School Council member. Rhymefest is the only name printed on the ballot after Walton was removed following a petition challenge in July.

The district runs from Bronzeville to South Shore and includes Kenwood Academy and Murray Language Academy.

Chalkbeat’s candidate guide laid out where they differed. The Chicago Teachers Union backed Walton. She opposed school closures and teacher layoffs. Rhymefest questioned how much the Sustainable Community Schools program costs and how well it works.

“The school should be a safe and welcoming space for both the students and the parents,” Walton said in that September profile.

Rhymefest had support from the SEIU Illinois State Council and Common Ground Collective, an anti-CTU political action committee. Reflecting on his 2024 win, he told Chalkbeat, “Money didn’t get me here.”

Born Che Smith, the artist grew up on the South Side.

His campaign biography traced his own school years through Bouchet Elementary, then called Bryn Mawr, and South Shore High School. His son attended Shoesmith Elementary, giving the family another generation of ties to the city’s public schools.

His campaign also pointed to Building Futures. The monthly series brings students, families and school leaders together to discuss education. A second program, Future Builders, gives students a direct line to the board, the campaign said. Both are part of the record he is running on this year.

His interest in reaching young people also came up in a March 2024 AllHipHop interview, before his first school board victory. He spoke about making art for people of all ages. He wanted that work to reach beyond his own needs.

“What our children suffer from is a new type of distraction, which is the technological distraction, which is really the evolution of human beings. You know what I mean? If we can use it as a tool and not be used by the tool,” Rhymefest told AllHipHop.com. “So like I said, this machine, it eats hate…it loves hate. You keep feeding it negativity and hate. However, how can we feed it something else and get a different result and then create something and then see ourselves differently through it.”