A man in tattered clothes staggers through the doors of the crowded Dan Ryan el car. His head is hanging down, so it’s hard to guess his age.
People nod their heads, as if they recognize him. One girl tosses a dollar into the cap and asks, “Hey, why don’t you cut an album?”
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On another day on another train the same young man, now wearing a flannel shirt and a red bandanna, pushes through the doors that connect the cars. This time he’s alone. He sets his boom box down, and it takes up two seats. “My name is Genuine Draft, and I’m about to kick this rhyme dedicated to all you people leaving them kids home alone,” he says in a smooth yet hard-edged voice. He flicks on a tape, and out pour the rolling rhythms of vintage Barry White remixed with hip-hop beats.
Donnell Hudson, aka Genuine Draft, has been rapping on the el eight hours a day, six days a week, since 1990, pulling in an average of $40 a day. “I always wanted to rap, always knew how to do it,” he says. “I was always rhyming.”
But it wasn’t what his father, Ron Williams, a music-industry promoter and manager, wanted him doing. “I wasn’t crazy about him rappin’ on els, because I wanted him to excel to another level,” says Williams.
Hudson, who describes his rap style as “laid-back, calm, and collected,” thinks he’s finally ready for the big time. “I used to be wack when I first started. I didn’t know how to freestyle, how to sequence my words. I used to forget the words that I wrote and memorized. I practiced, practiced, practiced. A lot of people felt I coulda been in the studio, but there was a lot about rap I didn’t know. I talked to Rap-A-Lot Records, but I wasn’t ready. Now I know the basics about writing and blending music. Now I’m ready for the studio.”
“Because I’m Genuine Draft kickin’ another rhyme on this Dan Ryan. / I rap / And I’m kickin’ facts. / I don’t rob, steal, kill, or none of that. / But I do accept donations in my hat, / Because it’ll help out my crew / Nickles, dimes, quarters, dollars, and food stamps too. / You heard the rhyme nice and clear. / Peace out. / Y’all be smooth. / I’m outta here.”
