Tigard-raised rapper IAME explores place in hip hop

Ryan McMahon’s latest album, ‘I Am My Enemy,’ was released July 23

By Christina Cooke

The Times, Aug 6, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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“His only other solo album ‘Noise Complaints’ was great, but he is a lot more mature as an artist, and he has been for a while,” Williams said.

McMahon said he tried to make his latest “a really honest album,” one that explores the complexities of both his chosen name, IAME, and the album’s title, “I Am My Enemy.”

On the one hand, “I am me,” an original and unapologetic hip-hop artist, McMahon said. On the other hand, he said, “I am my enemy,” with faults, questions and doubts.

“I’m not trying to say I am my only enemy or I am my worst enemy,” he said. “I’m trying to say I am sometimes my enemy.”

In light of his suburban upbringing, McMahon holds that it’s up to each individual listener to decide whether he belongs in the hip hop world.

He, for one, has his mind made up: “I know how I feel,” he said. “I’m not trying to hide anything. I know who I am.”

From the album

In the song “Unlikely Candidate,” McMahon struggles to come to terms with his place in hip-hop culture:

“I was raised in the suburbs / Since 13, I’ve studied rhymin’ / Since 18, I’ve been in the heart of the city steady grindin’ / Now it shouldn’t really matter what race or gender I am / In the hood, I am not the same white man who’s gentrifyin’ / Why? Because I’d love to clean and brighten up the block / But that don’t mean we gotta whiten up the block.”

Listen to the music

To hear “I Am My Enemy”:

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