This week on Who’s Askin, it was our honor to interview the front man from one of hip hop’s most influential and important bands. They brought you songs like Mr. Wendal, People Everyday and Tennessee. This week Hey Johhny! is featuring Speech from Arrested Development. We talked to him about his Milwaukee ties, his writing process and about being a renaissance man.
Milwaukee was important to Speech when he was growing up and when he was starting his music career. For Speech, he found the city taught him a lesson about growing up to be better than average. “It's shaped me totally. Milwaukee has some aspects about it, that either confine & oppress you or force you to raise above the average. For me, it did the latter.”
While attending the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, he was drawn to a man named Baba Oje. In addition to becoming Speech’s mentor, he would later become the Spiritual Elder of Arrested Development. Little did they know at the time, these two were connected on a much deeper level. “Baba Oje was a gift from God really. I was moved to talk to him because as an elder, he would still hang around young people. It turned out that he was the best man in parents wedding before I was born. I had no idea about the deeper connections.”
Arrested Development are celebrated as making incredible socially conscious albums like, “3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...” and “Zingalamaduni”. This is a very important aspect of Speech’s writing process, and he went through great lengths to understand it. “I was initially moved by Public Enemy's music & message”,Speech explained “then I went on my own journey to understand the "Why's" behind the pain & dysfunction I see in the black community, and abroad. That's continued to be a passion of mine event to this day.”
One of the most important albums they released was “3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days In The Life Of..”. This album included songs like ‘People Everyday’, ‘Mr. Wendal’ and ‘Give A Man A Fish’. Releasing the album the band knew they had something important, but did he know how important it was going to be? “Not as important as it actually was. But I knew that we'd accomplished something truly special”.
Nowadays, Speech has ventured out into different forms of music and even has become an author. He has stopped doing a lot of the producing but rhyming is taking on an inspiration for him. Although he has released a book, to him writing is for a time when he knows he has a void he needs to fill. So what is next for Speech? “I'm really wanting to continue to stretch myself creatively, and not look back. I do a lot more projects than most Americans even know I do. With each one, there's a world of difference. I like that, it keeps me inspired”.
Speech is currently listening to Brandy, Alicia Keys, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and Fun.
For all things Speech go to SpeechMusic.com and Arrested Development you can find at arresteddevelopmentmusic.com.