My Interview With Speech

 It’s not often that you get to ask one of your favorite artists a bunch of questions that you’ve always wanted to, so I was honored to recently have a chance to ask Speech a bunch of questions and have him respond back. Since I am an amateur at this, in lieu of a phone interview or something like that, we corresponded through e-mail and needless to say I am beyond thrilled with the results.  I hope you all enjoy reading the answers as much as I did, and hopefully I covered enough material to satisfy the AD fans out there who are tired of hearing interviews that start with “where have you guys been.”  We of course know the answer is that they’ve been making great music while many slept.  Now on to the interview….

Highway 85:  First off, thanks so much for agreeing to do this! I really appreciate it, and I also want to thank you for twenty years of “Life Music.” I guess I’ll get right into it, and anything that you don’t feel like answering, please just skip. Some of these questions came from a couple of contributors to Highway 85 as well. I tried to ask some oddball questions that you might not hear in your standard interview, so please accept my apologies in advance if you find any of them too off the wall….. We’ll start off with an old stand-by question: What are your plans for your next project?  

The Yoshida Brothers!

SPEECH: Well, we have a couple of plans in the works. #1.) I'm working on a Japanese collaborative project with a duo called the Yoshida Brothers, who by playing the traditional instrument, shamisen have quite a large following. I'm mixing a hip hop sensibility with their lush eastern sound, bringing a very unique style to the table all its own. 2.) The group has begun recording a new album to celebrate our 20 years in the business. With this record we're taking more time than ever before, since our debut and making sure we have the quality we're looking for, It's been REAL exciting! Lastly, we're striving to make bigger moves into the world of charities and lining our audience with them. We've done two things already (Yo Gabba Gabba and the Childrens Hospital in Atlanta). We're going to do much more of that!

 
Highway 85:  Are you still going with the mixtape idea or something else?  
SPEECH: We probably will, because we did about 10 songs recently, of which "Living" was one. And they're great tunes, that deserve a listen. We felt they weren't the best representation of a 20th year celebration album, so we put them on the back burner. However, like "Living" we'll plan to leak them out there, one by one.

Highway 85:  How has the feedback been to the new single “Living”?  
SPEECH: The feedback has been really great! One of the biggest obstacles we have now is getting it out there in a bigger way! We're not financially in the situation to do it right now, so we have to be patient. But the song itself has gotten much love, especially in the States! Seems like it’s been getting some love out there on twitter and so forth.

Highway 85:  Any thoughts of calling the album Twenty Years, Five Months and 2 Days in the Life Of….? SPEECH: ;-) Nah, that album has been such a blessing to us, that we don't want to draw anymore reference to it for future stuff, and lessen it's impact. It's also quite tuff to outshine that albums successes, so we're chipping away at peoples perception of that being our best work.
(Click the link for more)

Highway 85:  You’ve been very critical of a lot of modern hip hop- justifiably so in most cases. Who are you listening to right now? SPEECH: Ironically, I listen to a lot of popular stuff, like Jay-Z, Kanye, Jay Electronica, Mos Def, Common, etc, when it comes to rap. Because my biggest inspiration has always been underground musical movements that break from under the surface and make the world listen. I'm an underdog supporter. However, I listen to a lot of Afro beat, singer/songwriter stuff, like Adele, Sara Bareilles, Brazilian grooves from the 70's too.

Highway 85:  Is K’naan someone that you listen to?  
SPEECH: YES! I really love his last album especially, I've met him, and he's a very cool guy, with a strong sense of purpose that drives his songs and outlook. You gotta respect anyone like him, who's been through so much and brings such light to the scene today! I really feel sorry for most artists in this particular generation, because, they just so happened to be born at a time when their most influential years landed at the time when the industry is so upside down! The NEXT generation will have more opportunity to shine and show their true passion, this generation is muted to a large extent. I was blessed to be in a time of hip hop when originality and expression was celebrated.

Highway 85:  You’ve mentioned in the past that Sly Stone was huge influence on your music. Who else has been influential?  
SPEECH: Prince, all funk bands from the 70's and 80's. (ie: Confunkshun, Zapp, Kool & the Gang, Cameo, Tom Browne, Brass Construction, George Duke and George Clinton etc.).

Highway 85:  Are there any unreleased songs from the “first era” of AD i.e. from the Three Years and Zingalamaduni album periods?  
SPEECH: Yes, there are about 4 or so still laying around. I have even more on cassette tapes that are from those same years.

Highway 85:  Will we ever see a Speech-Chuck D collaboration? This needs to happen!  
SPEECH: Chuck and I are friends, we've talked about doing that. I think both of us are trying very hard to make a poignant impression in this time period. And that keeps us quite busy, but the respect, admiration and hopes are there.

Highway 85:  It seems that the group has really embraced Twitter and Facebook. Is this an important part of your strategy as a group, or is it something that developed organically?  
SPEECH: Honestly, it's simply a choice of be heard, make an impact, or don't. We chose to try to make as much of an impact as we can, with what we have to work with. During our first introduction to the world, there was no internet, so many of our fans are not super involved on twitter and facebook. And our fans today are primarily overseas, of which, they either don't speak English, thus can't read our posts, or they simply aren’t too aware of facebook and twitter. But of course, many fans are.

Highway 85:  In past interviews, you’ve mentioned some mistakes made during the Zingalamaduni period. At the same time, many AD fans consider this their favorite AD album. Is there anything you would go back and change? Or was it a valuable lesson?  
SPEECH: Great question. I'm my most hard critic. So I've learned to simply be appreciative that so many people dig that album and now when I listen to it, I live vicariously through them! :-)

Highway 85:  Anything on Zingalamduni that you are particularly proud of?  
SPEECH: Maybe my most proud thing about that album is that, I had a crossroads moment there. (Go super pop, hire big producers, and possibly lose ourselves in the process OR stick to message, and be more organic) I chose the latter, and I hope at the end of my run as an artist, the component of not selling short our initial intent plays a huge part in our legacy.

Highway 85:  What would you say is the best song you’ve written? I’ve seen you mention “Wag Your Tail” before, which is a great song.  
SPEECH: I think, it's hard to say, because so many songs mean a lot to me. “Tennessee” probably the most. It holds significance on many levels: first single, a place of magic during my childhood, chosen as 1 of best songs in hip hop ever, won awards, and on a personal level was inspired by the deaths of two very dear people to me.

Highway 85:  Do you have any thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street movement that's going on right now? SPEECH: In general, I've stayed away from it because of it's broad message. Some of which I can't support. But on an activism level, I support it and applaud them! I hope everyone is against the injustice of the rich get richer v.s. the poor/ poorer and the dwindling middle class.

Highway 85:  This is a total fanboy question, but at the beginning of “Raining Revolution”, someone says “This is Headliner from Arrested Development”, but it sounds like you to me. So was it you, or Headliner? I've been wondering about this one for years! :)  
SPEECH: ;-) It was me. It was supposed to simply be a scratch track for Headliner to imitate it, but he couldn't pull it off with the same intensity, so we kept it me.

Highway 85:  Last year, you guys did a show with Headliner after being apart for quite some time. Do you foresee doing anything else with him at this time, or was that kind of a unique deal?
SPEECH: I think it was unique. The great thing about time and the nature of our members is that we generally admire each other and genuinely respect each other despite differences.

Highway 85:  You’ve mentioned in the past that you started as basically a gangster rapper very early in your career. Number one, I find this surreal! Number two, what made you change from this approach?  
SPEECH: It was a simple case of young and immature copying. So many were making it with gangsta lyrics, we wanted to make it too. Of course, it took a short time for us to realize there had to be (a) more genuine and sincere way to "make it". I'm grateful we found that way, and we didn’t make it as a gangsta unit.

Highway 85:  On a gangster rapper scale with say Common being a 1 (sorry Fox News) and NWA being a 10, where would you say you rated?  
SPEECH: Back then, we rated about a 6 or so. I did grow up in a violent, and gritty city, and a few of my close friends have been killed violently, others shot but still living. I've been in, and witnessed more fights than I can count, so I understand that element of life, but I chose not to live it all the way to it’s final destination. And I'm so glad I didn't.

Highway 85:  Selfish question time: When are you coming to Omaha? Tasha LaRae needs to come back home with the group!  
SPEECH: Great question! Not sure, however, if you know of any festivals coming up, please let Mike Mullis know in advance and we'll strive to get onto the line-up!

Highway 85:  Are there any songs or albums you’ve done that you feel were particularly slept on?  
SPEECH: There's a number that I feel were slept on, that sadly defines my career! ;-) Too many to name. I'm more interested in what songs YOU & other fans feel were slept on?

Highway 85:  Any songs that you wish you could erase?  
SPEECH: Sorta yes, and no. I know why I did the songs at that particular time, but I also feel like certain songs, mess up the consistency of my entire catalog.

Highway 85:  This isn’t really a question, but I noticed in the liner notes of the US release of Heroes of the Harvest, you mentioned not being particularly happy with the results. Just want to say that I think it’s an excellent album! What are your thoughts on that album now that you’re a little further removed from it’s creation?  
SPEECH: Further removed, I think it's an overall great project too! Again, I was quite hard on myself as a producer and writer.

Highway 85:  What are your thoughts on the Highway 85 blog? Anything you’d like to say to the hard-core fans that might stop by and read this?  
SPEECH: It’s because of fans like you guys that I continue to write. I've many times considered quitting and I still may in the future. But two things hamper that, 1.) Fans and 2.) my passion still remains!

Thanks again to Speech for agreeing to do this, and thanks to Mike Mullis from Vagabond for his help as well as his continued support of Highway 85.  If you'd like to see another interview I did with an AD member, check out my interview with Tasha LaRae.  And I think I speak for all of us fans that we are happy that we are hampering his designs on retiring from music!  (And we want to hear those unreleased songs from the early days, and the ten new ones they recently cut that won't make 20!)