Interview on Breaking Wreckords Radio

Here's a lengthy interview with Speech and Configa, executive producer and producer on Don't Fight Your Demons. The interview is for a general audience so a lot of the questions are ones with answers that AD fans will already be familiar with, but you also get some good insight on the new album and Configa's involvement with it. Enjoy!

The Subjective Perspective Interview

Here's a little clip from the Subjective Perspective Show and an interview they did with Speech, with Speech giving his thoughts on God. I am far from a religious person but this may be of value to you. The quality is pretty choppy for a moment, but I still thought I would share! For the full interview, click here.

Interview With Speech

Hello all, long time no see. There has been a dearth of Speech and AD stories as of late, but from what I understand, they are in the process of recording new stuff, which is always welcome. In the meantime, here is a little interview with Speech with Chuck D's website Hip Hop Gods, which is a great site to follow for us old-school fans.

Ebony on "Three Years" Anniversary

Great piece, nuff said, read it here.

A Couple of Tidbits

First off, if you haven't downloaded the new AD album Standing At The Crossroads for FREE yet, make sure you do so below.  I will have more thoughts later as I'm still taking it in, but it is a legitimate album, not a mixtape.  (Though I wouldn't complain about a free AD mixtape, don't get me wrong!)

Secondly, the next single from album per the AD Twitter site will be "Raga in Coolangatta" which will include a video release.  Sounds good to me!  For whatever reason I've never warmed to Twitter but maybe I should pop in more than once a month or so since that is where a lot of news breaks these days....

Also, here's a fairly recent interview with Speech from one of his hometown papers that I should've posted a month or so ago.  Hat tip to Kel Arroyo for both of the above tidibits!

And lastly here's an older interview from 2010 with a website called Baller Status, which sounds to me like a great site to cover AD.  But honestly this is a good one because it's with Eshe and One Love, and they don't always have the opportunity to be heard from in that kind of forum.

Listen. Now.

If you missed the interview with Speech from All School Sessions, I HIGHLY recommend checking it out now. The link to the show on Rapstation is here.  It runs about an hour and it's nearly an hour into the show.  Speech is very thoughtful during the interview, as well as likable, funny, humble, and dropping knowledge.  Kel does a great job of steering the conversation.

Honestly, my feeling after listening to this is that it makes me even prouder to be a fan of Speech as well as the group Arrested Development, and I'm even more pleased that I started this blog.  I won't even get to what Speech said about this site, but it was pretty cool.

As far as news, he does announce that a mixtape called "Standing at the Crossroads" will be out this year as well as the full length anniversary album towards the end of the year.  Can't wait for both.

Tonight's the Night

Speech's interview on All School Sessions will be tonight as well as Kel's first person report from the RR Hall of Fame.  You can catch it live here from nine to eleven eastern time, and on tape here afterwards.  I'm really looking forward to it, so check it out!

Coming Soon to All School Sessions....

Is an interview with the legendary Speech!  I cannot wait to hear this, next Monday, April 16th.  Until then, make sure you check out Kel's special Rock and Roll Hall of Fame edition, featuring the induction of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Beastie Boys, Guns N' Roses, and many others. 

By the way I love the logo. 

Speech Interview With Funkatopia

Here is a great interview with Speech that took place at the epic AD concert with PE with the website Funaktopia (sweet name).  I'll have more on it later but wanted to pass it on ASAP- enjoy!

And hat tip to Kel Arroyo for sending me this link!

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)

Speech on Gil-Scott Heron

Here's a brand new video of Speech talking about the recently passed Gil Scott-Heron, who was an innovator of hip hop- among many other things (check out that linked Wikipedia article, that site is great for stuff like this).  As with many Black icons, he wasn't given his just due while alive and likely won't get it in death either. Thanks to Kel for pointing this out to me!

Tasha LaRae Radio Interview

Check out our girl Tasha live on a radio show called Queens of Radio.  Here's a link to a tape of the broadcast so give it a listen!  Hearing the opening song reminds me that I need to pick up a few albums to finish off my pre-1997 KRS-One collection.....

EDIT:  Oops, I thought it was replaying the show, but the KRS-One song was the beginning of a different show...  The link above does point to Tasha's appearance so check it out!

Recent Interview With Speech

Here's a link to a recent interview with Speech from On Wax Magazine.  Sounds like Speech has begun writing some new material, which is great news.  Here's a good section:

On Wax: Do you think you receive more love away from home or at home?
Speech: We’ve been doing this for about 20 years and over the years different places have showed us more love. But I think that that’s just been dependent on the culture at home or the culture over there at the time. When we first came out America was our biggest market. We got back together in the year 2000 America had went to more of a materialistic driven, CEO driven-style of Hip Hop – where the Hip Hop artist was bragging about being CEOs, bragging about being corporate, and they were bragging about flying private jets and drinking Crystal. The whole emphasis of Hip Hop became more about materialism than the music or the history or the culture. At the same time overseas wasn’t on that tip. They heard our records for what they were.

I thought this was cool too:

On Wax: Is he (Baba Oje, 78) planning to continue being on stage with you guys?
Speech: I don’t think he’ll be able to perform to be honest. He still gets paid. In our group we got a social security program. We still make sure he’s taken care of.

A Twitter Chat With Tasha and JJ Boogie- And An Update on the Site

Here's a link to a "twitter chat" with AD members Tasha LaRae and JJ Boogie from a site called Dryer Buzz.  I think I would've preferred just a straight interview with them, but there you go!  

As far as the site, no, I did not set a New Year's Resolution to shut it down.  I did set an arbitrary goal of having a post a day from the start of the blog to the end of the year- which I was able to accomplish, barely, and with the much-appreciated help of a few contributors as well.  But after that, frankly, I ran out of stuff to post.  I am still following Arrested Development and Speech religiously, and will still post things as I run across them, of course.  To be honest, from the patterns I saw I don't think this was ever a site that people checked out everyday, so I don't see it as an issue if a post just shows up every few days- or even longer.  Conversely, there might be days where I have five posts- if I run across five things of note- because I won't be saving anything just to maximize my arbitrary goal.  So that's that, and I will still be here- so you be here too!

Lastly, for no particular reason other then to take note of AD's worldwide appeal, I like to keep track of visitors from different countries that have popped up here.  So hello to everyone and anyone from Spain, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Mexico, Greece, Indonesia, South Africa, Pakistan, Croatia, Indonesia, South Africa, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, France, Thailand, Paraguay, Kenya, Egypt, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Chile, Hungary, and Portugal that have checked this blog out.  As you can see, it's been awhile since I updated that list, so a lot of different countries have shown up!  And we've seen at least one visitor from every continent with the obvious exception of Antarctica show up, which is kind of cool.  

Great Speech and Eshe Interview

The title says it all!  Here's a link to an article from a blog called Brother Jesse Blog.  And here's a choice section in my opinion:

BJ: Now, I also read, in your bio, that you didn’t stop working, you really more so started to focus on your solo work. Please talk about some of things you were able to accomplish within that time period.

SP: In 1996, the group stopped recording albums and I still was creating music and I didn’t know what to do with it. So, in essence, I just played some music, some experimental music, for my record label and they liked it and they released it as a solo album called Speech. It was very experimental. I was starting to sing, a lot . Going though the various emotional roller coasters that I was explaining earlier, me singing started to feel more soothing to my conscious and to my spirit. At the same time, that type of style was, to some extent sort of the rebirth of neo soul. But, the label was sort of starting to self destruct. EMI was starting to go through a bunch of changes and, long story short, it didn’t do well in the United States. So, I was left basically with trying to determine what should I do with my newfound, in a sense, career and what should happen but God really blessed me in that the same album that didn’t do well in the States was doing extremely well in Japan. It was the number record for about seven weeks straight and I decided , of course, to go over there and start to tour, start to see what was going on. When I got there, it was just an amazing reception. That became ‘home” for me, musically, not physically for about five years that would follow and I would have Number 1 hit records or Top Ten hit records for the next four records that I produced.

Very In-Depth Speech Interview

Here is an outstanding interview with Speech on his song creation process from a site called Songfacts.com.  I have no concept on how to create a record, but I almost felt like I could do one after reading this- that is, if I had any talent whatsoever musically....  Anyway, here's a choice passage, and I highly recommend reading the whole thing as it's a great read.  

On a side note (no pun intended), if you look at the right side of the page you see a list of the songwriters who have been interviewed, and it looks to me like Speech is the only hip hop artist that has been interviewed.  I think that says a lot about his songwriting abilities.  I also was surprised to hear him say that "Wag Your Tail" is his favorite AD song.  I do really like that particular song, but still, it was a bit of a surprise.  But after reading this, I went back and re-listened to the lyrics and it really is a well done song.  Anyway, on to the choice section regarding Speech learning the ins and outs of the sampling game.

SF: 1991 sounds like a very interesting time to be sampling records. You said you sampled Prince. Now, the actual "Tennessee" vocal came from Alphabet Street?

Speech: That's right. Yeah, it did.

SF: How did you clear that sample? Or did you even have to back in 1991?

Speech: You know, I didn't know to in 1991, the sample laws weren't very clearly set out back then. It was our first record, we definitely weren't vets in the industry, we didn't understand all the game play and the rules. So we didn't ask for permission. I learned as a producer pretty quickly the laws of sampling: it's the wild, wild West out there. So what happened was the record obviously was getting some pretty good heat. MTV had a show called "Buzz Clips," and they added it to "Buzz Clips," and it just became this huge phenomenon. And as the song moved up the chart the album got to #3 on the pop charts. And once it went down, the very week it went to #4, we got a call from Prince's representation. They waited for that song to sell as many possible copies as they could wait for. As soon as it started to go down the charts we got a call, and the Reaper became the reaped. So we got charged for that sample pretty heavily. I paid $100,000 for that word.

SF: The $100,000, was that negotiated?

Speech: It was not. In fact, because we didn't ask for permission ahead of time, they didn't need to negotiate with us. It was either do it, or we pull the record.

SF: So they held all the cards here.

Speech: They did totally hold all the cards.

My Interview With Tasha LaRae

If you are an AD fan, you've no doubt heard Tasha LaRae sing.  She joined the group between the Since the Last Time and Strong albums and immediately fell into a huge role with the group on Strong.  She has added a strong dynamic to the group that was somewhat present before, but more so in the background.  As the group has grown into more of an outwardly collaborative effort- meaning multiple performers take lead roles on various songs, whether it be One Love sharing rap vocals with Speech now, or Eshe and Tasha getting solos - Tasha has been a huge part of that, with large and dynamic performances on the Strong album.

 

In addition to her role in Arrested Development, she has developed an earring line called Earjeans that has been going very well for her and has also recently released an EP entitled The Tasha LaRae EP. 

 

I've really been impressed with what she has added to the group, and I was shocked to learn that I actually went to high school with her!  (Yes, we were both Benson Bunnies.  That really was our mascot....)  So when I had the opportunity to ask her some questions for Highway 85, I didn't hesitate- I fired away and she was nice enough to respond back with some very thoughtful and interesting replies.  The interview was conducted via e-mail, and keep in mind I am an amateur at this.... 

  

When did you start singing?

   I started singing when I was small. I would copy everything I heard from my mother and also the songs on the radio.
Who inspired you? Any singers in particular?

   Starting out it was my mom, as I got older I would listen to lots of Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, & Mahalia JacksonYou were born and raised in Omaha but now reside in Georgia.  Did you leave Omaha solely to pursue a singing career?  

No. I actually left Omaha because my mother made me!  I finished my first year at U.N.O. (note:  The University of Nebraska at Omaha) and then my entire family moved to Georgia. I was against it because I didn't know anyone in Georgia and I knew I was gonna miss my friends back home. But after 6 months of Georgia life, I was hooked!What were you doing as far as singing before you joined AD?

   I was writing music for myself and for up and coming solo artists in Georgia. I would perform around the city and travel worlwide both as a solo artist and also as a background vocalist for many national and international artists.So how did you hook up with Arrested Development?

    I performed at a function Speech's church hosted as a background singer for a friend of mine. The next day, I received an email from Speech asking if I'd be interested in auditioning for the group. What was your favorite song on Strong?

   "Freedom", "Greener" and "Africa We Thank You" are three of my favorite songs on Strong. It's hard to choose one! Which song were you most involved with putting together?

  I was fortunate to write on the majority of the songs for this album which is amazing. I would say I was most involved in "Let Your Voice Be Heard", "Greener", "Haters" and "Africa We Thank You" as I wrote the hooks for these songs. How did you come up with your fashion line Earjeans? How has that been going for you?

Earjeans started as a solution to a slight wardrobe issue I was having. I was preparing for my first overseas tour with A.D. and we had about 8 shows in Australia and New Zealand. I was getting creative with my clothes and budget to have 8 different show outfits. I painted some designs on a few pairs of jeans and thought it would be cool to have jean earrings with the same design on it. I got so many compliments on them that I started the company seven months later. That was in August 2008 and since then, my company has experienced a lot of success and is still going strong today.Do you enjoy fashion or music more? Or do they both link together creatively?

   I am a music fan first but fashion is coming in at a close second! They definitely go hand in hand. I am equally excited about both which works out great because when I'm a little burnt out from one, I can move to the other and still be creative and productive.It looks like you've traveled a lot, especially with AD. What places have you seen, and what has been your favorite?

  Wow. I've seen a lot of places! Poland, South Africa, Morocco, Europe/UK, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, Canada, and all over the U.S. My favorite place to visit is Australia and New Zealand. We have visited many of these places multiple times also and it's always great to discover something new each time we go.

Any funny stories as far as traveling or performing?

   Lots! I think the funniest things happen naturally when we are traveling and cracking jokes on each other! One Love is the comedian in our group and keeps us in tears!
Has there been a project that you were involved in that you felt was overlooked, and if so what was that?

   Strong is the first major project that I've been a part of that's been released on the level it has been. I hope it doesn't become overlooked.  
Have you been a part of any other groups besides Arrested Development?

   In high school, my two best friends (Christi Woods and Charlotte Cox) and I started a singing group called Nu Beginning. We had a lot of local success but when I moved to GA, that ended my run with them. Outside of that, no, I haven't been in any other groups.

Any word on when we can expect a new AD album or any recording plans?

  We are definitely getting in the studio early 2011 to record more material. Not sure when another album will drop officially.You have also released a solo recording called The Tasha LaRae EP.  What is your favorite song on that project?   My favorite song is "Whatcha Got" because the message in that song speaks to me the most and is a constant reminder to me to make the most of what I have instead of focusing on what I'm lacking.

How did that project come together?

The Tasha LaRae EP.

   The Tasha LaRae EP is a collection of songs I was working on for a project called Love Yourself. These were songs I had written before I joined A.D. but  completed the majority of the recordings after I joined the group. I didn't want to let my songs go to waste! I put the EP together and I've very proud of it. It has 7 songs on it now and I am currently working on a full length project but I haven't set a release date. (It's too much pressure when you set dates prematurely, lol!)
Any plans for a Tasha LaRae LP?

  Most definitely! I guess I touched on this in the question above :o)Did you ever consider auditioning for American Idol, or do you prefer the route you've taken? You obviously have the voice for it!

   I'm so glad you asked me this question! I did!! and I was cut on the first round of auditions, lol! I guess I wasn't what they were looking for but I'm glad it worked out that way or else I may not be a part of the A.D. family.
Were you a fan of AD before joining the group? As a kid?    I was definitely an A.D. fan as a kid. I was in Junior High when the group came out and I remember all my friends braggin about getting the tape when it first came out.  My mom was a little strict about the music I could listen to and I couldn't listen to A.D. because of a few curse words...but you know that doesn't stop kids for hearing what they want! I had my ways but I'm still not tellin, ha!

 

I want to thank Tasha again for her participation in this interview, and I wish her luck in all of her future creative activities!  I really enjoyed hearing her answers and getting some background info on how she came to join Arrested Development as well as her participation on Strong.  Can't wait to hear the next AD project.  You can find out more on her fashion line earjeans as well as her EP here.  And to read my review of said EP, check that out here.

Short Speech Interview

Here's a short little interview with Speech from a site called Concrete Playground, done to promote their upcoming tour of Australia.  I found the first question interesting: 

Jasmine: If things had been different I...
Speech: ...would have waited longer to release our second album.

I think that's interesting because I don't really think there was anything wrong with Zingalamaduni.  The whole hip hop world just changed and there really wasn't room for anything in the mainstream that wasn't about killing people and partying and so forth.  It was what it was.  Anyway, there are ten or so brief questions in that interview so check it out! 

5 Questions With Speech

Here's a nice little interview I stumbled upon with Speech on a website called Fans Entertainment.  Have to agree with this question and answer too:

Best hangover cure?
Not getting drunk. I’ve never been drunk in my whole life, I doubt I will start now. 

And here's the video he discusses- I've had it up before I think.

Speech Interview with "Women In Music"

Once you get past the fact that this interview was done for a site about women in music- huh?- this is a really good interview with Speech.  This was done around the time that The Vagabond dropped.  Here's a choice qustion-and-answer: 

Shelia: What do you want the listener to walk away with after listening to your album?
Speech: I want them to see a whole other side of life. You hear about so much negative things. I hope people get from my record: marriage…love…. commitment…struggle…spirituality…those are some of the things in my life--a black reality that’s not talked about a lot.

 Here's a link to the rest.