by John Bear
Daily Lobo
Speech, front man for hip-hop collective Arrested Development, made his name in the world with music that possesses a distinctly Southern vibe, long before the dirty South sound that embodies much of hip-hop today.
This is why it comes as a surprise to learn that Speech was born and raised not in the south but in Milwaukee, Wisc. Miltown, as he calls it, is where he first got involved with hip-hop, spinning records under the moniker DJ Peech.
His parents operate the largest African-American newspaper in Wisconsin: the Milwaukee Community Journal, which he will be taking over soon, he said.
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Speech said having newspaper parents influenced him as an artist.
"Hearing the issues of the black community helped me write a lot of songs," he said. "Problems facing it. Solutions. It shaped my mind, the way I think today."
His father and grandmother come from Tennessee originally, and these roots, he said, explain his Southern influence.
"I guess I got a lot of family influence," he said. "I think my influences and life influence come from the South, like how much I love nature, recycling, my views on farmers, African-American history. The South is a lot of who I am."
He loves the South so much, in fact, that he now lives in Georgia.
"I love it," he said. "Can't get a lot of healthy food down there. Good tasting, but not good for you. Fried chicken, shrimp, rice, mac and cheese, candied yams, great pies, fantastic cakes. All of it packed with sugar, guaranteed."
Two months ago, Speech became an ordained minister in the Greater Atlanta Church of Christ. He explained what it takes to become ordained.
"Nothing, really," he said. "You are acknowledged by your church and by the state. You get tax breaks and you are able to marry people."
He said he has around 110 members in his congregation.
Arrested Development, which broke up in the '90s, has since regrouped and is working on an album due out this fall, tentatively titled Natural Mystics.
"The fans kept asking us 'When ya'll gonna do more music," he said. "It really inspired us. We felt like we still had more to offer."
In 2005, Arrested Development performed on "Hit Me Baby, One More Time," a reality show featuring musical groups from pop culture's past. Speech was slightly ambivalent about performing.
"It was just offered to us," he said. "It was an opportunity to reach millions of fans. We were nervous. Did we really want to be recognized as has-beens and the answer was no."
Reservations aside, it was a great experience, a good opportunity to reach 23 million viewers, and the group donated $20,000 they received for the show to Sudanese relief efforts, he said.
On the solo tip, Speech released his fifth album, The Vagabond, in November.
"It's a grown person's hip-hop record," he said. "It covers everything from love to jealousy. It's a spiritual record. It addresses a lot of things. It's not a ho-bitch record."
He is conducting a remix competition for his latest album. He said people can download an a capella version of the song "Esmerelda" off his Web site, speechmusic.com, remix it and win prizes.
"It's basically a competition for cats who are unsigned and unknown to get a chance to get heard, show their skills," he said. "The best cat gets over $500 and gets their song used."
Arrested Development, at the height of their fame, played to large stadium-sized crowds. Speech's latest tour finds him in smaller venues, where he raps and spins simultaneously.
He still plays large shows in Japan, Europe and Australia, where he and Arrested Development still enjoy widespread popularity, he said.
"I think their music is more diverse over there," he said. "They have a more open viewpoint. Everything isn't supposed to sound the same. Here, it's kind of programmed. If you don't look a certain way, people don't listen."
