SpeaKs’ Spot: hip hop lyrics, articles and trivia

Hello everyone and whats up?! So after taking 2 months off from writing in my blog, I’m back and better than ever! LOL, at least that’s what i think I’m supposed to say. But I guess it’s true….Last month I closed on my first house making me a first time home owner, my studio has been down for several months due to computer problems and is now up and running again, discovered that the guy across the street from me is an awesome acoustic guitarist and singer who I vibe well with so we will be collab’ing on some projects, and I have been asked to DJ for a St. Jude Children’s Hospital fund raiser event. Guess I am back and better than ever. The fund raiser is a car wash taking place at the Chili’s restaurant on Rt. 22 in Bel Air, Md this Saturday September 26, 2009. It will be held from 10am-2pm. So all of you who need your car washed….Come on down and listen to some music and get your car washed for a couple bucks. Join us, it’s for a great cause!

SpeaK no EviL~a.k.a Travis Dunaway

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July 20,1969: US Landed on the Moon.

Today is the 40th anniversary of when two US astronauts walked on the Moon. Since we have landed on the Moon 40 years ago, technology has made some significant leaps and bounds. It seems we should be setting our sights on moving forward and covering more ground in the exploration of Space. Then why does NASA want to return to the moon again? The answer is to set up a base. The first two astronauts to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, both feel that NASA should continue US leadership in Space exploration by moving forward and making plans to land on Mars. We landed on the Moon 66 years after the Wright brothers first flight. Both astronauts feel we should land on Mars 66 years after the Moon landing. That means we would land on Mars by 2035. I’m not quite sure how i feel about all this. It would be cool to begin setting up a base on the Moon, but ultimately since colonizing the Moon isn’t a very good idea at all, I believe we should be setting our sights on reaching a planet that is very possible for humans to colonize, Mars. What do you think? more information

~SpeaK no E. a.k.a. Travis Dunaway~

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Sugar Hill Gang – Rappers Delight  Video

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Excerpt taken from www.mrwiggles.biz:

The term “Hip Hop” was first used as the name of our culture by Africa Bambatta back in the early 1980’s.  Before that the term “Hip Hop” was only a phrase that MC’s said on the mic.

Africa Bambatta, Former leader of  The Zulu Nation, one of the most popular gangs turned positive force in New York back in the 70’s, and one of the early pioneers of Hip Hop.

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History of Hip Hop: Most real Hip Hop heads know that Cool Herc (Clive Campbell) is responsible for being the first to loop the break beat on records thus giving birth to MC’ing and Hip Hop itself.  Not everyone is aware of the other DJ’s who contributed to Hip Hop.  Love Bug Starski was one of the first to DJ and Rap.

Excerpt taken from mrwiggles.biz: LOVE BUG STARSKI: Starski was probably the best party rocker of his time, he was one of the first DJ MC’S, and was also known for coining the mc rhyme phrase “HIP HOP SHOOWOP DA BOP. Starski is rarely given props for his accomplishments in HIP HOP. But his crowd rocking style gave way to many DJ’s and mc’s.

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First let me begin by saying that i have always been a huge Canibus fan.  Ever since the first time i heard him i knew he was different, a breath of fresh air to a stagnant growing genre.  There has always been a controversy about whether Canibus is actually any good:  Is what he says accurate or merely just rhyming wordplay?  Many think that he is just rhyming without any understanding of what he is saying.  That’s a decision you must make on your own.  Of course it’s very convenient to just write him off like the music industry did instead of investigating for yourself.  Although I think some of it is just rhymes, Canibus’ approach to Hip Hop is to be respected none the less.  He is unique.  I feel he does know what hes talking about for the most part.  I’ve checked out certain bars of his.  It’s too bad we as a people would rather listen to the Lil Wayne’s, Cassidy’s and Young Jeezy’s of the Rap world instead of someone who is as thought provoking as Canibus.  After he fell out of the mainstream,  a rather short stay, back in the 90’s he decided to get away from music and join the US Army, but he didn’t stop rhyming.  Say what you will but in my opinion Canibus is one of the greatest mcee’s of our time.  Check him out:

~SpeaK no E.   a.k.a  Travis Dunaway~

Canibus in the US Army:

Canibus Army freestyle

Canibus being evaluated by Common, KRS 1 and the dude from Jurrasic 5:

Canibus being evaluated by Common, KRS1, and Jurrassic 5 member

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“If  I had known before that it’d be so hard to make it,
I’da done it anyway making minimal changes,
to the paths that I’ve took and the struggles we been through,
you grow to appreciate the hard times that you been through…”

~5th Letter~The Dark Ages album: “Blacksmith”

-need he say more?-

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After breezing though MySpace and Soundclick over the past few years, it seems as if the new rappers coming up are imitating virtually exactly what they see the mainstream artists doing.  I feel the mainstream is beyond stagnant creatively.  It all seems to sound the same, or very similar.  Uniqueness is not encouraged anymore.  When i go through Soundclick.com, and MySpace.com and listen to “what’s hot” and new, it’s basically a junior version of whats already on the radio.  How is that artistry?  Most underground rappers are merely re-iterating the same lyrical content as the mainstream artists.  Quite frankly, i think there is much more to this world than how much money you have, what brandname clothes you have on, how many women you degrade on a daily basis and how much drugs you move.  It’s like there’s a whole wide world out there to rap about but these clowns wanna revisit and rehash the same sh*t over and over again.  It used to be that the mainstream was what was popular and the underground was where a lot of undiscovered TALENT could be found.  Now, i’m not so sure there’s much more talent in underground rappers than in mainstream rappers.  What happened to creating something unique to you?  If you are an undiscovered, unsigned artist and your reading this……Ask yourself this:  If someone picks up my CD and gives it a listen, what about my music makes it stand out from whats already popular?  What makes me different?

You want so Hip Hop that is fresh and sounds DIFFERENT?  visit www.empiremusiq.com.  Go to the music page and give it a listen.  Tell them what you think on the Guestbook.

SpeaK no EviL a.k.a Travis Dunaway

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If your on MySpace or Twitter and can read this post, then my personal blog at www.myptsmail.com/travis/blog has successfully been linked to my MySpace and Twitter accounts!  This means i will only have to write a blog post once in my wordpress blog at the MyPTSMail address above, and all of my Twitter followers and my MySpace friends will be able to read it immediately!  If your a music artist like me, you cant afford not to have this!  To be able to reach so many people on the MySpace and Twitter networks while continuing to entertain my WordPress blog readers is awesome.  The Socialite plugin for WordPress is awesome!

~Travis Dunaway  a.k.a. SpeaK no EviL~

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I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself
is life worth living should I blast myself?
I’m tired of bein’ poor & even worse I’m black
my stomach hurts so I’m lookin’ for a purse to snatch
Cops give a damn about a negro
pull the trigger kill a nigga he’s a hero
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares
one less hungry mouth on the welfare
First ship ‘em dope & let ‘em deal the brothers
give ‘em guns step back watch ‘em kill each other
It’s time to fight back that’s what Huey said
2 shots in the dark now Huey’s dead
I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other
We gotta start makin’ changes
learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 distant strangers
and that’s how it’s supposed to be
How can the Devil take a brother if he’s close to me?
I’d love to go back to when we played as kids
but things changed, and that’s the way it is…

Tupac Shakur ~ “Changes”

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