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Wordsmith

Location: All over

Member(s): Solo Artist

Age: Unknown

Status: Unknown

Affiliations: Chubb Rock, I.N.C the Poet, Liason Records

Bio: WORDSMITH can claim many areas around the globe as his home. The son of a former Full Colonel in the Army, he has resided in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Delaware, Texas, Kansas and even Germany to name a few. After moving around so much, Word found rap as an outlet when he started saving his lunch money each week throughout high school to buy classic tapes from Redman, Big L, Nas, Eric B. and Rakim, Jeru the Damaja, A tribe called Quest, Da Bush Babees, Krs One, Gangstarr, Das Efx, Public Enemy, Ice Cube, and his cousin Roc Marciano. Though, Wordsmith is a versatile MC, he is also a theater trained actor graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts from Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland. Performing in plays like “All my Sons” and the Musical “1776,” Word was able to translate his acting skills to his music and live shows. He refers to his stage shows as “Hip-Hop Plays” and his dream is to put together elaborate shows with scenery changes, props, and stunning movements. As the years go by, look for Wordsmith to explore his artistic side in music and acting equally. However, as he always says “I’ll do one thing at a time to make sure each craft exhibits quality and gets the attention it deserves.In 2006, Word knew he had to take his music to the Next Level as he put it and he did just that by releasing a Radio Smash called “Mami Chula,” which features Universal Recording Artist Rob G. It debuted on Canada’s Number one urban station 103.7, The Monster and Japan’s number 1 urban station, Joint One Radio 76.1 FM, on the same day, October 24th, 2006. Word’s underground single, Season of the MC, debuted on Comcast Cable Music Choice in October to complete the package. Overall Word currently has well over 6 tracks in rotation on Comcast Music Choice and that afforded Wordsmith the opportunity to debut his next level stage show on Adelphia/Comcast Cable’s Backstage Pass Show on January 22nd, 2007. Word displayed a Live stage show that involved numerous props ranging from fake snow, fake rain, umbrellas, tables, chairs, leaves, confetti and more. Wordsmith doesn’t want to wait until he has access to a major set as he feels like he can accomplish his vision right now by being very persistent in his craft. 2009 is definitely looking like Wordsmith’s year as he opens the doors to more business ventures.

SHANGO’S Perspective: Peaceful Journey, Wordsmith delivers a positive one to grow on type vibe. For those that feel Hip Hop has taken a cartoonishly negative plunge you’ll find something of what you’re looking for here. The song is up tempo and it’s liable to have you feeling all Disney inside, as apposed to the majority of radio. Wanna get more from him drop a vote below and get him in for an interview. It’s on you. Me I am merely the crazed Cesar bringing these gladiators face to face for your pleasure and entertainment. The arena is HHLO…enjoy, then let your voice be heard. PEACE

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To enter the Underground Online Battle submit, bio, a photo, and two cuts to undergroundonlinebattle@gmail.com.

Shango Gutta sits down with Aych, the Underground Online Battle Champion from November to officially crown him January’s Artist of the Month. This former 106 and Park Champion went head to head with Minneapolis’ own Muja Messiah and reigned supreme in the eyes of his peers. Check him out.

HHLO: Hip-Hop Lives Online this is, of course, not yours but truly the one and only Shango Gutta. I’m here with the mother f**king champion, ya man Aych (pronounced H). It’s been a long week but we here though, I appreciate your efforts towards being here dog, how are you?

AYCH: I’m good man, can’t complain you know another day on this earth.

HHLO: You got a pretty champion-esq track record, man. Seems whatever competitions you get in you pretty much handle it.

AYCH :(laughs) Yeah I work hard man, just working hard.

HHLO: I dig it. Getting your Midas touch on, huh. Alright well let’s get into it. When I first read your name, I mispronounced it. I thought it sounded like ache. So I figured ok ache…interesting. I wonder what the science behind that is. But then I spoke to your peoples and he corrected it. Please paint a picture for me. How did you come up with the Aych? From where it came from to the meaning behind it.

AYCH: Yeah well back in the day, it was just a fly by thing. My first name starts with an H and a couple of my friends used to call me H. So in high school my boy Darnell he used to spell it out. Then at a show, my first show, they was like what you wanna go by and I was like uhhh. I was flipping through my notebook, and there it was Aych. I just stuck with it.

HHLO: Give our readers a brief history about yourself.

AYCH: Well I’m from Delaware. From Wilmington, Delaware I moved down to Tampa in ‘04, you know what I’m saying. Since then, been opening up for everybody from Rick Ross, Ludacris, to Missy, KRS 1. I just been doing a lot of shows since then. You know recently did the 106 and Park thing, you know what I am saying. Keeping it moving man, you know, keep grinding. You that’s a basic summarization of where I am.

HHLO: True so how many year you been…..well everybody grinds to a different level…but how long have you been in this positive, nah productive stage in your career?

AYCH: Well I’ve been productive since, I would say, late ‘04-’05. That’s when I decided to move down here to Tampa. I decided then no excuses, get what I came for, and I can go home ‘til I get it.

HHLO: Dope, dope. Tell about the 106 and Park experience. You know how you got on and what it felt like to win.

AYCH: I mean it was a beautiful experience, to be honest with you. I was dealing with a Future Star DJ. My man Nyce did an E-Mail blast and it got in the hands of BET. They actually contacted me and asked could I be in New York on a certain date. From there I was just blessed it was the day before my album dropped and the day before my birthday. It was a good experience though man.

HHLO: Yeah cause you got a lot of aspiring battlers trying to hit a spot like that because it’s on the map now.

AYCH: I was blessed to be able to showcase my performance, after they kinda switched the style of the battle to performances instead of the traditional MC battle. So I was definitely happy to be able to perform my own music, it was great. The battle thing is good. But to perform my own music and be able to take advantage of a situation like that, was again a blessing.

HHLO: See now I’m the kind of dude that appreciates something like that. I have been around battling for a long time. One thing I noticed is that some people are nice at getting at their opponent and crushing them. But can’t make a decent song and they albums suck. That kind of battle makes people step up their creativity and showmanship. Give people a chance to see if you got that “it”, you know. You reach that longevity when you can grab people’s attention and with the images and visions you create for them. Feel me. The song you won with struck a chord with a lot of cats, cats that left responses on HHLO about the battle. To the people that I let hear it, it really struck a chord with people in and outside the street. Was that a general topic or something more personal you wanted to touch on?

AYCH: To be honest with you, I try to tap into the people around me as well as myself. After I came up with the concept I was thinking like, damn I remember when my homeboy was going through this situation. Then another friend of mine went through the situation. So I it all kind of just rolled into a ball and I laid it out like that. So no matter where you was at…you know…I touched a mass audience with that. Everybody went through that one way or another. Everybody has people that did them dirty. It’s a growing process. It’s something you have to deal with in life, to grow. And I believe most people now a days, especially our generation, who could’ve easily been through that. Had somebody they felt they can trust then turn around and get stabbed in the back. Kind of reminds me of that some from way back in the day “They Smile in Your Face.” Feel me like that. I guess this is like the 2008 version.

HHLO: Ha-ha yeah no doubt. Um let me digress for a second…did you vote?

AYCH: Hell yeah.

HHLO: How do you feel about what has transpired since?

AYCH:I think its history man. For our generation, this is the biggest thing in our generation. Something for the history books. We wasn’t around for the Abe Lincoln’s, and the Martin Luther King’s, the Malcolm X’s. This is a huge thing. It won’t hit some people until they get older though. As far as the first time voters, it probably won’t hit them ‘til later on, in the older years.

HHLO: The next morning, before I tell what I was thinking let me ask. Did you ever think you would see a Black President? What was on my mind was that Pac line “although it seems heaven sent we ain’t ready to have a black president.” I used to sing that line with a whole other kind of conviction before. But now the meaning is different because we got one.

AYCH: Nah, not at all, I didn’t think so, not in this country. That makes is even better the fact that nobody would think that we would go ahead and do that, that we would see this day. It’s a beautiful thing. I really love the way Obama tapped into the young people. He went to the streets, went to the doors and let them know these are the streets these people matter. He made a point to put in his work, himself, not hire someone to do it. Do it himself and get others involved and that’s the way, not comparing myself to that man, that’s the way I see music. There’s not too many people with a fan base. With a real fan base and you got to go to the streets to get that. Money can’t buy a fan base.

HHLO:I gotta disagree with a part of what you said. You can compare yourself to him, that’s why he is there. Reflecting and representing us. He is there to show us limitlessness, that we can do whatever. So I feel you are well in the right to compare yourself to him. Matter of fact he’d want that.

AYCH: I appreciate it.

HHLO:I got a 2 part question. What mark are you trying to leave I hip hop? What kind of element do you bring to the art?

AYCH: Right now, I wanna say………the mark I wanna leave, to be honest with you, is the fact that it’s on to be real. You ever get a chance to be around me brother, I’m a real dude. Not like these cats who say their real, go home and they something else. The way I talk to you now is the same way I talk if we sitting down chilling. There is a lack or that in the game right now. Wearing fake jewelry to impress whoever, throwing money around in the club. Shit I need my money. (Laughter). I just want to have that sense of bring a real dude. Whether you a college kid who just studies and mom and dad take care of you. You being real with yourself not just putting on the hood and the baggy jeans like, I’m hood. When you know you’re suburban. The mark I wanna leave is just to be real. As far as my style, I think I’m too diverse now. I can pretty much do whatever. Right now I’m pretty much trying to figure which style I wanna kick down the doors with. I can do the club thing, I can do the down south thing, the up north thing of course. I’m just trying to find one run with it kick down the door and then show everybody how versatile I am. I there’s any image that I like in the game it’s the Kanye image over the Lil’ Wayne or whoever. Cause he’s doing songs with Jeezy. Then turn around and do a song with the girl from England I forget her name, then do a song with Coldplay. That’s what I want to make, timeless music. That can be around any market.

HHLO: Like the greats that are sitting on the top now. That’s what they thought. Hov and all of them thought “I wanna leave my mark” “I wanna be me”. Too many are inspired by fraud ni**as.

AYCH: Exactly there’s cats around the way, I’m wouldn’t call it thug. But there would be the first to shoot ya in your face. I wouldn’t call them thug, but wanna be thugs try to portray that then get sent to prison for something they didn’t need to be doing.

HHLO: This is my favorite part. Four words: “I love shameless promotion”, let the people know how to get a hold of you. Where they can check ya out, where they can cop your shit etc.

AYCH: Well the can log on www.Aych:101.com. They can get my MySpace page from there. They can hit ya boy up, I ain’t really too hard to find. Go on YouTube I got a couple of battles on there some videos, couple interviews. You know what I am saying I do it all man, I do it all. Really not hard to find me. Type in A Y C H anywhere Google, yahoo whatever.

HHLO: Iight, iight, anything else you wanna leave ‘em with.

AYCH: Just support man, support, support ya boy. You know what I mean, and keep following your dreams. That’s it.

HHLO: Awesome man, I appreciate that. Shango Gutta here. I put the realest in so that it rises to the top, always. It was a pleasure to interview.

AYCH: Congratulations and shout to Musa Messiah man the song was straight, I really enjoyed it.

HHLO: We all on the come up, that was a kingly gesture. PEACE

AYCH: Yes sir.

HHLO: Underground online battle you already know this I s the place for the serious artist out there. I cover all grounds got all pure product. From the dirt to the dollas come check my spot here when you want to know the stars of the future. Unu bless up yaself, zeen. PEACE

Canvass any group of young people and you will find several that want to follow Obama’s path and enter politics. Most of them will only dream about it, but one or two will actually set out on the path. We need to have young urban people in politics to represent our community, otherwise we will continue to have only old, rich, white men speaking for us in Washington. So it is absolutely crucial that we foster our dreams of becoming politicians. Let’s look at the qualities that make great public servants, and if you or anyone you know has them, let’s encourage them to enter the public arena.

First, a public servant should be a good speaker. We all know when it’s time to put away the slang. A person needs to be comfortable speaking to crowds, and even enjoy it. Make great eye contact and speak in words the listener can understand.

Second, a public servant should understand how others think and be willing to meet them on their level. If the person being spoken to is passionate about health, the public servant should focus their conversation on that topic and listen closely to the responses.

Third, a public servant needs to be ruthless. Not in a negative way, but ruthless in the sense that they let no one discourage them from their goals. They have to keep pushing through any barriers, and be confident enough to believe that they are the best person for the job.

There are more political positions to look into than just becoming a Congressman or Senator. Every county has local positions that are open for us to apply to. Counties need managers and administrators. Aldermans are in charge of local ordinances and community complaints. Cities need people to join their school boards. Local polling offices need workers, communities need organizers. When an election is coming, join your local voting board. They are always looking for new young people to join the team. You can get a small job working in your government office and then move up from there. Many positions do not require a degree - if you can get in at the ground level, you can work your way up.

If anyone is determined to enter the political sphere, they should be encouraged and assisted in getting there. Obama has inspired us to make sure our voices are heard. Now it’s our turn to fulfill the dream.