Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
The Vagabond is the latest CD from Speech, the lead vocalist from the Grammy Award winning group Arrested Development.
The Vagabond by Speech is hands down one of the best CD's of 2005. The Vagabond can be compared to John Legend's debut, Kindred's latest CD, and Common's BE. Speech makes some serious grown folks music on this CD. It's really a great CD and can't even really be compared with any of the other hip-hop or rap CD's out right now. Speech blends rap, R&B, and spoken word on this CD.
The CD opens up with the song "Braided Hair" which features the little heard from lately artist Neneh Cherry. Speech and Neneh hooked up to write the song due to their involvement with 1 Giant Leap. This song is followed up by the funky song "Scandal." Speech is rapping in this song but almost sounds like a sped up spoken word artist and he even sings a little on the hook. Speech sings on the song "No One Like You," which is a really awesome song. "Shine," is a very funky, soulful song in which Speech almost sounds like Prince or DeAngelo. "Walking On The Sun," ends with a really neat little rap. It's also a great love song. From start to finish The Vagabond is a great CD.
Speech is singing about some real life stuff on this album. The main themes addressed on this album are family and relationships. Speech isn't very political on this album. It's a very grown up album. Fans of Arrested Development probably also enjoy this CD because musically The Vagabond sounds like it could be an Arrested Development album in some ways because of course he is the lead vocalist of the group. Couples and people looking for something different will really appreciate this CD. Speech really needs to be recognized for The Vagabond come Grammy time.
- Bella Online
Discography
Speech-1996
Hoopla- 1999
Down South Produckshuns- 2002
Spiritual People- 2002
Peechy- 2003
The Vagabond 2005
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Todd "Speech" Thomas was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 1968. He attended Clark Atlanta University and the Art Institute of Atlanta. Speech burst on the scene in 1992 like a cultural storm trooper. As the musical, political and conceptual force behind the hip-hop group, Arrested Development, he set the tone for their brand of conscious reality. Winning two Grammy awards, two MTV awards, and NAACP award, the multi-platinum group shook up play lists everywhere, jumping genres and becoming as popular on top twenty "pop" stations as on "urban-underground" radio.
In addition to airplay, Arrested Development became just as well known for their live shows, which they appropriately termed as "celebrations". These celebrations became an integral part of such major events as WOMAD, Lollapalooza, and Woodstock 94. Speech has continued to grow on several fronts -- politically, spiritually, socially, musically and emotionally.
Throughout his career, Speech has had an ongoing interest in helping to shape the views and character of the youth. He has toured colleges throughout the United States, delivering lectures on topics such as Black history to contemporary issues in music and culture.
In addition to touring and releasing his own albums, Speech has performed on several soundtracks including: Malcolm X, Boomerang, Bebe Kids, Warriors of Virtue, Michael Jordan to the Max (An IMAX production), and Whipped. He also had the pleasure of composing the music score for Follow Me Home with Cyril Neville and Roy Finch and appeared on screen in the documentary Rhyme and Reason and again on One Giant Leap, a world music documentary in 2002.
In May 2003, Speech joined A.D. for an extensive U.S. reunited celebration tour to re-introduce the new hip-hop generation to their life music sound. In 2004/2005 Speech led A.D. throughout Europe, Australia, Japan, and the U.S. to sold out clubs and festivals for the Among the Trees celebration tour, with great success. Speechs most recent solo project entitled Love, Life, Music (Toshiba/EMI) is a celebration of 10 years as a solo artist. The album consists of hits from his 5 previous solo albums, as well as a cover of the Beatles Across the Universe.
Speech is happily married to Yolanda Thomas and has a son Jahi, and daughter, Zoe. Speech is dedicated to charitable contributions, continued musical exploration, and a political influence on the popular culture of today. He also enjoys photography, creative writing and has exhibited some of his photos at the Nexxus Gallery in Atlanta.
Links
