Todd Thomas (born October 25, 1968), better known by the stage name Speech, is an American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

and musician. He is a member of the progressive hip hop group

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

and has released a number of solo albums.

Background

He was born in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and spent his childhood years there and in

Ripley, Tennessee Ripley is a city in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 8,445 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County. Geography Ripley is located at (35.743115, −89.533872). According to the United States ...

, before relocating to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in 1987 to attend the

Art Institute of Atlanta The Art Institute of Atlanta is a private art school in Atlanta, Georgia. It is owned by Education Principle Foundation. The school is one of eight Art Institutes. It awards associate's and bachelor's degrees, including Bachelor of Fine Arts ( ...

. He attended

Rufus King High School Rufus King International High School, or Rufus King, is a public magnet high school located on the north side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, part of the Milwaukee Public Schools district. The school is ranked the 1,658th best public high school in the ...

and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His first rap group, Attack, was active from 1984 until 1986. He also DJ'd at a popular teen club called the Fox Trap along with other guest DJs.

Music career

Arrested Development

In 1987, Speech joined with fellow DJ Headliner to form the group

. After over three years together, the group released their inaugural album, '' 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of...''. Speech performed lead vocals, and produced the group's tracks. The group's follow-up album, ''Zingalamaduni'', fared poorly by comparison, but was critically acclaimed. Speech went on to pursue his solo career, also starting Vagabond Productions as a vehicle for Arrested Development and their business dealings, and became a promoter of neo soul, hip-hop, and rock concerts in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. The company then switched to representing artists in U.S. and Japan. Since then, Vagabond has become an all around production house that presents music to various labels and digital outlets across the world. In 2000, Speech also reunited with Arrested Development (without the participation of DJ Headliner or Aerle Taree).

Solo

His debut solo album, ''

Speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...

'', on

Chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

, was released January 23, 1996. "Like Marvin Said (What's Going On)", released by EMI Records in November 1995, was the first single from the album. From March to May 1996, Speech toured Japan, Guadeloupe,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, and several areas of the U.S. "Like Marvin Said" was a No. 1 hit in Japan for seven weeks. In December 1996, Speech became a disciple of Jesus Christ within the

International Churches of Christ The International Churches of Christ (ICOC) is a body of co-operating, religiously conservative and racially integrated

. Speech did various shows with Herbie Hancock, Chaka Khan, Youssou N'dour, James Brown, Parliament – Funkadelic, Jason Mraz, and The Roots. The musical side of Speech kept him producing and writing songs for progressive artists like

Zap Mama Zap Mama is the music act of Belgian artist Marie Daulne. Zap Mama sings polyphonic and afro-pop music, a harmonic music with a mixture of infused African vocal techniques, urban, hip hop with emphasis on voice. The worldwide success of Zap Mam ...

, Spike Lee's

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...

soundtrack, and ''

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

'' starring

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...

. He was in other movies like '' Bebe's Kids,

Warriors of Virtue ''Warriors of Virtue'' is a 1997 martial arts fantasy film directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ronny Yu in his American English-language directorial debut, written by Michael Vickerman and Hugh Kelley, and starring Angus Macfadyen, Mario Yedidia, and ...

, Whipped'', and the

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

documentary ''To the Max'' (an

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

production). He built a home studio called the Podium in Fayetteville, Georgia. He licensed his second solo album in 1998, ''1998 Hoopla'', to

Toshiba EMI , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. Whe ...

in Japan. '' Hoopla'' was later released in 1999 in the United States on TVT Records. In 2000, Speech recorded and licensed to Toshiba EMI his third solo project entitled ''Spiritual People'', which garnered his biggest solo album sales to date, being certified gold by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include p ...

in November 2000. Speech followed up with various sold-out tours and heavy promotional schedules. ''Spiritual People'' was later released in the United States in 2001 on

ArtistDirect ARTISTdirect is an American online digital media entertainment company. Overview Founded in 1994, it owns several websites, including artistdirect.com and artistdirectinterviews.com. These websites are a group of affiliate websites offering mul ...

. Speech then licensed to Toshiba EMI, Down South Produckshuns which spawned another top 10 hit entitled "Braided Hair." Vagabond Productions later released a Speech solo compilation of Down South Produckshun songs, ''Spiritual People'' songs (U.S. version) and songs from Arrested Development's ''Among the Trees'' album, entitled ''The Vagabond'' in 2006. That album was released on Bluhammock records and won in The 6th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Album.Independent Music Awards – 6th Annual Winners
Speech toured with US Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

and First Lady

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

during the 1996 United States Presidential election. Speech was also invited to and attended the

inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugur ...

celebrations. In November 1996, he toured with

Hootie and the Blowfish Hootie & the Blowfish are an American soft rock band that were formed in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1986. The band's lineup for most of its existence has been the quartet of Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, and Jim Sonefeld. The band w ...

. In addition to touring and releasing his own albums, Speech has performed on several other projects including ''

1 Giant Leap 1 Giant Leap is a British electronic music duo consisting of the two principal artists, Jamie Catto ( Faithless founding member) and Duncan Bridgeman. Career Based in the UK, the two musicians set out to create a multimedia project that would ...

'' and collaborating with

on "Each Step Moves Us On".

Publications

*''What Is Success?.'' Vagabond Records and Tapes, 2009.

Discography

Solo albums

*''

'' (1996),

*'' Hoopla'' (1998), TVT *''Spiritual People'' (2000),

*''Down South Produckshuns'' (2002), Toshiba EMI *''Peechy'' (2003), Toshiba EMI *''The Vagabond'' (2005), Bluhammock *''The Grown Folks Table'' (2009), Vagabond Records and Tapes *''Expansion'' (2020), Vagabond Record and Tapes

References

External links

Speech video interview at allaboutjazz.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speech 1968 births Living people African-American male rappers American male singers Chrysalis Records artists Independent Music Awards winners Grammy Award winners for rap music Midwest hip hop musicians People from Fayetteville, Georgia People from Ripley, Tennessee Musicians from Milwaukee Rappers from Atlanta Rappers from Tennessee TVT Records artists Underground rappers Arrested Development (group) members 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians African-American Christians Christians from Tennessee Rufus King International High School alumni University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people