Written by DJ Andrew Sunday, 14 October 2007

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. Wordsmith’s debut album, “The Next Level Experience” is going to lay the foundation for the type of music Word will be releasing in the future. Everything from Soulful undertones, 90’s Backdrops, unparalleled lyrics, and head banging commercial appeal, will make this project a classic on your shelf for years to come. On the show tip, Wordsmith created this project to be performed in large arenas, so get ready to experience a stage show that will closely resemble his Theater background. He will follow this album up with “The Soundscape Experience,” “Vintage Material,” “The Golden Era,” and two Rock/Hip-Hop albums called “Rockstrumentals” and “R2: Ground Zero.” Word’s plan in the future is to have one of his Hip-Hop projects drop on the same day as one of his Rock projects, so he can dominate two separate genres of music at the same time. On the mixtape circuit, Wordsmith has released an official mix album called “Statements & Stipulations,” which was sponsored by 730 from HipHopgame.com.

He followed that up with a remix version of the project called “Statements & Stipulations” Special Edition. Not too many people put out mixtapes that sound like albums and MTV’s Mixtape Mondays seemed to agree with him as they dubbed his Mix Album a notable selection in 2005. This project ultimately spawned interviews and reviews with The Baltimore City Paper, The Atlantic City Press, ABC’s Official Heat, HipHopgame.com, HipHop.org, RapTalk.net, Rago Magazine, Who Mag DVD, Hoodlife DVD, King Size Magazine, HHNLIVE.com, Soundslam.com, Grind Mode Magazine, Critical Beatdown Magazine, The Noyse Magzine, Okay Player and more. Word definitely feels like he led a revolution with the way Mixtapes are being presented today, so he describes some of its inner makings below.

“Statements & Stipulations” was considered a mixtape; mix album and studio album all rolled into one. 18 tracks deep, this project is very experimental by the variety of tracks touching the east coast/party heads (Ode to tha Pioneers & Pleasure Palace), west coast lifestyle (Hydrolic Theory), and down south crunk (Countdown). It is not in Wordsmith’s repertoire to do some of the tracks on this mix album, but the opportunity to touch the many places he’s lived was a welcomed challenge. Noticeable, Wordsmith is using this mix album as a platform to show the industry that he can create mainstream bangers along with potent album tracks. Continuing with the title of the mix album, Word also chose the title, “Statements & Stipulations,” as a means to make statements and place certain stipulations on the game with each and every track. Stocked with 3 to 4 legit singles, Wordsmith would like to set a new bar for DJ’s and MC’s dropping mixtape projects in the future. Moreover, Word’s love for classical beats and 90’s era hip-hop are not prevalent on this project, but his diversity and capability to do music that define a certain culture are in the forefront. 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 24, 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 he calls a “Hip-Hop Play” Adelphia/Comcast Cable’s Backstage Pass Show brought Word in the studio January 22nd of 2007 and he 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. 2007 is definitely looking like Wordsmith’s year as he opens the doors to more business ventures. So far 2007 has turned Wordsmith into a Bookie and he has taken on the burden in full force. Starting on April 1, 2007, Word started his “Bridging the Gap” Concert Series that featured himself, Chubb Rock, & Jaz-O. This marked the first time Wordsmith booked a series of events from scratch and he knows it will further his name on the business side of the industry. A month later, it did just that as Word was offered the opportunity to run his own Hip-Hop nights at a local Baltimore Club called Coco’s in May of 2007.

Being Unselfish, Word used the opportunity to book Hip-Hop artist in Baltimore he felt didn’t get enough shine on a regular basis. His ideas were imaginative again as he theme nights ranging from “The Blackout,” Poetry Patio,” “Summer Sessions,” and “Pleasure Palace.” Word continued to grow on the show circuit as he opened up for Rass Kass, Souls of Mischief, Boot Camp Clik, Brand Nubian, LadyBug of Digable Planets, and Wise Intelligent of The Poor Righteous Teachers and Chubb Rock. In late 2007 or early 2008, the legendary “Chubb Rock” & up and coming artist “Wordsmith” will team up to release an album called "Bridging the Gap." The project will fuse the old school Hip-Hop of the 90's with the new school Hip-Hop of today. Everything from Jazz, Blues, Step Music, Underground Hip-Hop, and Mainstream singles will accompany this album. Chubb and Word even have a two part story called "Chocolate City" that is similar to R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" series.

The production is being handled by Professa, Strada, Capish, DeMo, & Street Level of Wordsmith’s Nu Revolution Camp with outside production from One Condition and Daren Joseph. Mr. Joseph produced Juelz Santana’s biggest hit “The Whistle Song” last year, so everyone involved in the project is excited about its possibilities in the market. Word even managed to work with the legendary Jaz-O, Q-Tip, and Busta Rhymes in 2007 as well. With Chubb and Word’s album almost finished, the rest of 2007 looks promising for the up and coming MC. In November, Wordsmith will be joining G-Unit for 4 shows in the UK and he will be shooting the video for his first single “As the Art Fades Away” for a December 1st release date as well. Recently, fans and underground Hip-Hop heads have voiced there discrepancies about a Nas track titled “Surviving the Times” that closey resembles Word’s track “As the Art Fades Away” The story got so big that Wordsmith and Nas A&R, Mike Brink, did a conference call to discuss the issue and clear the air. HipHopdx.com played the mediator and dropped the follow up story to satisfy the delight of the many fans that were looking for a conclusion to the story.

Needless to say, the PR has helped both MC’s and Wordsmith will move forward with the official release of his single. He will be signing with a major independent label overseas called Sykeone Records and they plan on bringing on a Major label for distribution to get behind the single and Word’s debut album “The Next Level Experience.” It is slated to be released in the 2nd quarter of 2008 and word will be hitting the road again to tour with the Wu-Tang Clan, Bobby Valentino, Memphis Bleek, Rass Kass, Rugged Intellect, and John B. in the UK to promote the album. In the meantime, Wordsmith will be releasing his HipHopdx.com sponsored Mix Album, “The Revolution Begins with a Takeover” Vol. 1 to help promote his debut album. This Mix Album will also give word a forum to introduce the inner makings of his Nu Revolution Camp, which is very diverse to say the least.

Since 2005, Wordsmith has been building a nice circle of musicians, producers, Graphic Designers, and Web Techs to support his theory of presenting himself as a signed MC, while he is unsigned. He calls this group of partners the Nu Revolution Camp and they are a diverse group to say the least. Word’s production company consists of Producers Professa, from Kansas, DeMo, from Boston, All Biz, from New York, Strada from Canada, Street Level, from Sweden, and Capish, from Poland. Strada, DeMo, and Capish double as engineers as well. DJ Andrew serves as a part time Graphic designer and a full time Web technician. Scott Miller, a native of Canada, recently joined the camp as the full time Graphic Designer in February of 07.’ D-Dub serves as camp’s voice specialist as he can imitate over 50 different voices.

Finally, the camp has 6 top notch MC’s to stand next to Wordsmith. He has put together a two man group called Kontact & SoL, while solo MC’s, RhymeZwell, Black Knight, Deeda Man, and All-Biz round the camp. Preparation like this makes Word look like a signed artist, but he is more focused on putting out quality music that can stand next to the top selling artists in the game right now; let’s go to the next level!!!