JAYFORCE

Really proud to say I know Al Elliott, and that I fondly remember his days with Chip Records, and another thing… well, I’ll save that for after the jump.

But peep this perspective he gives on Hip-Hop and his reasons for rapping, then and now. Wow. I’ve used the music for therapy. So have you, I’ll bet. But for speech therapy… not to mention for teaching and bonding with his son. Check out the audio stream above in which Al gives a talk for Arc Stories.

Al Elliott tells of overcoming his childhood stuttering through discovering rap music. The theme for the night was “Out with the Old: Stories About Change.”
– Arc Stories (arcstories.com)

Love Hip-Hop maaaan! And I will always have love for Brother Elliott (hit the jump).

– @ojones1

I was just getting my start producing a talk show, Live From… It was based in Birmingham, Alabama, where I would run across Al Elliott often, though I (and everybody on the scene there) called him Thed Weller. Beyond knowing that I wanted my show to be ‘Tavis Smiley meets Arsenio Hall‘ for the urban arts, I knew very little. But I knew the success of my show would depend on ‘gets.’

Thed Weller = ALWAYS dope = MULTIPLE records out = EVERYBODY knew him and would come to see him = HUGE get.

But you know what’s cooler than that? Looking back, I was never nervous about asking Thed Weller to come bless my set. Because beyond his talent, he is a genuinely good person. He never ‘big leagued’ me; only asking, “What do you need of me?”

He came through, brought a crew, and rocked it! Blessed me that he did that for me. So, here’s what I’m gonna do for you: turn off the ‘private’ setting on this vintage video of a Live From… Birmingham back in the day, and let you experience a piece of what I did that night (above). So therapeutic. This is Thed Weller doing the title track for the album he was pushing at the time, “Better Than I Can Tell You” (linked to iTunes below). Oh, and ignore the old Live-From.net address. If you are interested in the talk show itself, check out LiveFromTalkSho.com (remember to leave off the ‘w’).

THED WELLER – BETTER THAN I CAN TELL YOU (ALBUM)