He’s hip, he’s hoppin’, his rhymes are non-stoppin’…on second thought, I don’t think I’m cut out to be a rapper. But if there’s anyone on the Wesleyan campus that is, it has to be Josh Smith ’11, better known as Wordsmith. During his time at Wesleyan, he has developed a reputation (I think they call it a “rep” in hip-hop slang) as a distinguished live performer and spoken word poet. Josh took a break from spittin’ rhymes (ooh, I’m getting it now!) to sit and chat with me about his passions. Fortunately for me, a rap battle did not ensue.

Marisa Stotter: So, Josh, what is it that you do that qualifies you as a Wesceleb?
Josh Smith: I perform a lot on campus and, you know, I meet a lot of people through that. I have friends that always make fun of me because I’m always saying hi to people. I don’t know, maybe being a Wesceleb means that you’re known for doing something specific on campus. For me, that would be performing. I rap with a nine-piece live band and we did a bunch of shows last year, including opening for Brother Ali, which was one of the highlights of my life. Also, I sing in an a capella group, the New Group, and I do spoken word poetry.

MS: How did you start rapping?
JS: I’ve been listening to it since I was, like, in fourth grade. There was something there that enabled that music to connect to people on a more immediate level than anything else I heard. I started to write and record my own songs when I was in, I would say, middle school, and in high school I [started] recording in the city with a friend who produced a lot of my songs…When I got to Wesleyan, I met so many creative, proactive musicians who became friends of mine, and it was always kind of my dream to perform with a live band. It all kind of came together at a birthday party last year in LoRise where I kind of just walked around and talked to a bunch of friends outside on the grass and asked them if they wanted to be in a band. That’s how the Concert Gs were created.

MS: Where do you get the inspiration for your songs? What do you usually write about?
JS: I really value people writing what they know. I think fiction is great as well, and telling stories can be a great way of getting across what you know, but at the same time you have to be true to yourself. You know, I’m a 21-year-old white, Jewish kid from upstate New York. I tend to write about the experiences I had growing up. The themes, I’d say, are: friendship; and a kind of love for your tribe, your crew; relationships, romantic and otherwise. My poetry is kind of rooted in the natural imagery of the place I grew up, which was kind of rural. But I placed that in the context of hip-hop, which is a kind of gritty form of music.

MS: Do you ever get into rap battles at all?
JS: I’ve been in maybe one legitimate rap battle. I’m more fond of creating songs and rapping with people in a more cooperative, creative way…The one rap battle I was involved in was at a party in high school. This one kid wanted to get on the mic and spit, so I gave him the mic and he started to freestyle, and then I got excited and I started to freestyle. He wasn’t very good…but he came at me after that in a really personal way and started a battle, which I did not intend to get into. I think anyone there could’ve told you that I came out on top. This kid didn’t know what he was getting himself into.

MS: So is it like “8 Mile?”
JS: No, not like “8 Mile.” Real freestyling is really tough to do. It’s not as pretty as what you hear in the movie. It’s a little rougher when you’re coming up with everything on the spot.

MS: How would you characterize your style?
JS: I tend toward the introspective and confessional sometimes. But I can also get really raw and write battle lyrics. Hip-hop comes from that raw, aggressive spirit that’s like, “I’m gonna say what I wanna say.”

MS: You mentioned that your lyrics tend to be confessional. Do you ever find it difficult to open yourself up in that way to your audience?
JS: Yeah, every artist worries the audience won’t connect with what they’re saying. But I want to make the music that I want to hear. So when I think about a song, I think about what I would want to hear from someone over that beat. Sometimes, yeah, sometimes you miss the mark and it doesn’t appeal to everyone. But at the end of the day, if you’re being true to yourself, opening yourself up in that way is rewarding.

MS: In addition to rapping, you’re also known for being a poet on campus. How are rapping and spoken word poetry similar? How are they different?
JS: Writing spoken word and writing rap lyrics can sometimes be very similar. Rap has been influenced by some of the more prominent spoken word poets. As far as my own stuff…one of my favorite poets is Saul Williams, who I was lucky enough to see at Wesleyan when I was a prefrosh. Seeing him perform his poetry on stage…has influenced my delivery and my lyricism more than some rappers that I listen to. I guess you can say that what I write all feeds on each other, and they grow together. In the end, it’s kind of a symbiotic relationship.

MS: Where do you see all this taking you? Do you want to pursue your music after college?
JS: If the opportunity arises, definitely. It’s my dream to do this and to be able to do this for a living, and if I could do that, I would do it, at least for a certain period of time and see how I like that lifestyle. This is my art, this is my passion, and I think anyone could say that being able to live off of something you’re passionate about is something to strive towards. That said, I understand how difficult it is to make it in the music industry right now. I’m coming up right now as the industry is really changing, and the way that artists survive is changing. I’ve kind of learned from the independent rap labels whose doing a grass roots marketing sort of approach…I think if I am going to do something, it would be something that I’m building from the ground up. Hopefully that will be possible, but if not, there are other things that I’m passionate about.

MS: Based on your experiences, what would you say to someone trying to break into rap and spoken word?
JS: The best poetry professors I’ve had have told me to just read, read, read poetry all the time. Read as many kinds of poets as you can. Same for hip-hop. Find the stuff that really moves you and that really expands your mind and says what you’ve always wanted to express. Find that stuff and really listen to it, study it, and these become your influences as you write and as you perform. As you start to synthesize all these different influences, your own voice will start to shine through…Commit to it if you want to get involved. Get criticism from your peers, people you trust.

MS: One last question: how exactly does a white, Jewish kid from New York become a rapper?
JS: It’s an interesting thing. I have all the respect in the world for where hip-hop came from. The original spirit of it was to a) create entertainment that wasn’t available to those groups and b) to expose more of the world to what was going on in the places where these people lived. At the same time, I think there is something about hip-hop that makes it really easy to connect to…It demands people to nod their heads, “yes.” That’s a beautiful thing. So, for me, listening to it the first time I heard it…there was something about it that I couldn’t quite identify at the time. But I knew this music had the power to do something in my life. So I followed it and kept listening to it. Hip-hop comes from the South Bronx, and that’s a predominantly black population, and the experiences of the ghetto are at the core of hip-hop. But as a person who grew up listening to that and also to recent artists who grew up in places more similar to where I grew up, I see that hip-hop has opened up over time to include a whole variety of view points and experience. Artists like Atmosphere and Brother Ali and some of the more conscious rappers like Mos Def and whoever else, they opened up something different for me that I hadn’t heard before. And that kind of inspired me to go in my own direction and go in a path in hip-hop that expressed what I know.
Look out for Josh’s performances this semester with a new band line-up. You can listen to his music at myspace.com/wordsmithmusic. Word to ya mother.