Speak (artist)

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Speak
Background information
Birth name	Tamás Deák (Tom Deak^[1])
Also known as	Speak
Born	May 31st 1976 Budapest
Origin	Hungary
Genre(s)	Hip hop, Rap
Occupation(s)	Rapper, Actor, Model, Activist
Years active	Unknown

Tamás Deák (born May 31, 1976^[2]), better known by his stage name Speak, is a rap artist based in Hungary. He gained considerable fame when the video for his 2003 anti-war song, Sometimes^[3], became popularized through video sharing websites, propelling him from local celebrity to internet sensation. His singing style appears to be derived from spoken word and he is known to make use of backup singers. It is known from his lyrics that Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Sean Combs, and 2pac have had an influential effect on him.

1 History
2 Sometimes
3 Viral video
4 Present
5 Future
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Tamás Deák worked many odd jobs, among them he spent time as a building contractor, medicinal masseur, and as a model, before deciding to become an actor^[4]. He learned to speak English by working in hotels in Hungary and other countries.^[5] His only acting role besides performances in theatre has been on the popular daily prime time soap-drama "Jóban, rosszban" on Hungary's TV2.^[6] In 2003, Deák financed an anti-war rap music video "Sometimes" out of his own pocket. The video featured veteran Hungarian actor and singer Miklós Varga.^[7]

[edit] Sometimes

Speak's claim to fame is his 2003 single "Sometimes", even though it did not have the commercial success that he had hoped for^[8]. The video features Tamás Takáts, Miklós Varga, Bebe (Dániel Abebe), and Naszi (Tamás Naszvagyi) as backup singers^[9]. Miklós is a minor celebrity in his own right, having starred in a number of nationalist-themed Hungarian films during the late 1980s and 1990s as well as other music related media ^[10] ^[11].

Speak and backup singers in the Sometimes video

The song begins with close-up shots of a Porsche 911 being driven around. We next see Speak walking amongst tombstones in a graveyard, singing about his dislike for war. Shots of him sitting on the Porsche are interspersed throughout, as well as scenes of war and and people dying. His singing leads into an emotional chorus with four backup singers. As Speak makes it through the graveyard, we see the people from the war scenes mourning around tombstones. He eventually joins the four other singers as they enter into a second, more emotional chorus. As the singers proclaim that they "don't know what it's [the war] for", Speak emphasizes the role of "Business" as a causal factor. During this sequence Varga Miklós elevates into a coloratura soprano vocal performance, as his voice becomes much higher, lighter and more emotional than the other backup singers. The video ends with Speak sitting under a cross holding a pigeon. As the pigeon is released, Speak ends the song by saying "peace", underlining the core message of the song.

[edit] Viral video

Due to the fact that the video is rife with broken English and misused rap catch phrases, it eventually found a global audience on the internet as a viral video, after being passed around as a joke in some sections of Eastern Europe especially among English speakers. Although the song was intended to be serious, its subject matter and presentation is unintentionally humorous. Shortly after being posted on Youtube, it was also submitted to and made the front page of the video section on Digg^[12], exposing it to a considerably large audience. It currently has over 500,000 views on Youtube ^[13].

Comments on message boards regarding Speak's single Sometimes often deal with the characteristics of the backup singers that sing the chorus in the video. Their vocal styles and looks are very unique. The first backup singer (Tamás Takács) is dressed in a California surfer style, and his voice has been likened to that of Neil Diamond. The second in appearance is a shorter darker-skinned man (Bebe) with a raspy voice. The third singer (Nal C) is a tall, lanky pale man, with odd spiky hair. His complexion has been described by some as vampire-like in appearance. The final singer (Miklós Varga) appears to be in the intermediate stages of balding and was in his late forties during filming, leading some to note that he appears completely out of place in the context of the video^[clarify].

[edit] Present

Speak was as of 2005 bankrupt and unemployed, having spent the majority of his funds on his Sometimes video. Speak is reported to have said that he is going to "start again from the ghetto" and adds "But whoever is sending around that link with my video, God bless his name." ^[14].

[edit] Future

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Speak currently works in the catering business in Cyprus, and already plans his comeback. "We would shoot the video here, I'm not quite sure who will be involved, but I've already made lots of friends over here" he says, according to Hungarian online celeb mag "Velvet"^{[citation needed]}. He has 9-10 songs almost ready, but he finds finishing them a hard job, as "I am touched by new impulses all the time, so I keep changing them, I take my time". He takes it seriously: "It happens to the best musicians too, that they launch an album, and only 2-3 songs are really good, the rest is just a fill-up. There will be no fill-up songs on my album".