Category: Interviews
Wesley (TeachONE) Pepper has one goal – to reach people with his music and improve the communities around him.
As an educator for five years and a devout follower of hip-hop since his early teens, Wesley has married his love for teaching and his passion for music by developing three programs that encouraged learning through hip-hop. Away from school, he is an emcee and a producer who has collaborated with musicians who hail from everywhere – including his own classroom.
It was a great pleasure to have a chance to sit down with TeachONE for this exclusive interview.
A name means a lot. Why’d you choose TeachONE?
TeachONE came about almost three years ago. Before that, I had been Dr. Pepper (Play on my last name), Doc, Wesley Pipes (sounds like a porno name now), and Pipes… It was a lotta cheese and they were all basically emcee names that came out of battling and just actin a fool when I went out, but after I actually became a teacher my goals with my music really started to change. I had always written a lot of positive music, but I was tryin to make a name for myself too, so I was willing to spit lyrics that contained a lot of the b.s. that I just don’t play around with anymore. One of my friends actually called me TeachONE when I started to record some of my newer tracks, and I instantly liked it. I’ve been using it ever since. To me it represents my music and my mission… I’m all about education, in both the institutional sense, which is actually my job, and also the social sense which is really about spreading a message that a lot of the ills that plague those without can be fixed if we create that movement. It always has to start with one… I hope that I have some hand in teaching that one.
I understand you’ve developed programs tying hip-hop together with learning . Could you tell us more about those?
The most recent was a middle school program called "Evolution of an Art Form: Learn the History, Technique and Styles of Hip-Hop's Greatest."
Before that, I did two diversion programs: one was an after school program that I wrote a grant for and ran through my college, and the other was another diversion program called Routes for Youth. It was aimed at second time offenders and used Hip-Hop as an incentive to not only stay in school, but also excel at it... I taught technique, and provided performance space, while demanding perfect attendance and impeccable homework.
I also tutored... but I found that most of the peeps who came in the program because they loved to do hip-hop were also more than able to do school work and really didn't need as much help as I assumed they would have... they just needed an incentive to do the work.
Is there an ideal listener for your music? What is your message to them?
That really depends on which track he or she is listening to or likes. If they’re listening to a lyrical track I want them to think about something they haven’t necessarily thought about before. If they’re listening to an instrumental track I want it to move them… So my ideal listener is someone who feels music.
How would you describe your sound? Does it match your personality? Has it evolved over time?
I like to describe it as music for the mind. My hope is that it makes you think and inspires you to move to a higher level either physically or mentally. I believe it matches my personality simply because I constantly question what’s going on around me. I kind of force you to think rapidly on your feet when you’re around me simply because I’m going to point something out, and I’m going to question your beliefs… Not to put you or your beliefs down, but to hear you explain it. From there, I may change my point of view if you show me or tell me something I hadn’t considered before. I would say my music has definitely evolved. When I first started writing I truly believed that I was going to be one of the first white emcees who wasn’t cheesy. I started writing when I was 12, so by the time I was 18 I was quick to rip a lot of the emcees who started later than I did… The funny part of all that is I look back on the stuff I was putting out back then and it truly pains me because all of it is so ridiculously cheesy. I would write all the time, but I wasn’t working on my craft at all, so when I actually started working on my craft, which means learning about rhyme structure, beat structure, and bar structure my music really improved. My message evolved as I educated myself, and my sound evolved as my taste in music expanded from just early 90’s gangster rap to electronic music, classic jazz, and classic funk. I think today my sound is a mixture of all of those.
In addition to your emcee work, you’ve done a lot of production. Do you have a preference between the two?
I really don’t…. although I’ve found that I can’t do both at the same time. I have yet to make a beat that I felt matched my lyrics perfectly, and I’ve yet to write a verse that actually matches my beats, so I really get a kick out of collaborating with other people. When an emcee like I.C. Will comes to me lookin for a beat and I create something that moves him to write a great song I always feel very accomplished. On the other hand, I certainly know how it feels to find a beat that goes with something I’ve written like a glove I don’t think there’s anything I can really compare that feeling to.
Where do you go for inspiration? Do you ever get stuck in the creation process? What do you do to get moving again?
Actually, my biggest inspiration when I write lyrics is my work. When I see my students get something for the first time, or I see them get held back not because they don’t know how to do something, but because they look a certain way, it inspires me to write.
With my instrumental stuff, inspiration comes from random places. My ADD tendencies are really the basis for a lot of the drum patterns I come up with. I basically use my wedding ring as a snare, my thumb as a kick and the rest of the sounds come inside my head. I’ll tap something out for the whole day, and then pull out my computer and just start playing… Up until recently, I really never got stuck.
I am currently stuck in the creation process. I think it’s basically because I’m havin a hard time thinking about anything but my new job. It’s frustrating because I’m really not sure what to do… I sit down to create and instrumental and I end up with something that is completely looped out and/or just irritating, and when I write I feel like I’m rewriting the stuff I’ve already done.
To get through it I’ve started taking piano lessons. While it hasn’t helped me create something new yet, I think having a better understanding of melody can only help me improve. I also have started reading a lot of non-fiction again to influence my writing. I don’t think it will be too long before I come up with something new.
Is there anyone in particular you look up to, either as a musician or as a role model? If you had the chance, how would you like to work with them in the future?
Actually, the person I look up to most as both a musician and as a role model was my grandmother. She was a kindergarten teacher, a social activist, and a classically trained pianist who could also play any wind or string instrument you gave her. Unfortunately, the instrumental side of my music only came about recently, and the opportunity to work with her on a project has passed on with her, but I would love to go back in time to record and play with her. As far as famous musicians go, it’s hard for me to say I really look up to anyone who I could actually work with because most of them are dead. The emcees I truly admired have by and large been victimized by the fact that they weren’t just artists, but had weaknesses in their character that caused them to glamorize the very things they often spoke out against in other tracks they created and then of course died.
How do you feel about today's music industry? Personally, do you feel the new wave of technology has helped or hindered you?
I think the “industry” has two tiers. For the most part, mainstream music irritates the hell out of me because it seems like a bunch of people who actually have very little talent, or even a work ethic for that matter, are getting on despite themselves. On the other hand, music is my first love, and because of that I find doing research and actually digging for music often leads me to incredible finds that make me realize that my taste is hugely subjective and if everyone liked the same kind of music I did, music would have stopped being appealing a long time ago. Whenever I find something new that really makes go wow, I realize that it’s great that people hear music in so many different ways. I think technology only helps this because I can actually go to a site like Project Opus and find exactly what I’m looking for. If it wasn’t for that technology, I would spend far too much time digging through crates in music stores.
At the end of your music career, what do you want to have accomplished? What do you want to be remembered for?
I just want my music to reach a larger audience. I want to be remembered as someone who wrote music that moved you.
If you weren't teaching or creating music, what would you be doing?
LMAO…. Probably marketing.
Of yours songs, which is your favorite and why?
Probably The Life in Between… To this day I’m not sure how it came about, other than to say I was truly inspired by the movie script I wrote it for, and it really came out exactly how I wanted it to.
Do you have any advice that you'd like to pass along to aspiring musicians?
Be yourself. Taste in music constantly evolves, so stay true to yourself and eventually your style may be the taste dujure… If your true to yourself your music will have more lasting power because you weren’t just tryin to sell yourself.
What are the future plans for your music?
To just keep creating and getting my stuff out. I think I.C. Will and I are going to eventually put together a full record, and I’ve been working on a Live PA set with my instrumental stuff, so it’s only a matter of time before I start tryin to take my tracks to a larger audience.
Thanks, Wesley! It’s been a pleasure!
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