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The man behind the Vandal rap

Written by By Abby Anderson -Argonaut

Tuesday, 18 October 2005

Craig Smith doesn’t play on the field. He plays with words. The Vandal Scholarship Fund recently hired Smith to create an upbeat rap about the Vandals’ participation in the Western Athletic Conference. “They asked if I could at least try it (writing the song) for the experience, not knowing if anything would come out of it,” he says. “When I sent it to them, I really got a positive response from them.” It took him a month and a half to find a beat that would work for the rap, write the song, go into the studio and record it. Incorporating all the states of the conference was the hardest part of his project, Smith says. “It was hard to find the beat for it,” he says. “I had to sit down and really analyze what they wanted. I knew I wanted to make it positive and upbeat.” Composing a rap can pose a challenge for Smith. He works best when he’s by himself in a quiet environment. “I’ve got to have it playing over and over, close my eyes and visualize where I want to go with it,” he says. “The first line is the hardest.” Smith, a Christian rapper, played football religiously in high school but tore his ACL his senior year. When he had to change his dream of playing for Florida State to becoming a rapper, Smith decided to move from his small hometown of Salem, Ill., to Orlando, Fl., to enroll in Full Sail’s one-year recording arts degree program. He will receive his associate of science degree this week. Using high-end professional gear, he learned how to take the technical side of music and apply it to his work. “I’m ready to get out of here,” he says. “It’s given me a sense of the behind-the-scenes, of what really goes on — the reality of recording music and not what you see on TV.” Smith says he doesn’t look up to rappers in the media today because of their negative message. Instead, he opts to listen to anything from the 1960s, “old school, positive music.” “It’s good stuff for what they (rappers) do, but I can’t listen to it because it puts me in a negative mood,” he says. “Hip-hop has a tendency to turn people away because they know the content of it. Older people say, ‘It’s garbage.’” Smith doesn’t want people to feel the same way about his music. “It has a positive vibe,” he says. “It can relate to little kids, to grown people. … I don’t want it to be tied with the negativity of rap.” As a Christian, Smith always prays before he begins working on a project. Although he adopted the Christian faith at 13, it wasn’t a priority in high school. “I didn’t really care too much and I partied a lot,” he says. “When I got down here, I met my girlfriend and I just turned my life around then.” While Smith creates Christian-themed pieces, he says it’s nothing overboard.   “I’m not going to beat you over the head by trying to tell you what you’re doing wrong,” he says. “It takes you away from what’s on the TV and what the radio plays, songs about going off, getting drunk and partying.” Growing up with a “wonderful, close Christian family,” Smith didn’t have the bullet-holed past of many of his rapping cohorts. “It was not a struggle to grow up at all,” he says. “I am very blessed in that way.” At first, his parents didn’t really understand his career choice, but after he brought his CD home last Christmas, they got a clearer picture of his talent. “That’s the first time they heard what I’ve been doing, and they saw that it was pretty serious and they were really supportive at that point.” When he hits a musical wall, Smith will stop and try again the next day. “It takes me a long time to write even a verse,” he says. “I want every line to make sense and paint a picture. It’s not like I start writing and it’s done — it takes two or three days to even write one verse, but I don’t get too discouraged about it.” His rap has been played at clubs on the weekends, on the radio and can be heard when the Vandal games are broadcast on local channels. Listen to the 2005 Vandal rap! Add as favorites (65) | Views: 1586 Be first to comment this article Write Comment Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code. Name: Title: Comment: