Theodore Theo “Intalek” Jamison III may be the thought provoking, creative hip-hop artist that rap music has been longing for.
Theodore Theo “Intalek” Jamison III may be the thought provoking, creative hip-hop artist that rap music has been longing for. During a time where hip-hop music, rap specifically, is being criticized for being “too violent,” and having “a negative affect on society,” rap music is looking for a drastic change in what is being produced by its artist.
Artists like rapper Nas, who is considered one of the greatest in the genre, released an album titled, “Hip Hop is Dead”, confronting the decline of rap quality. Among the many well-known and respected artists, there is a few new artists with the desire to produce quality, “lyrically infused,” rap music. Among those few are Intalek, a rap artist based out of Virginia Beach who lives, breathes, and appreciates the art of rap music.
He is a 22-years-old ODU student who is sometimes found in a hooded shirt, sweat pants, and sneakers. He was born in Portsmouth, Virginia and raised in both Philadelphia and Virginia Beach.
He hopes to change the direction of where rap is headed and get back to the essence of “good” music while leaving behind music that is made solely for the purpose of making money. “I just [want to] show people that it’s not just about trying to make money off of a song. It has become a moneymaking business. It has influenced me to show the world that it’s not just doing it to make money, that there’s people that really love
music,” said Intalek.
Intalek’s name is based off of the word “intellect.” He was named during one of many days spent at his friend Jevons’s house. Intalek and his friends were sitting around joking laughing, having fun and making music. “’Jeremy said ‘how about Intalek?’ That fits me because I’m like the nerd of the group and I was the person who always made the good grades.” After the name was given to him, previous names such as “Feature Presentation,” which he called “the most embarrassing” name, were all thrown out. He aims to create music with a theme that requires people to
think, not just party songs. He believes that lyricism is still the key to music and is what makes music great, over any beat.
Intalek described his music as being hip-hop with a splash of jazz. His music, style, and “VA swagga” as he calls it in “Tequila,” a song from his newly released mixed tape.
“While I Was Gone,” is influenced by a variety of music and artist. Some of those artist include Lupe Fiasco, Jay-z, Common, Erykah Badu, Cold Play, Beck, Taylor Swift, everything, according to Intalek. Now that the music business is taken seriously for him and his friends, they are often in the studio recording new songs. Intalek said his music making process, like songs taken from the “While I was Gone” mix-tape, can be time consuming, but finds the process enjoyable.
“I hear a beat, and then like the beat usually influences what I put into it, I write the lyrics to it. I listen to the beat for like five minutes and come up with something real quick. Other times it takes me like a month or two months, depending on how I feel about the beat. I write it all down, rehearse it like five times then I go and record it,” said Intalek. His instinct of being able to relate to a variety of music and lyrics may have branched off of his experience as a military child.
Intalek comes from a family consisting of both of his parents, his father in the military, and an older sister. Because of his father’s military occupation, he had the privilege to travel all over the world. This experienced allowed him to be a more open-minded individual and accepting of all different types of people and music.
“Moving a lot just helped me learn about different things. It broadened my horizon. Especially when I moved overseas, I realized its not just America, there’s more to life—music, and really I listen to everything,” he said. Though this passion of music flows deep within him, Intalek
had not known his passion until after entering college as a Math major with hopes of making it to a professional basketball team and dreams of “being on somebody’s wall dunking, like a big ass poster of me,” he said. Basketball was once all that he knew and was his only escape. After tearing his ACL in his second year of college, the aspirations of being drafted out of college came to an abrupt
halt. This was the year he discovered his new found escape and passion, which was called music. “As time went by I realized how much music actually impacted me, once I got songs going on in my head, it was hard to pay attention in class. It was so embedded in my heart
and my mind. I realized I would rather not skip math classes to go to the studio when I can just stay in class and stay in school.
It’s helping, I’m staying in school.” Intalek is passionate about his music, and is focused on the actual lyrics presented in songs, therefore creating themes, meanings, and just creative lyrics put together for a good
time.
Much like “The Tree of Life” he witnessed in Bahrain, a tree that survived by itself in the middle of a desert, he hopes to do the same. Even if it is by himself, and his quality of rap is in the minority where rap/hip-hop is headed, he is sure he will survive. “Music just lives in me. I can’t go a day without listening to music, I can’t go a day without trying to create music or surrounding myself with it. I just can’t see myself going a whole
day without it,” said Intalek.
“It pushed me to see others that have the same driven mentality. Like countless hours through the night you can’t sleep unless you write this line. It helps push me to do what I do, and the people who enjoy seeing me do what I do it helps push me
along too.” To listen to any of Intalek’s music, or become a fan visit
www.myspace.com/Intalek5.
