Rock Wilk WORD page

Music:

Member Since: 27/11/2004
Band Website: http://www.rockwilk.com
Band Members:

Listen for music written and performed by Rock WILK on MTV's "The Real World Brooklyn" and "Making The Band 4", great shows and an honor to be a part of some MTV thang!!

"...Street poet, sweet singer and spoken word artist Rock Wilk returns Shoreside for a handful of live appearances.Last summer in the virtual pages of Red Bank oRBit, we introduced you to Rock Wilk, a seriously skilled guy from Brooklyn who we described as “a veteran of the recording studio and a chronicler of stories. A poet who works in the cadences of the hip-hop tradition, and a character who claims to do his best writing while riding the subways.” Rock spent some time down Asbury way last year, where he spread the love via his GOT WILK? stickers and brought a multimedia show of songs and stories to the historic Stephen Crane House.“The subway is the place where I feel most creative,” said Wilk, who in our profile had some refreshingly contrary things to say about the local state of the arts — and the distances we all need to travel to truly make this system hum. “I feel private when I’m there…sometimes I just ride the trains, all day and all night.”Well, riding the pedal-car jitney up and down the boardwalk all night just doesn’t have the same kind of cachet, so Wilk took it back to the tubes to work on some different projects, including a whole new set of spoken-word with music compositions represented on his latest self-released drop, Valentine’s Day. He’s even started a second MySpace page, dedicated to this developing aspect of his art and craft.“The work is something I’m very proud of, a result of a real evolution of my art,” writes the music veteran who’s lent his backup vocals and arrangements to the likes of Nile Rodgers and Patti Labelle.“I’ve been living in these spoken word clubs since just before Thanksgiving, performing all over the place doing poetry slams and finally finding my OWN voice in this genre, perhaps creating a new genre, somewhere between hip hop/music/spoken word.”Wilk has uploaded several examples of his recent work to the page (as well as edited snippets appearing on his official website), and we think they’re a savvy synthesis of musical language and a forceful, yet conversational style of writing-out-loud. In “22 Stops to 198th Street,” Wilk wonders “who the fuck am I?” as he pieces together snapshots of the birth parents with his self-realizations as “my own little man” in a culture that still views the adopted kid as The Other. He’s that guy sitting across from you on the G line, suddenly shouting out not in subway-craziness but in epiphany. Think much-maligned Eminem in his his most devastatingly personal moments, minus the mawkish victim trip.“A Letter” works a similar theme of Wilk’s thoughts on finally meeting his bio-mom, set against a jazzy upright-bass plunk that for once isn’t some corny hip-hop hybrid. This is a guy who knows words and music and the ways in which they either cooperate or compete. And best of all, there’s not a vein of vanilla ice running through it.“The material is born of a lot of pain that I’ve been thru recently,” says Wilk. “So some of the material is brutal, but honest to say the least.”The Wilkman cometh again to the Shore for a handful of appearances spotlighting his new projects, beginning this Thursday with a school show at Asbury Park High. On Friday, March 13, he’ll perform for the first time at the interesting setting of the Borders store on Route 35 in Eatontown, and one week later on March 20 he’ll be at Core Restore, that rather unique space devoted to both art and physical therapy, on Mattison Avenue in Asbury Park."- Tom Chesek, writer for The Asbury Park Press and Red Bank Orbit

Influences:
wow...................... Justin Timberlake, Talib Kweli, Black Ice, All of the poets at The Nuyorican, The Bowery, Bar 13, Loserslam down at The Inkwell, yo, and anywhere else I can find them. Jay Z, Dre, Eminem, Common, Natasha Kubis for her insight, intelligence and support, Kanye, Eodub.com and all the hip hop heads, U B Badass!!!!!!!, Stevie Wonder, NeYo, Chris Brown, Christina Aguilera, Earth Wind & Fire, Prince, Sly, Staple Singers, Pink, Martin Luther King, The Roots, Mikells in NYC and everyone who played there!!!!!!, Kenny Gorka at the Bitter End, My parents who adopted me and gave me a beautiful life, Michael Jackson, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Bobby MeFerrin, [i'll say that again......... Bobby McFerrin], Keith Jarrett, Quincy Jones, Spike Lee, Rosa Parks, Richie Hart [the greatest jazz guitarist in the world, my teacher], Wes Montgomery, George Benson, James Brown, Luther Vandross, Michael McDonald, Chaka Khan, My Grandmother, The Beatles, that Tuvian throat singer I heard at Yankee Stadium after Sept. 11th tragedy, Beck........... shit, I could go on and on. the Kolaj family from "Famous Famiglia Pizza", Bruce Springsteen, Stanley Clarke, Donny Hathaway... OK, I'll stop......... for a minute................ The Yankees, The Bronx, all of New York City.......... I think U got it now. I'm all over the place, looking for inspiration................ that dude who was playing the fuck out of that guitar on the G train the other day, going to Brooklyn, with that Nashville tuning, U a badass playin' fool...............................

BROKE WIDE OPEN........IT WILL CHANGE YOU!!!!
Sounds Like:

Record Label: Samah, Inc.