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This is how it all began - Stop the War by Speak

If you typed the term "Hungarian rapper" into Google's search window a few months ago, all you got was funny names no one's ever heard of - think small-time Magyar celebs like "Ganxsta Zolee", "Dopeman" or "Majka".

Search for "Hungarian rapper" now, and the first few dozen hits take you to a YouTube video of someone called Speak. Yes, Speak, our hero, the Hungarian rapper. Uploaded in September 2006, the video has since generated some 250 000 page views on YouTube, making Speak the most-well known figure in the short history of Hungarian rap music. (Talking about famous Magyar musicians, the most popular Bela Bartok video, Solo Video Sonata on YouTube maxes out at 16,776 views. )

Watch the Speak video if you haven't yet. If you have, just watch it again. Yeee, c'mon!
SPECIAL FEATURE

SPEAK: STOP THE WAR - LYRICS

Having trouble with the lyrics? Rest in peace, here's a transcript. We did the best we could, but feel free to post a comment if you think we made a mistake.

2003, I pray for God they people make the right decision
I don't wanna war. I just wanna peace. Stop the war. Check this.
I hope my black brothers feel the same like me
Dre, Snoop, Puff, L, Tupac Shakur, rest in peace. He was the best. My respect (yeee, c'mon)

I hate terrorists, and I understand you.
September 11, I'll never forget you. Rest in peace
Catch the bad man, stop your plan, bin Laden, thank Allah.
Yee c'mon. Stop the war. That's right.

Chorus:

Sometimes people make a war, don't know what is for (business)
Say you stop the war (yee c'mon, once again)
Sometimes people fight a war, don't know what is for (business)
Say you stop the war (yee that's right, c'mon)

I don't wanna war, I just want to live and love each other
My family, my friends. Nobody wants war. Life is short
Yee, c'mon, that's right. Check.

They just simple people, want simple life. Simple land, simple thing.
We have so many places. World is big. A place enough.
That's right. C'mon. Yee.

Don't make war any more. Show the right way. I pray. Don't kill each other
I don't wanna war. Stop your business. I pray for God, stop the war.
Yee, c'mon, that's right.

Chorus:

Sometimes people make a war, don't know what is for (business)
Say you stop the war (Yee c'mon, once again)
Sometimes people fight a war, don't know what is for (business) Say you stop the war (Yee that's right, c'mon, together)

We don't wanna war. Takacs Tamas, Varga Miklos, Bebe, Naszi,
My respect, Speak. I'll be back. Peace.

What does Speak really say?

We did our best to try and decipher da Speech (see above), but some YouTubers have come up with alternate solutions. Here's one of them:


dun want a wall...
I just want a live and luv each otha'...
My family, my frnnnnssss...
Nobody wants war. Life isssshort...
Yeeee, c'mon. That's right... Check.
They just simple peepol...
Want simple life, simple land, simple things...
We have so many praces...
Wurld is big... A prace or not... (?)
That's right... C'mon... Yeeee...

And another possible transcript:

Don't make wall anymore...
Show da' right way... I play...
Dun' kill each udder...
I don't want a wall...
Stop your business...
I play fuh Gawd... Stop the wall...
Yeeee, c'mon. That's right...

Speak put Hungary on the map of the Earth, but who on Earth is Speak?



It's quite evident by now that Speak, the mysterious Hungarian rapper has placed this country on the world map just like Borat placed there his native Kazakhstan. But If you think most people in Hungary at least have a faint idea about who on earth Speak is, you're wrong.

Truth is, Speak as a musician has not produced anything before or after this infamous video: as far as we know here in Budapest, not a cd, not a gig, not a song, not even a single note. Truth is, Speak (born Tamás Deák ) is a masseur by trade, and his occasional public appearances include the Hungarian sitcom Jóban-rosszban (Good Times, Bad Times) on TV2, and some performances on small theater stages in Budapest.

Speak: "Original and Authentic"

In October 2005, Suze from Velvet.hu reported that Speak was about to be hired to play the protagonist of a movie, based on a novel by András Dezso. The author then thought Speak would be the ideal person to play the main character in a movie based on Panther's Revenge, the first Hungarian fist fight novel.

"[When I saw the video] I knew immediately that he was the character I'd had in mind. Besides, he is original and authentic, so we definitely wanted to win him over ", Dezso was quoted as saying.

Chorus Line Exposed


Ever wondered who those people looking like cemetery employees are? Here they go:

Tamas Naszvagyi - Musical singer, roles include Hungarian adoptations of Fame (2005), Les Misérables (2203) and Jesus Christ Superstar (2003).

Bebe - Front man of Magyar funky band Back II Black (serving the Hungarian funky community since 1997); formerly a member of idiotic Budapest boy band Picasso Branch. Also appears in musicals.


Miklos Varga - Emblematic figure of the pre-democratic Hungarian pop music scene, Varga became famous with his "rock ballad" entitled Europa. He also sang the role of King Stephen in the first Hungarian "rock opera" ever.


Tamas Takats - Lead singer of the 80s rock band Karthago, then leader of Takats Tamas Dirty Blues Band (serving the Hungarian blues community since 1990).

Speak Quotes

Speak on Acting
  • "I have no dream role. Whatever role I'm given, I'll work on it until it's perfect".
Speak on Talent
  • "I've realized that you cannot learn this trade. You are either talented or not."
Speak on Composing
  • "I hear the sounds in my head, I croon the melody, I figure out the entire musical structure, the harmonies, then I record it with a dictaphone so I don't forget it."
Speak on 50 Cent, M
  • "50 Cent, Eminem – they are looking for trouble, I don't like the way they think, I don't identify with them. I don't want to sound like I'm stuck up, but I've always thought neither of them could be my role models."
Speak on Music
  • "Harmony, the world of music, these are the things I'm attracted to, these are the things I'm good at. Plus being a producer. "

Speak, The Renaissance Man

Speak is to contemporary Hungarian culture what Danny DeVito is to Hollywood: the ultimate renaissance man. Besides being a one-time rapper and a TV sitcom special guest, he appeared on the stages of several alternative Hungarian theaters. His roles include that of Doctor Trigorin in Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's The Seagull.

"This person is a refined, aristocratic, artistic soul. It is rather challenging as a role, but this also suits me", Speak told Velvet reporter Suze in an interview last year. Still have doubts? Here's a picture to prove what else Speak's capable of. (In case you wonder: no, this is NOT a fake.)

Genesis of a Song

In September 2005, Velvet.hu managed to track down Speak and some of the chorus members to ask them about the video. Here's what they had to say:

Speak – a Victim of War
  • "This is an anti-war song, at that time, after September 11, this was just timely. But somehow the media did not jump on it."
  • "I spent my own money on this video. I am an entrepreneur who went bankrupt, and I spent my last penny on this."
  • "My company went bankrupt when the Iraq war broke out. I was sitting in a café when I suddenly dreamed up this melody and the lyrics. I quickly rented a studio and I put it all together in three weeks. Now I am in fact unemployed. I'll have to start it all over from the ghetto. But however is sending around that link with my video, God bless his name."
  • Asked about his motivation, Speak said he wrote the song because "I don't like Hungarian rap lyrics".

Chorus member Miklós Varga, Victim of Severe Memory Loss
  • "I faintly remember someone and something, but how I got into all this, I have no idea. Fortunately, I live my life at such a speed that I have no clue what I was doing two years ago. I'm trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle, but it doesn't really work. And I can't even imagine why this video surfaced just now." (Varga's memory loss was so severe that he even asked the reporter to send him the video so he can watch it.)
YEE C'MON!

Stop the War by Speak - Alternate Lyrics

If you browse through the comments on YouTube, you'll see that our transcript is just one interpretation of thousands of possible others. Controversy seems to center around Speak's trademark speech act, something we think sounds like "yee c'mon". Other solutions YouTubers have come up with include:

Yeh c'mon
Ye common
yyy comon
yiii common
yii cu'mon
Jii, come on
Jí komón
yea, c'mon
chyeaaaaa
jiii kmon
Ye. C'mon
ye, come o
Djee commo.
Chair cumon

Second most popular world: the cause of war. But what does Speak say when he means business?

bidnez
Bisdness
Bidness
Biznisss
BIZNIZ

Runner-up:

The black brother respect line. Here's what Speak probably meant to say:

"I hope my black brothers feel the same like me
Dre, Snoop, Puff, L, Tupac Shakur, rest in peace. He was the best."

Here's one version:

I hope my blad bruddes strell de same as me.

And here's another:

"i hope my brack broderz frlow like me/ dre, snoo, puff, 'eghlllee', 2 pac shakur

"Frightfully, relentlessly bad"

"Now, I want to declare war on Hungary", one YouTube commenter wrote in response to the video. Read what others had to say:

Today's YouTube trawl: Speak the Hungarian rapper

"Very basically, a large, shaven-headed man jumps out of a Porcshe and proceeds to walks through a graveyard dressed in a leather trench coat. As he walks he raps, comparing the fates of his "black brothers" Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur to the recent victims of terrorism and civil wars."

Ben Marshall, The Guardian


"Speak” the Hungarian Rapper Says: War is Bad

"Soo-oometimes, people make a war…” OK, not to be rude or anything, but this video proves a well-known fact: Total morons should not be allowed to make or sing their own music (take that Ashlee Simpson)."

FooHat


Can Cuki Save Hungary's Honor From Speak the Hungarian Rapper?

"[The Speak video is] so frightfully, relentlessly bad it has been viewed more than 50,000 times since being uploaded in late September, and now appears poised to become a YouTube classic. In fact, so bad is the video that, judging from the comments attached to it, there is some question among Speak's growing international fanbase whether he could possibly be serious, or whether the whole thing is a "Borat"-like parody."

Pestiside.hu


Serious Hungarian Rap Song -- Unintentional Mind-Blowing Hilarity!!!

"This song was not meant to be a joke, but seems like something you would see on SNL! Absolutely atrocious singing, botched English catch phrases, over-the top-emotion, and lyrics that make Zlad seem like Shakespeare. A must see!"

Mournsanity on Digg


Speak - The Hungarian Rapper

"Det här är i alla fall en ungersk musikvideo med den inhemska rapparen Speak. Hans grej är att han talar och inte rappar, därav namnet. Lĺten är en allvarlig "War, what is it good for?(Absolutely nothing!)"-lĺt med lite stänk av "I'll be missing you"."

Annike Flynners
Other Speak appearances on Google Blog Search

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