Voiceless

Auteur

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Michael Barclift is one of the Brooklyn 80s babies from the golden age of Hip Hop. He grew up in the NYC street culture where Hip Hop and battling was a way of life. He is also one of the many New Yorkers who have relocated down south in the 90s. During that decade Michael worked with various labels, producers and studios in the Virginia Beach area including Black Russian Records and Boardroom Recording, while enduring the lingering affect of culture shock and searching for his true Hip Hop voice. The voice that emerged was one of the most unique and original identities of the Hip Hop nation. It was the formation of his group, Dahavknotz(The Have-nots). From 1999 through 2009, Michael performed and recorded dozens of tracks that spoke to the plight of poor people in the inner cities. The majority of mainstream Hip Hop artists had sharply turned away from those type of lyrics and had increasingly spoke about Glamour Life and Bling Bling.Even many underground artist who had nothing in common with these wealthy rappers, had been swept up by the momentum of the industry and coerced into talking about the lifestyle of the wealthy and not poor . One of the most widely used phrases in Hip Hop is, Keeping It Real. However that slogan had become an increasingly obvious lie that mirrored the hypocrisy of Americas slogan, The Land of the Free during slavery and Jim Crow. Michael took matters into his own hands as he single handedly tried to re-direct the Hip Hop conversation toward matters that affect the poor, with honesty and reality as the cornerstone of Dahavknotz lyrical content. As effective as he was as an artist, he was seriously deficient as a promoter, business man and husband or a generally productive citizen. He suffered through missed opportunities, betrayal, divorce, financial ruin, substance abuse, alcoholism and severe depression. Yet he has never given up on his dream and is still very proud of his body of work as an underground artist. His music is heavily respected and appreciated by the underground Hip Hop community and he has inspired many younger artist to write music with honesty and sympathy for those less fortunate. Michael is now a single father who enjoys reading, sports and playing chess in his free time. He is working on a new book and a Hip Hop screenplay as well as an online Hip Hop/Political talk show. He is now planning on returning to school to pursue a degree in journalism.

Texte du rabat

Whatever happens to a dream destroyed? In this authors opinion, you write about it. Aspiring Hip Hop artist and founder of the group Dahavknotz (the have nots) turned author, Michael Barclift writes a heart wrenching tale of growing up with a dream that dies a slow and painful death due to a combination of factors. After having such a promising start to his career and being crowned as one of the most talented and profound artist by industry peers and competitors, lifestyle choices and decisions eventually wore him down until he began to question the value of life itself. At a crossroads between living, dying or just existing, Barclift started to write journals instead of rhymes. After 2 years outside of the music scene, those journals became classic American literature. "Voiceless" is a brutally honest and pure self reflection of one mans life that reaches epic emotional depth and speaks to anyone who has ever had a dream.