November 27, 2024 | 9:02 AM

WITF Music: Spoken Musik

Gospel, hip-hop and educating future generations.

Joe Ulrich

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Joe has been interested in audio and music since he was a kid. What started as a fascination with his parents’ vinyl records and cassette tapes turned into a love of both performing and recording. He grew up in Elizabethtown, Pa. and moved to Pittsburgh in 1999 where he majored in Photography at the University of Pittsburgh.

In 2004, he attended the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Tempe, AZ. He returned to Pittsburgh to work at a recording studio.

In 2008, Joe arrived at WITF, where his skills have found a good home as an on-air host, audio engineer and producer of WITF Music. In 2016, Joe earned a National Edward R. Murrow award for Best Use of Sound.

Spoken Musik performs at WITF Music on May 1, 2024. (Jeremy Long - WITF)

Spoken Musik is the music project of DeJuan Rosado. He was raised around music in the church and naturally began writing and performing his own songs. Rosado also emphasizes using music as a teaching tool and is part of THEM The Collective, a group of musicians who work together on each other’s projects and use music to teach kids about the performing arts and self-expression.

Listen to the audio feature:

Joe Ulrich: So just tell me a little bit about how you got into music.

DeJuan Rosado: I grew up in church and I was born into it. I don’t remember not doing it. I grew up singing in the choirs. My mom was the choir director for the children’s choir. They called it the baby choir. I hated that name. But church was the roots of my upbringing and watching the musicians at the time.

Joe Ulrich: And when did you embark on doing your own music?

DeJuan Rosado: I’ve been writing music basically since middle school. But 2014 is when I took that leap of faith. I love writing music. I love hip hop. I love gospel. I love to bring it all together. I love to perform.

On the song “Lean On You”

My younger sister was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. And then before that, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. And, praise God, they both beat it. Being thankful and letting God know, I’m thankful that you did that. Because not everybody gets healed from their different illnesses, but you let them see another day.

And the one verse says, ‘I’m thankful for a sound mind’ because my family has a history of mental illness. There’s a lot of things that we all go through and sometimes we feel like we’re losing it, but to be able to keep going and tell that to somebody is like a testimony. People can be like, oh wow I went through that too. So if he got through it, then I think that I can get through it.

And the name of the song is “Lean On You.” That’s basically me saying, I can lean on God anytime that I’m going through whatever situation I’m going through. I know I can talk to him.

Joe Ulrich: How do you see the current state of hip hop as compared to where it started back in the 70s and 80s?

DeJuan Rosado: I do love the creativity of newer hip hop and the trap style. I think hip hop has gotten away from the essence of what it is.

A lot of artists don’t have to be a great lyricist or a great rapper. They can just throw a few words together and some tunes, which is cool. It’s catchy. And not to knock the new generation. But we’re used to really taking time to write music and write our raps and sharing them in school and stuff like that. So I feel like it’s gotten away from it, but I do enjoy the creativity that a lot of these new rappers are bringing to the table.

Joe Ulrich: How would you define that essence of hip hop?

DeJuan Rosado: A lot of artists back in the day were basically just talking about their struggle. Hip hop was even bigger than just rap. You had break dancers and graffiti artists. There was substance to it.

I still appreciate a lot of artists in the industry that stick to that style of lyricism, being able to uplift and talk about the struggle and talk about their personal journey of growing up and their lives.

I like to listen to what the artist is saying and what they are talking about versus just a nice beat and a catchy hook. So it’s for me, it’s substance.

Joe Ulrich: And Spoken Music is part of THEM, The Collective. Tell me about that.

DeJuan Rosado: THEM is an acronym for To Heal and Encourage Musically. We’re a collective of musicians and performers who come together and support each other on stage. Sometimes I might be playing for some of the vocalists, and then I might get off the drums, and Jordan will be around, and then I go perform one of my songs.

We perform at different things like Race Against Racism. We did the hundredth anniversary for the NAACP. We have our own after school program that we teach at The Mix in Lancaster city where we teach the kids the performing arts. It’s basically just something that we wanted to put together to do more in the community.

Joe Ulrich: It seems really natural for you to want to spread music and education. Where did you get so inspired to engage in all this stuff?

DeJuan Rosado: My mom had a home-based daycare. And just being around kids and learning how to teach them and help them and helping my mom with her business.

My first official job working with kids was at King Elementary School in Lancaster. And I discovered that I had this passion for kids and we connect. And I was able to be a good role model and teach them different things. And I’m just like, so I got music and then I got the youth and kids and stuff. And naturally it just came together where I’m teaching kids music because it’s just something that I do on a regular.