Five Questions With Rap Teacher DLux The Light

Desmond Spann, AKA DLux The Light, is a rapper, poet, keyboardist, and rap and lyrics teacher from Oregon. He’s the creator of Emcee Mind, a website with a great YouTube channel that offers methods and tips for improving your rap and lyrical abilities - especially through freestyle rapping. He likes to focus on rapping with confidence, writing better songs, and enhancing the student’s rap voice - keys to a well-rounded delivery. Desmond has also worked with a number of youth organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club and Children’s Cancer Association, and is an active performing and recording artist.

Lessonface: How did you first get introduced to rap and poetry, and what kind of music were you listening to at the time/growing up?

Desmond Spann: My earliest memory with rap involves schoolyard competitions seeing who knew the lyrics to the popular rap songs of the time. This was fifth grade in the early ‘90s so it included artists like Bone Thugs N Harmony, MC Hammer, and Vanilla Ice.

Flash forward to high school, now into De La Soul, Tupac, and making beats, DJing. I was too scared to rap, but started writing poetry. Somewhere between Wilson High School and Fisk University, I was introduced to the poetry of Saul Williams. From that point on I was all about spoken word poetry. During my years at Fisk, I discovered that what I write poetry about could be the subject matter for my raps. The problem in high school was I resonated with the music, but not the subject matter. This is one of the main reasons I teach rap now - to teach the craft in ways that people can find their authentic voice in rap.

Lf: Did you have any particularly influential mentors early on, or later as you progressed?

DS: Not really. Rap was mostly a self-taught artform. I learned through imitation and experimentation and life experiences. I was greatly influenced by the poets and emcees around me during my college years.

Lf: What got you interested in teaching online? How long have you been doing online tutorials through YouTube and what has the response been like?

DS: As far as teaching online, I'm relatively new to the concept. Like most, I have been figuring it out as I go. It’s amazing to connect with aspiring emcees from all over the world and offer my guidance. The response on YouTube has been CRAZY. It started out as an experiment really, but has grown tremendously. Now the challenge is managing the demand for more videos with my daily life.

Lf: If you had to recommend one video or performance for prospective students to check out in order to understand you and your style, what would it be?

DS: There are some video links on About.Me/DesmondSpann. You'll see me teaching and performing.

Here’s Desmond explaining why he started EmceeMind.com and how he started teaching.

LF: Can you tell us a bit about what's going on with any musical projects you're working on, and any latest news about them?

DS: Check out SpeakerMinds.com. Speaker Minds is a live hip hop band, in which I play keys. We just released a new music video at the end of March. Folks can check it out YouTube. We specialize in keeping it positive, fun, and putting on a great show.
Related:

• Book lessons with Desmond Spann
• How to start writing lyrics
• Our complete hand-picked list of rap and lyrics teachers