Hip Hop greats like Guru, KRS-1, X-Clan, Brand Nubians, NWA, Organized Konfusion, De La Soul, and Big Daddy Kane, proved that raw lyricism with an underlying message did not have to be sacrificed for the sake of a bangin' beat. The music coming from these Hip Hop leaders projected a political edginess and would still guarantee to rock the party. A young student born Sizwe Andrews-Abakah aka Spear of the Nation had grown up into this Hip Hop and recognized early on the beauty of this delicate balance. Rhyming about conceptual things while enjoying the music for what it was came naturally for Spear of the Nation. His older influential brother pushed the music back in the day. Your Nas's. Your Pharcyde's. And without him, Spear would not be rapping. Period. Anything new or hot at the time, LL Cool J, Whodini, and Steady B, was the steady diet. Old skool and soulful was elemental but the political aspect came from his parents. Pops was deep in the LA jazz scene playing saxophone in legendary jazz pianist Horace Tapscott's band the Horace Tapscott Arkestra. These cats reminisced on Sun Ra and Coltrane. Ironically, Spear was part of the LA Hip Hop scene. The two scenes were underground revolutionary cultures exhibiting similar positive and negative facets: the struggle, the African fabric being tested, Brothers and Sisters talking revolution, children who couldn't read, those who were smoked out and just out to play. Spear was witness to this and from that point on was propelled to be more active. Revolution could not be just talk. The majority of his music had to be real life reflected, where nothing was ever given and everything came from hard work. It meant recognizing that it was bigger than just an image and bigger than what you were saying. Reality motivated Spear to do more organizing, what he would describe as doing "the works". He left LA and began attending Howard University in D.C where opportunities to travel and meet different emcees/producers opened his eyes. Philly, Mississippi, Atlanta, D.C., Virginia and Maryland were his home for two years and with New York the hip hop mecca being only an hour away, he found himself less focused on school and more focused on Hip Hop. Time would tell that he would have to leave LA and then return before a journey to manhood would begin. In 1999, Spear left D.C. and headed back to LA with the mentality to do the music instead of school. He called Jern Eye and said it was time. While in D.C., Spear had strengthened his Rastafari rituals and practices, strengthened his spirit, and strengthened his knowledge and blessings. Jern was on the same page when Spear returned and they established a routine of waking up, reading the prayers, and writing rhymes. This routine would become the foundation of Lunar Heights, the rap trinity that now includes Khai Sharrieff. Shortly after, Spear of the Nation and Jern Eye relocated to the Bay Area. Lunar Heights would later mash out a project in 2004 called Crescent Moon. Bro. Sizwe has taught elementary education for the past seven years and uses Hip Hop as a tool for upliftment, truth and change. In 2006, he started the Spearitwurx Academy School of Science and Culture with an ancient vision "Educate our Youth to Liberate our Nation." The academy is an extension of Spearitwurx Foundation, an organization established to support arts and education work within the community. With his solo effort entitled "Spearitalk" set to release on Sept. 11, 2007 on NatAural High Records, Sizwe Andrews-Abakah aka Spear of the Nation brings balance by empowering listeners culturally and spiritually and still doing what Hip Hop music was meant to do: move the crowd. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.