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CAMP VICTORY, Iraq (July 7, 2008) - He has the fast-flowing lips
of a rap artist whose lyrics don't stumble. His songs tell stories
instead of just describing hanging emotions. He rhymes with passion
and recites his own words as if he were creating them on the
spot.
"You know, I like to tell stories with my music, that's the
thing," Army Master Sgt. Isaac Alexis, a Houston native, said.
"Stories will capture people. ... Songs work best when there's
something that falls in a role that people can see in, something
that people can relate to, ... because then they know somebody went
through what they went through."
On stage, Alexis goes by Abcd, pronounced "Absidy." The letters
stand for Ambitious Behavior, Confident and Disciplined --
characteristics Alexis said he values and shows when performing his
music.
Around Camp Victory and Camp Liberty, Alexis attends and even
hosts open-mic events and contests at Morale, Welfare and
Recreation centers. His main goal through music, he said, is to
tell stories that make people want to rethink and improve their
lives. He said he understands that rap music often evokes values
that aren't constructive, but that he wants his lyrics to evoke
more than fame, sex or violence.
"If you really want to get something across to people, music is
the way to make it happen," he said. "A lot of my songs are
positive, ... trying to make change in someone's life."
His music promotes ideas such as taking care of one's spouse,
maintaining a commitment to service, discouraging youth from
joining gangs and becoming involved in the church, among
others.
His first album is titled, "Soldier for Life." He said he's
served in the Army for 18 years and feels as if his whole life
revolves around being a soldier. He served as a drill sergeant in
Fort Knox, Ky., as an instructor at the New Mexico Military
Institute in Roswell, as a gunner and as a team leader. He has been
stationed in Hawaii and South Korea, and at Fort Campbell, Ky.,
Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Drum, N.Y.
Now is on his third deployment, Alexis leads troops as the
noncommissioned officer in charge of Team Hunter under Task Force
Vigilant, a unit that conducts presence patrols around Camp
Victory. His team also secures and manages an entry control point
with Ugandan soldiers.
"Here, you see soldiers who work hard all the time," Alexis
said. "It's the reason why we're here."
Alexis has been writing music since he was a private in the
early 1990s, he said, but it was during his second deployment, from
2004 to 2005, that he realized his music touched people. After his
performances at MWR events, Alexis had audience members come to him
and tell him how much his lyrics touched them. He's even seen
people cry during his performance of "We Gotta Go," a song about
soldiers leaving their homes to serve in Iraq.
"That's an emotional song for people," he said. "When I
performed that song, [other musicians] moved closer to the stage,
and when I got done, there was a whole line of performers up there
who hugged me on the way out."
Those types of reactions, Alexis said, make him realize his
music has more than volume; it has impact.
Following his second deployment, Alexis taught at the New Mexico
Military Institute and would visit local middle schools to give
inspirational speeches and perform songs to kids in danger of being
swallowed up by gangs. With a song titled "Think on Your Own," he
encouraged the youth to rethink their commitment to violence.
There, he saw former gang members attend the church where Alexis
worshiped with his wife, Darla, who sings gospel music.
"Definitely powerful," he said about the experience. "I'm not
going to give myself credit for that. You know, it was the Lord,
since he pretty much guided me to do everything I did. To see them
actually get out of the gang and get a job and try to live right,
... that's great. And that's what I wanted to see."
Since then, Alexis wrote songs and performed for special events
such as boxing matches and redeployment ceremonies. He organized
concerts, performed for cadets at the military institute, sang at a
city council meeting, helped his church reach out to his community,
opened for rap artist Lil' Flip, and organized other music events.
He said he's even sold more than 3,000 CDs on his own, out of the
back of his truck.
During this deployment, he said, he hopes to revise about 30 of
his songs and compile at least one more CD. He also has shifted
some of his music toward gospel singing because of rap music's
image. Most importantly, he's made a commitment to writing clean
lyrics to keep his messages pure.
"It's definitely for people's entertainment, but at the same
time, [audiences] are getting messages that can have an influence
on their life."
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