THE WELFARE POETS
Releases Hip Hop Compilation to End the Death Penalty
WHO/WHAT: THE WELFARE POETS, independent Hip Hop fusion band out of New York City, performing music of resistance since 1990, releases "Cruel and Unusual Punishment" to aid the international movement to abolish the death penalty here in the United States. Coming off their 2005 independent release of their second album, Rhymes For Treason,the Welfare Poets collaborate with an onslaught of brilliant MCs/rappers who also use their art to make social change.
"Cruel and Unusual Punishment" was inspired by Texas death row inmate and activist Derrick Frazier (Hasan Shakur), who was unjustly executed by the state of Texas August 31st 2006. Funds raised from selling the album will go towards efforts to abolish the death penalty. The album was features a song by Hasan Shakur, which he created before he was locked up and railroaded to death row. To find out more about the Hasan Shakurs case, go to www.hasanshakur.com. Cruel and Unusual Punishment has been co-sponsored by The Shield Magazine, a political Hip Hop journal out of Hunter College in New York City.
It is true that the best of Hip Hop comes from the so-called underground, the artists who are not mainstream and do not get much press coverage or T.V. and radio play. They are the pillars and soul of this music, where art and purpose are forever connected. There is now a resurgence in Hip Hop, lead by many of these artists to raise the art form and bring it back to the legacy it has been a part of, to lift humanity. Participating artists on Cruel and Unusual Punishment: The Welfare Poets - Rayzer, Jamaki-Bo and Hec-1with music from Djibril and Jamaki (NYC); Abiodune (of the legendary Last Poets - NYC); Hicoup (NJ); Ill Sonic Assassin (Harlem); Blitz (Ghana/NYC); Hasan Salaam(NJ); Chosan (SierraLeone/Brooklyn); Son of Nun (Baltimore); A-Alikes (NYC); True-N-Livin (NJ);Warclub (Cali); InI Mighty Lockdown (New Rochelle); Wise Intelligent (of world-renowned Poor Righteous Teachers â NJ); Kev King (NYC); Rebel Diaz - Rodstarz and Lah Tere (Chicago/NYC); JuggaBlak (Mount Vernon); Wordplay (Ancient Tongues Spoken Urban - Cincinnati); TriggaN.A.M. (NYC); LemBoogie (Mount Vernon); Block McCloud (Brooklyn); Bolos (Brooklyn); Truth Universal (New Orleans); and Hasan Shakur (former death row inmate and political prisoner).
For more information about the album and here to songs from the compilation, go to www.myspace.com/deathpenaltycd.
BAND BIO: THE WELFARE POETS have been in existence since the Spring of 1990, when two Cornell students came together (Ray Ramirez and Hector Rivera) to write poetry/rhymes of protest and upliftment, accompanied by congas (percussions). A band was created from this union with the purpose of using culture as a tool of resistance, and in the summer of 2000, the group released their first independent album "Project Blues." Currently, the Welfare Poets are working to release their third album, due out the Summer of 2007. The band has appeared in a number of newspapers, magazines and documentaries, most notably, "Nuyoricans: Puerto Ricans in New York," and can also be found on the international CD compilation to cancel the economic debt of impoverished countries, "Break the Chains." "Break the Chains" features world-renowned groups like Fela Kuti, Sweet Honey In the Rock and Israel Vibrations. Recently, the Welfare Poets were listed on Lamusica.com as an up and coming band to watch for, and this past summer, they had the opportunity to attend and perform at the World Youth Festival in Caracas.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, log on to: www.welfarepoets.com
Current Favorite Artists / Bands: R&B, Hip Hop, Slow Jams, Oldies but Goodies...Johnny Taylor..Marvin Gaye
Favorite Song:
TO BUY THE ALBUM IN MP3 FORMAT NOW!!!!! (you can also check iTunes in a few weeks).
Favorite Album: Rhymes For Treason and Cruel and Unusual Punishment
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