The Ghetto Poets can be best described as a complete hip-hop/rap group. Coming from Minnesota where hip-hop is scarce Ghetto Poets have made a mark in their community. The seven man group is a mixture of writers, battle emcees, producers and business owners. Together they complement each other well with a wide variety of styles and energy.When it comes to making great music this group is in a league of their own shying away from the commercial gimmicky rap that is so common today to make music from the soul with true meaning and feel. But not all together abandoning the commercialized component of music Ghetto Poets have continually composed records that are radio ready and mainstream mobile. It would be an understatement to say the Ghetto Poets are ready for the majors instead you should say the game has to create a slot for a brand new movement.The Ghetto Poets have continually rocked crowds all over the Twin Cities. When the Ghetto Poets are on stage you can feel their energy and eventually will fall in love with their stage presence. The Ghetto Poets are a group of young talented black men whom some of are brothers and cousins who have been making music together for years. So their chemistry is next to perfect when it comes to collaborating on songs and performing together on stage.The name Ghetto Poet was founded 7 years ago by two of the youngest members. The name Ghetto Poet basically means a talented artist from the ghetto. So when you hear the Ghetto Poets say we’re from the hood, you can believe it. Most members grew up in low income single parent households. A few members have even lived in shelters. Most members had and still have family members battling alcohol and drug addictions. Life as a young Ghetto Poet was not easy. As adults a few of the members of the Ghetto Poets ran into trouble with the law. Most of the run ins with the law stemmed from drug and weapons charges. Luckily none of them served serious time.Through out high school into their adult hood each member stayed focused on developing their skills as an artist. At the same time a few members put on their business caps and decided to turn their music into a profitable business. They decided to start their own record company in 2003 after being under P. Family Records for 2 years. A few of the Ghetto Poets were in a group called Da Fam under P. Family Records. In the short time with P. Family Records they learned a lot about music and credit P. Family with a lot of their development as artist. They learned how to engineer and produce their own music. They gained a sense of entrepreneurial ship by shadowing the label CEO Tim Williams. During this time they made relationships with several producers and artist from the Twin Cities.After starting their own record company named Ghetto Poet Records the group built their own studio and started recording immediately. After years of recording the group decided it was time to start performing and working on completing an album. They started out doing open mics at the Blue Nile in Minneapolis. Then from there they started working with a local promotion company Hip-Hop Club and did a few shows with them. Then they entered into a talent competition and got a lot of recognition for being able to spit so well. Months later the group created their own profile on Myspace and the messages came in none stop with people who wanted the Ghetto Poets to perform at shows, collaborate, and just to say you got some hot music. Soon after creating a Myspace profile their plays started climbing rapidly. Show offers continued to come in and the Ghetto Poets didn’t turn down anything. The Poets were performing everywhere in the twin cities. The group later caught the attention of local radio djs from KMOJ and KFAI. The Ghetto Poets then went into the studio with Special Dark of KFAI and had their first radio interview which went very well. This interview led the Poets to paying gigs and project collaborations with students at Mc Nally Smith School of Music in St. Paul and an out of town show. The Poets continued to perform at numerous venues around the Twin Cities and record. Not being completely satisfied with their project they continued to record more and more. 2007 came and the Ghetto Poets still didn’t drop an album but had a major buzz in the city. They got three nominations for Song of The Year “Undeniableâ€, Best Group and Best Performance at the 1st Annual Twin Cities Hip-Hop Awards. The awards show was a success although they didn’t take home any awards that night but they did get to perform and their performance was explosive. Weeks and months later people still say that the Ghetto Poets had a great show. Soon after the awards show the Ghetto Poets were approached by local producer Traxx from Track Runnas Productions with a deal to produce an album. The group agreed to work with Traxx and went into the studio immediately. There is no set date for release yet but the project is coming along well. A few months later the Ghetto Poets hooked up with the people of Vibin Open Mic and performed at one of their showcases at Duke’s Night Club. The performance was amazing and Vibin asked the Poets to perform again and be their featured act. The Ghetto Poets accepted the offer and came back put on one of their best performances to date. This show automatically put the Ghetto Poets on The Best of The Best show held at Dukes. Later the group entered a contest held by Bliss Entertainment to open up for national artist MIMS at Karma Night Club. Ghetto Poets one the competition hands down and went on to open up for MIMS. That was the group’s first opening for a major artist but is definitely not the last. They have been giving offers to open up for Slim Thug and Bone Thugs N Harmony.They Ghetto Poets have gained a lot of experience under their belts in a short period of time but still have a long journey to travel in this music business. This is certainly not the last of the Ghetto Poets but only the beginning of great things to come. Ghetto Poets are set to release their debut album Hypoetically Speaking in the winter of 07' and Poetic Justice Volume 1 the Mixtape shortly thereafter.VENUES GHETTO POETS PERFORMED AT:
Red Sea Bar
Blue Nile
U of M
Normandale College
Karma Night Club
Fine Line Music Cafe
Club 7/Euphoria
Dinkytowner
Duke's Night Club
Club Inferno(Brainerd, MN)
Heavanly Daze Cafe
Mario Kellers Bar
El Patana
U of M Student Theater
Juneteenth Celebration
Concordia College
Arnella's
Station 4
Saba's
Trocadero's
GHETTO POET INTERVIEWS SECTION:
Hip Hop Club
http://www.hiphopclub.biz/artist/ghettopoets06.html
Mic'd Magazine - (direct link to interview not available)
http://www.micdmag.com
