Beyond the psuedo-glitter of mainstream Hip Hop, there exists the underground, full of unheard of artists who chose not to sell their souls to the will of corporate america. At its foundation, you will find us, The Welfare Poets, helping to keep up this entire culture.
The Welfare Poets have been making music since the 90's, mixing Hip Hop with other styles of music like Jazz and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. Our latest release, "Warn Them" is our first solely Hip Hop album, all beats produced by Harlem's and Puerto Rico's own, The Legendary MIC (who is also a beast on the mic), and all lyrics from Rayzer Sharp (founder of the band) and of course the Legend. The album has an old-school feeling with just one main producer and one main emcee (two in this case), giving the vibe of that Eric B Rakim connection (Premiere/Guru - etc). It is also a combination of two generations of emcees, giving you the new and old school perspective, and it's content, strictly words for freedom, in the tradition of what many consider the Golden Era of Hip Hop, where real, conscious rappers, were not fighting for airtime and attention, but actually held down the limelight (talking about when PE, Rakim, KRS 1, Brand Nubians, Jungle Brohers, X-Klan, Queen Latifah, Poor Righteous Teachers, Gangstar and so many others held down the fore-font of this movement).
For more information on the band and our music, lopg on to: