Bio

Myspace.com/thewelfarepoets THE WELFARE POETS have been in existence since the Spring of 1990, when two college students came together to write poetry/rhymes of protest and upliftment, accompanied by congas (percussion). 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." The group plays Hip Hop with a fusion of various styles from the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, Cuba and Jamaica. Coming off their 2005 independent release of their second album, "Rhymes For Treason," the Welfare Poets recently collaborated with an onslaught of brilliant MCs/rappers who also use their art to make social change. The soon to be released, "Cruel and Unusual Punishment" is a Hip Hop compilation and fundraiser to aid the international movement to abolish the death penalty here in the United States. The group is currently working to release their third album, due out the Summer of 2007. The collective 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 Femi Kuti, Sweet Honey In the Rock and Israel Vibrations. Their music has also been featured on numerous independent cable and radio stations like Democracy Now and WBAI in NYC. Recently, the Welfare Poets performed at the Socialism Conference 2006 in New York City, and in August 2005, they had the opportunity to attend and play at theWorld Youth Festival in Caracas and perform at the 1st International Hip Hop Summit. Check WWW.Welfarepoets.com and WWW.Myspace/thewelfarepoets for more information. Over their 15 year existence, the Welfare Poets have been not only cultural activist, but they have been directly involved in efforts for social justice, most notably against police brutality, political prisoners, the colonial status of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Naval occupation of the island, environmental justice in New York City and elsewhere and the death penalty. You can find out more information about the death penalty compilation by going to www.myspace.com/deathpenaltycd. (To hear some of our music, you can got to myspace.com/rayofthewelfarepoets. You can also watch a video for our song Sak Pase, about the 2004 US-backed overthrow of President Aristede of Haiti. Additionally, you can go there to see our performance for President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, when he came to the Bronx at the end of 2005 as he joins the band on stage and plays the congas.) ------- Past Appearances Some of the Colleges and Universities: Boricua College; Brown University; Buffalo State University; Central Connecticut State; Columbia University; Cornell University, CUNY – BMCC, City College Hunter, Queens College; Dartmouth University; D’youville College; Eastern Connecticut State University, Harvard University, Haverford College, Hostos, Ithaca College, Johnson and Wales; Marymount Manhattan College; Middlebury College; Mountclair State; Mt. Holyoke; New York University; New Jersey Institute of Technology; Pratt University; Princeton University; Rutgers University; Smith College; Stevenson College; Stonybrook University; SUNY Albany; SUNY Binghamton SUNY Buffalo, SUNY New Paltz; SUNY Old Westbury; SUNY Purchase; Swathmore; Syracuse University; Union College; UC Berkeley; University of Maryland; U Mass. at Amherst; University of St. Thomas -- Houston, Texas; Vassar; Wesleyan University and Yale University Some of the Cafe's/Clubs/Community Centers: The Beal Bodtch Cafe; Bowery Poetry Club; Bronx Academy of Art and Dance; Brooklyn Moon Cafe, Café Creole; Café Largo; CVGB Gallery; Como Cocoa Café; Cooper Union Great Hall; The Cotton Club; The Culture Project Theater (45 Bleecker); Frank’s Place; Joloff's Café; Lot 51, The Newsroom Bar, Nuyorican Poets Café, The Nuyorican Café in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, Rockwells Bar, Sista’s Place; The Puffin Room; Sounds of Brazil (SOBs); Strictly Roots Café; The Temple Bar (Cali); The Harold Washington Cultural Center (Chicago, Ill.), Taller Puertoriqueno; Philadelphia and The Living Project, Waterloo, Iowa Some of the Special Events: The 30th Anniversary of the Attica Uprising, MLK Center, NYC 1997; Protest against 100 years of US colonialism in Puerto Rico at the U.N (July 25th 1998);Critical Resistance Conference, University of California at Berkley (September 1998); 130th Anniversary of El Grito De Lares – San Francisco, California (September 1998); 1st performance in Puerto Rico at the Nuyorican Café (May 2001); Viequethon – opposing the Navy’s continued occupation of Vieques, Puerto Rico (May 2001); Rally against war in Iraq at the U.N (Feb 15th 2003) with more than 200,000 protesters; the 40th Anniversary of Malcolm X’s death – February 2005 at the Abyssinian Church, NY; Malcolm X Jazz Festival, Oakland, California, May 2005; the World Youth and Student Festival, Caracas, Venezuela August 2005; The Point Center in the Bronx hosted President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, November 2005; Socialism Conference 2006: NYC at Columbia University; International African Arts festival, July 2006 and 60th Birthday Celebration for Pam Africa of the Move Organization, November 18th 2006.