The Dope Poet Society

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The Dope Poet Society is a politically charged hip hop group from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Their music is characterized by clever and sometimes controversial lyrics. Professor D is the lead vocalist of the group, known for his tongue twisting, “rapid fire” rap style. The group has been active since 1995 and has toured around the world. They have also performed and collaborated with some of the most influential artists in Hip Hop including Public Enemy, Dead Prez, Jeru the Damaja, Boot Camp Click among others.

[edit] History

The Dope Poet Society, in their early teens, recorded a song and music video for YTV, entitled Canadian Unity (1992). The group founded Justus League Records and released their first vinyl single and music video,Too Many Years/Don't Give a Damn (1995), which appeared on Rapcity and was featured on MuchMusic's Indie Spotlight. Their debut disc, Dangerous Days (1997), was the first full length CD to be independently released by a Canadian Hip Hop group. It was credited by Now Magazine as being one of the first albums to bring Toronto’s fragmented and competitive Hip Hop scene together (Now Magazine, Poets’ Hip Hop Mission). Their second album, Hipolitics (1999), spawned their first major hit, “Fuck Mike Harris!” Now Magazine wrote, “If Dalton McGuinty or Howard Hampton [Ontario provincial opposition leaders of the time] wanted to really make their point with the youth, they'd adopt the lead cut on this five-song EP as their campaign theme song.” (Now Magazine, Hipolitics Review) The song became a huge hit on college radio across the province. However, to the group’s surprise, it was also a hit across the country and beyond. Public Enemy frontman, Chuck D, began playing the song on his internet radio show on bringthenoise.com and began a relationship with the group which lead to mentorship and collaboration.

The Dope Poet Society is known for quickly responding to political events with critical material. In 2000, they became the first group to release a song “dissing” George W. Bush, and condemning him as a “terrorist.” Though some considered this premature and controversial at the time, today many would say history has vindicated them. Two weeks after the events of September 11, 2001, the group released their CD, “9/11 World Trade.” In the title track they allude to Malcolm X’s famous/infamous quote in response to the assassination of JFK, and imply that September 11th was another case of “the Chickens coming home to roost.” In 2003, in response to the US’ invasion of Iraq, The Dope Poet Society immediately released the single “War of Terrorism.” The song was debuted at Toronto’s Metro Hall to a crowed of 80,000 anti-war protestors on February 15, 2003. Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-hop Generation, wrote in the UK’s New Internationalist, “The Dope Poet Society's song 'War of Terrorism', challenged the moral righteousness of the war and echoed many anti-war activists' concerns that far more insidious motives were driving it.” (Sounds of Dissent, New Internationalist) The Centre for Political Song at Glasgow University notes, "The Dope Poet Society’s track War of Terrorism, expressed a fundamental conjecture of anti-war protestors: the root of the conflict is oil." (Make Music, Not War) The title of the group’s latest album, “ProIntelPro: Promote Intelligence Program,” is a play on the FBI’s infamous CoIntelPro, as the group’s self proclaimed aim is to “promote intelligence rather than counter it”.

[edit] Discography

1995 Too Many Years/Don’t Give a Damn (12”)
1997 Dangerous Days
1999 Hipolitics
2001 9/11 World Trade
2003 War of Terrorism (single)
2005 ProIntelPro: Promote Intelligence Program