"Gino Morrow is one of the most buzz-worthy performance poets in the industry. He's purely next level."
-Bruce George, Co-Founder of Def Poetry Jam

“Morrow doesn’t skimp on words; His poetry has considerable range, moving through moods that are politically and socially charged.”
–John Mark Eberhart, The Kansas City Star

“Gino Morrow--a long-time ‘Thug Poet’ in the making; A poet who can seize your thoughts and choke you on the news of the day; Who gets his, like Biggie said, ‘the ski-mask way.’”
-Mark Anthony Neal, author of Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the Post-Soul Aesthetic, What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture

“Shrouded by the obscurity of his art form, Gino Morrow emanates some of the truest regional forms of hip-hop, soul, and gospel – interwoven into his spoken words.”
- St. Louis American newspaper

Call this the era of the “gangsta truth”--an historical moment where any “truth,” be it bred by the need for scrutiny, critique or just straight-up resistance, is demonized, challenged and illegalized. Few speak the “gangsta truth” like Gino Morrow--a long-time “Thug Poet” in the making, a poet who can seize your thoughts and choke you on the news of the day, who gets his, like Biggie said, “the ski-mask way.” He has moved people (some had to be pushed) to painful introspection, anger and resistance. In opposite ends of the same day this balanced individual (sometimes seemingly contradictory) can float between crowds of stuffy white corporate America from 8-5, (find Souls Of My Brothers edited and written by best selling authors Dawn Daniels and Candace Sandy pg. 277) then intimidate fearful midnight shift diner waitresses with a stare and an undeniable tenor voice. Gino has turned his paradoxes into his gifts. He can lay down a political poem with all the edge it requires while passing on gems of inspiration to unborn and new daughters through children’s stories. How many daddies give the gift of superheroes to someone who is just discovering her toes in the same month as opening for Gil Scott Heron with a poem that embarrassed the black elite of the city? Gino L. Morrow, author of Spitfire and a four-time regional slam champion has opened and sponsored reading and workshops for a number of well known artist in different venues along the mid-west and east coast. People such as Amiri Baraka, Ursula Rucker, Gwendolyn Brooks, The Last Poets, The Watts Prophets, Jessica Care Moore, Phyllis Stickney, Ivan Van Sertima, Dick Gregory, and The Roots. Gino has traveled to some of America’s premiere cities to compete in poetry competitions. He has read at various area high schools, Churches, Mosques, Synagogues and also in the prison systems, encouraging positive creative expression. He has made his presence known at important awareness activities such as the Million Woman March and the Jericho March for political prisoners in Washington D.C. and, through it all, he has made his home in the historic 18th and Vine district at The Blue Room in Kansas City Missouri.
Gino is a libra and embodies those meanings in his works. He is aggressive without being obvious or intimidating. Refined in appearance, he can get a crowd to sit at the edge of their chairs in anticipation of his sexual alter ego Dangler Biggs, only to seduce them to tears as he shares the fears and frustrations with being a black man trying to climb and create a new way of life for himself and his people. Gino’s birth of his first publication Spitfire includes labors of over-employment, underemployment, self-employment, and stay at home fathering. It is a body of poetry that is unapologetic in its truth-telling and begs the reader to uncover and acknowledge truths of his or her own. Whatever he touches, he does so furiously, freely and flawed. He accepts all parts of his experience and grows because of it, which is arguably the signature of a true artist. One must hear him speak the printed word to truly experience his artistry however, people need to see the paper he holds then lets float to the floor gently explode before they can truly say they’ve got it. At the same time, one must read his work, so as to not miss the hidden or subtle meanings in the imagery he creates.
Oh! And the fire he’s spitting in his portrait above was a photoshop job, but you won’t know the difference once he is on stage with mic in hand, spittin’ his fiery flames of truth.
So if you can’t stand the heat…

Publications
Souls of My Brothers Penguin Books
African-American Folktales for Children Publications International
Spitfire Grassroot Literary Movement Press
Between The Raindrops National Library of Poetry

 

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