Courtesy of Shawn Poe
Shawn Poe.
“We noticed that the No. 1 kind of artist in the industry is the broke artist,” says Poe, who owns the media company Kartel Media Korp, one morning via phone from his modified garage. Shawn Poe performs on Thursday at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights as part of a hip-hop showcase dubbed Live at the Montreaux. “I put together a team and a way that we could shoot videos that wouldn’t cost more than $100. We get paid and they get a video that looks like it costs $1000. It’s been going pretty good. We’ve done about 50 videos. Basheer Jones, the mayoral candidate, even came and did a poem. It’s been going really well, and we’re a company that’s by artists and for artists.”
Poe participated in his first rap battle when he was 4. From then, he participated in showcases like Star Search, and he auditioned for the Mickey Mouse Club. His family moved from Florida to Texas. From there, they went to California and then New York before coming to Cleveland.
“Cleveland was like a melting pot of every other place I had been,” he says. “There were Southerners here. There were West Coast people here and Puerto Ricans and Blacks. It had its own pace too.”
After moving to Cleveland, he focused on putting together a creative team that could promote his own music as well as that of his musical peers.
“I put all my motivational quotes on shirts,” he says. “One thing I’m known for saying is ‘pass him the ball.’ If we are a team and working together, and you have a meeting next week with Sprint or Apple, I need to pass you the ball. I came up with the ‘pass him the ball’ theory. If your man is closer to the hoop than you, pass him the ball. That’s simple thinking. It doesn’t take much.”
Before becoming a motivational mover and shaker, Poe started his career at the grassroots level. He put his first cassette way back in 1999, recording the album at his friend’s “musty” garage.
“We did it all on tape, and we were selling tapes out of my book bag,” he says of that initial release. “It was going really well. My older brother, Paper Chase, who had the song ‘Money Ain’t a Thing,’ took me under his wing and started teaching me the industry. He wanted me as far away from the streets as possible.”
Poe then started dropping singles and albums under the Shawn Wick moniker.
“The movie John Wick blew my mind,” says Poe. “I liked the dude and what he stood for. I started naming my projects based on the movie. It really worked out for me. It provided a familiarity for people. One of the DJs said, ‘We’ll call you John Wick because you kill every beat.’”
He then took a three-year hiatus to focus on his company and try to break some of the artists affiliated with Kartel Media Corp.
“Things got a lot calmer, and I developed a different style of music after being known as the Midwest King of Crunk,” he says.
Fruit Ninja , Poe's latest project, tells the story of “a man transformed.” He starts on the streets but becomes a businessman and dreamer. Songs such as “Strawberry Mimosa,” “Pears” and “Dragon Fruit” feature g-funk beats and Poe’s distinctive flow that recalls hip-hop icons such as Too Short and Ice Cube.
“It’s a real laid-back album,” Poe says of the EP. “I call it ‘man motivation.’ I motivate dudes to get up every day and be positive and be happy. Treat your girl good and spend time with your kids. Dress good and smoke some weed and run your business.”
He says he intended that the album celebrate Ohio too.
“We are Ohio Players. I want to glorify that,” he says. “I want people to know that when you come up to Cleveland, we go to aLoft for brunch on Sundays and we roll joints and walk down Waterloo Rd. and stop at the art galleries and kick it at Beachland. We kick it through Wade Oval and enjoy the life.”
For the upcoming Grog Shop show, Poe says he’s borrowed the show’s title from an Isaac Hayes’s album.
“It’s going to be the smoothest of smooth shows; they might have to bring out bell bottoms and silk shirts for this one,” he says. “It’s going to be a total vibe. We’ll have food vendors and people who sell health and body products. This one is going to be for the real players. We’ll be renting a red carpet, and we might change the visuals of the stage.”
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