“A Love Song, A Death Rattle, A Battle Cry” | Relaunch Details, Release Party Update, Plus New Videos

1. The Book:
This book is a collection of pretty much all of my best work over the past few years. I self-published it last year, and now it’s being re-launched as an official Button Poetry publication (along with a new cover design courtesy of Nikki Clark). Here’s the blurb:

One part mixtape, one part disorientation guide, and one part career retrospective, this book brings together spoken word poems, song lyrics, and essays from the past decade of Guante’s work. From the exploration of toxic masculinity in “Ten Responses to the Phrase ‘Man Up’,” to the throwback humanist Hip Hop of “Matches,” to a one-act play on the racial and cultural politics of Eminem, “A Love Song, A Death Rattle, A Battle Cry” is a practitioners eye-view of the intersections of Hip Hop, poetry, and social justice.

It’s available for order now. The first 100 preorders are signed, and come with a special gift. The official release date is February 20.

2. The Re-Launch Party:
We’ll be having a special performance on Sunday, February 25 at Icehouse in Minneapolis. I’ll be reading some stuff from the book, along with some brand new work. I’ll also be joined by Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay (who wrote the book’s foreword) and singer/songwriting Lydia Liza, and the evening will be hosted by Dua. All three are personal favorites of mine, as artists and as people.

The event just goes from 7-9pm because early shows are awesome. The cover is $15, but that comes with a copy of the book. Tickets are available here.


3. Two New Videos!
These are both older poems of mine, but ones I’m proud of:

Thanks again to everyone who already bought the book the first time. This re-launch should expand the book’s reach, but I’m definitely grateful to everyone who’s already been plugged in.