MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee artist Wes Tank has been on a wild ride since April 2020. That's when he started publishing videos of him rapping Dr. Seuss books to Dr. Dre beats. He said he never anticipated what would happen next.
Now, Wes is the artist-in-residence at the Betty Brinn Children's Museum, and has his own show on KidoodleTV called Story Raps. It's a streaming service specifically for kids programming. Tank rewrites nursey rhymes like 'Wheels on the Bus' and raps them to old school hip hop beats.
"I love connecting with audiences, and I love seeing people smile and inspiring kids," he said.
On Sept. 3rd and 10th he had his first two shows at Summerfest. He performed a mix of his Dr. Seuss/Dr. Dre songs as well as his KidoodleTV content.
It all started back in April 2020. Wes decided to do something he had been putting off for a while. That overdue chore was filming himself rapping Dr. Seuss books to Dr. Dre beats. He has a video production company called TankThink, so with all the time the beginning of the pandemic afforded him and already having the necessary equipment he got to work.
He didn't think they would blow up, but the videos gained millions of views. Some of his mashups include the books Fox in Socks, Oh The Places You'll Go, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Those videos were eventually taken off his YouTube channel, but were posted to the official Dr. Seuss YouTube page.
He had been performing in and around Milwaukee for a while, but he said that rapping Dr. Seuss books, “made something more accessible for families to enjoy."
That led him down a path of creating more hip-hop content for kids that culminated in his debut shows at Summerfest.
