Deep within the city of Minneapolis, there's a dark presence of music. A city filled with stage plays, night clubs, cabarets, corner bars and national acts popping up from time to time, yearns for a star of it's own to come forward. Many artists have risen and fallen from the city known to those around it as "Minny Ap", however very few have called the billboards of this nation's music scene their home. Just when many were weakening in the hope, a light cast on the city from the western suburbs, and a new artist rose to the challenge of carrying Minneapolis on his back. His name is...Kooke, aka The Hit Kid. Being a rapper and trying to seriously pursue such a career was unheard of until the likes of Eminem and Kid Rock reached platinum status in the industry. "The doors those cats opened are unbelievable. They showed that there is pain and suffering and real sh*t that happens in, "white life"", Kooke proclaims with a grin. "The struggles aren't the same as some other rap artists but it's just the same as any author or poet or musician who has a different life they tell through their book, or poem, or song. Hip hop is just so hard to look at and break into categories for people because there always is a stereotype on what you should talk about. I'm bust'n that stereotype up. It's over, it's through." Through the journey of his debut album "Burbs 2 Da Block", you will feel the pain and anger that comes from being labeled, stereotyped and misunderstood. You will also feel the comradely between Minneapolis's toughest and grimiest MC's and Kooke in songs that do nothing short of bond the burbs...2 Da Block. Kooke was accepted early into the music industry by many prominent music icons in MN. When Kooke started to learn the ropes he was surrounded by Minneapolis hip hop star Lil'Buddy and Clientele Ent. "Buddy showed me the importance of being real in the studio. How to present yourself the right way, the way you want to be seen and how to be yourself in your music. If a take went bad in the studio, he wasn't like, "if you like it lets keep it", he'd be more like "that wasn't you, do it over and this time tell them to listen". Kooke started his project with Ray Seville (Labeled as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis's right hand man and biggest show promoter in Minneapolis), who helped Kooke build his image and push his project towards completion at the infamous Flyte Tyme Studios owned by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis themselves. The album was blessed with the presence of platinum recording artists RL from the platinum R&B group NEXT, and Mr. Cheeks of the infamous platinum hip hop group, The Lost Boyz. "The fact that they came through, saw what I was doing, and believed in it like me showed a lot of people how serious I was. The songs I was doing were real, they meant something, and they reach for people's souls and understanding. It was real powerful working with people who care so much for the music" explains Kooke. Other album features include hometown talent, Kardel, Chase Manhattan, The Reazon and many vocal talents. Visit www.hitkidrecords.com to see more on Kooke!!!