Milwaukee YouTuber known for rapping Dr. Seuss signs deal with kids streaming service
Wes Tank, the Milwaukee artist who racked up millions of views on videos rapping Dr. Seuss books over Dr. Dre beats, has signed a deal to create “StoryRaps,” classic fairy tales reinvented for children’s streaming app Kidoodle.TV.
Tank has been rapping for 20 years and matching Seuss books to Dre beats since 2015. This year’s quarantine gave him the chance to film and upload these pairings for the first time.
His March 28 rendition of “Fox in Sox” over Dre’s “What’s the Difference” and “Let Me Ride” made Reddit’s front page and currently boasts almost 5 million views. Tank followed it up with six other videos that extended his viral streak.
The only problem was intellectual property — Tank doesn’t own the rights to Seuss’ or Dre’s work. He was already brainstorming public-domain source material when Kidoodle.TV, an app that aggregates kid-friendly video content, called.
“They really liked what we had going with the videos, but we needed to figure out a way to do that that didn’t have any copyright issues,” Tank said.
Kidoodle.TV asked Tank to be the face of their first original show. Tank liked their demeanor and their interest in fairy tales — the partnership was natural.
“They were really friendly, not too
Hollywood,” he recalled.
Tank immersed himself in children’s literature to determine how to modernize it.
“I was scouring the children’s section and familiarizing myself with the old-world fairy tales,” he said. “I’m like, OK, these aren’t written like a rap song, so can I take what’s happening in the story, take what’s familiar about it, and then turn it into a rap song re-inspired for modern times?”
One story he transformed was “The Three Little Pigs,” whose original moral points to the importance of diligent work (the two pigs who build quickly with cheap materials get their homes blown down). In Tank’s edit, its meaning shifts to a call to hospitality.
“It’s about not judging somebody just because you think they look scary. The big, bad wolf just wanted to hang out,” he said.
Tank also engaged a team of local talent to produce the show’s art and music. On his YouTube channel, he’d drawn inspiration from designs in Seuss books, but for “StoryRaps” he wanted to start fresh.
Carol Brandt, a Milwaukee-based artist and filmmaker, draws the illustrations. Josh Evert and Sean Behling compose new music each episode, and Evert designed the logo. Lydia Ravenwood, wife of Tank’s co-producer and longtime collaborator Kurt Ravenwood, designs the layout of each storybook and, with her husband, animates Brandt’s sketches.
Tank sees “StoryRaps” as a chance to continue building meaningful artistic relationships with his Milwaukee neighbors — work he accomplishes through his company, TankThink. Recently, TankThink has produced local media videos, documented the Black is Beautiful ride and promoted community organizations.
“We’re still continuing to work with a lot of really good organizations, and getting Kidoodle to come through just made it possible for me to do even more work on the local level, which I’m really excited about,” Tank said.