I’m going to do something a little different in this review. I’m not only going to do a music review, I’m going to do a social media marketing review of the Green Team Rebel Gang.

I honestly want all the artists I review to do well and find success. I wish that for no one more than I do the members of the Green Team Rebel Gang (GTRG). I recently was privileged to listen to two cds of their music, and I was blown away. GTRG is a group effort between a number of talented artists, fronted by Ma’Rio Davis.

I found each of the tracks to be very good, and very professionally produced. There is an excellent lyrical quality to their music. Yes it’s raw, but you can tell the intelligence and thought behind each track. The lyrics in some of the tracks were almost poetic, and I could see them being recited to an audience to a background of jazz music. Most people can write good lyrics but to weave them together into a rich fabric like GTRG does is remarkable.

According to their group biographer Steve Jones, “…the best way to explain that is to listen to the material, it’s raw, it’s southern, but its different in the way none of us sound alike and coming from a small town as we do that’s a hard thing to do, “The Trap County” cd is from our frontman Rio931 (Ma’Rio Davis). He has a distinct “gruff” his flow, …but the hunger is evident in his subject matter, and in his presentation, follow him(@rio931mrgtkd) or on Facebook Ma’Rio Davis. As far as the group, “My BrothersKkeeper Vol. 1 consists of myself (@stevejones18) @Yank_4386 @ugbboi @rio931mrgtkd @pallen05 @zachboogey @mreducated @da615_gtkd @__sheismee. It’s a collective effort of rap/hip-hop and r&b. This music comes from a real place, (Lewisburg, TN) and yes it’s southern, about 45 minutes south of Nashville. Lewisburg has all the pitfalls and roadblocks of any small tow,n but it’s home and we make the most of the environment and the situation. With no jobs and a neglected group of youth to roam the streets, you can imagine the troubles and the drama…it’s a blue collar community, but still has good ol’ boy politics, so making something out  of nothing is nothing new, but I hope as you listen,  you hear the hunger, the blue collar mentality, and the talent.”

I definitely heard the talent. It’s all there, and I was really surprised about how different yet how moving their music was. It’s new for me to review more than one or two artists, so it was a challenge for me, but one I truly enjoyed. I could sense that they come from that kind of hard-scrabble existence that one only finds in some southern towns, and I salute them for working hard on their music, which is truly awesome.

Now for the social media review. I would like to see GTRG get a really good website together, one that gives a bio and history of the group members, has links to their music, and links to ONE social media account for the group on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, SoundCloud and Instagram. I went to each Twitter account listed. I saw a number of individuals but no cohesive representation of the group.

This is not a negative; many groups of artists approach social media as a place for personal accounts. I’m challenging GTRG to take it to the next level and use social media to market themselves as a group/team. You can still keep your individuality on a group site, but you can’t make a name for yourself when there are so many names involved with no one site to house them. And there are so many artists out there already who are using social media to their full potential that you HAVE to keep up to keep in the game.

It was hard, if not impossible, to find links to their music. I did find the SoundCloud link to their front man, but I got no sense of the group from the personal social media accounts, so it was hard to determine if I was actually on the account of a GTRG member. Almost no one on the team had links to their music, or photos/videos of their music. See where I’m going with this?

There is a LOT of competition out there. Most of the artists I’ve reviewed already have a website or at least a ‘business’ social media account in place. I think GTRG could seriously be a HUGE force to be reckoned with in the rap world, but I think they just need some gentle coaxing to get their marketing and publicity in order.

First, I want each of them to read my post, “Basic Social Media Tips for Rap & Hip Hop Artists” on this blog. Then I want to see them do the following:

1. Get a good website together for the group/team.
2. Get one Twitter account & Facebook page for the team.
3. Get one music site for all music or at least link to music on a website.
4. Update their Twitter profiles to include the fact that they are part of the team, AND link to the team website.
5. Start thinking of social media as their free publicity machine and feed it accordingly.
6. Use social media to tweet out/share music, performance dates, photos of the team, personal messages, etc.

These are just some starters to help get them going. They are doing nothing wrong, but they are just not doing enough to create a presence for the team, and I think they are worthy of that opportunity.

So there is my challenge, GTRG. I want to see you succeed, and I want you to share your music to the worldwide audience out there. Your music is so good, and should be heard by many. Let’s work together to get you on the road to more fans, more success and more social media savvy.