It is one of those instantly recognizable bass lines. The boom of Dead Prez’ 1999 hit “Hip Hop” still gets parties pumping and heads bobbing in unison all across the Globe today. Add the mantra-like chorus to the mix and you have a timeless hip hop classic which for many provides the only reference point to the duo. But taking a closer look at the group’s musical catalogue reveals that these guys are about much more than getting parties started. With a string of highly charged albums and mixtapes, rappers M-1 and stic.man took political rap to its post-Public Enemy pinnacle. Indeed, their words ring true: It IS bigger than hip hop. Dead Prez is full-blown resistance.
A few years ago, in the wake of the Paris banlieue riots in late 2005, a group of French scholars got together as The Invisible Committee and produced a text that spawned much controversy, even outside its country of origin. “The Coming Insurrection” was a revolutionary manifesto which claimed that the collapse of capitalism was imminent, and served as a kind of instructional manual for an anarchist uprising.
Now what does this have to do with a rap group from Tallahassee? The back cover of Dead Prez’ 2002 mixtape Turn Off The Radio Vol. 1 features the “Code of the Warrior” – a set of rules outlining the rappers’ beliefs as self-proclaimed “RBGs” (Revolutionary But Gangsta – the acronym also stands for Red, Black and Green, the colors of Marcus Garvey’s Pan-African UNIA organization). “No snitching”, “Protect self, family and community”, “Each one, teach one”, “Be organized”, “Be productive”. Its resemblance to the instructions put forth by The Invisible Committee is striking, and shows just how deeply M-1 and stic.man are immersed in leftist politics and discourse.
Prior to Dead Prez’s exceptional debut album Let’s Get Free, politics had rarely been on the agenda for hip hop from below the Mason-Dixon Line. Save for a few exceptions, like the occasional hints dropped by Outkast, or Goodie Mob’s mournful folklore-esque introspection, America’s South – of all places – had not represented a fruitful ground for the rebellious attitudes of, say a Chuck D or an Ice Cube. The wave of subversion, which had swept across rap music during the years of the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations (Public Enemy, N.W.A., Paris, Boogie Down Productions, early 2Pac), had, judging by the phenotype, left the “Third Coast” seemingly untouched.
It was all the more revelatory then, when M-1 and stic.man released their first album in the year 2000 through Loud Records (who had signed the rappers back in 1995), following up on their hit single and two soundtrack appearances (Soul in the Hole, Slam). Let’s Get Free brought the Power back into “Black” music, at a time when bling rap and shiny suits were topping the charts. Every single track is a resolute and unappeasable political statement, owing much more to Rage Against The Machine than to Master P. “Wolves” includes a speech excerpt from activist Omali Yeshitela, in which he uses an analogy to comment on the communal self-destructiveness of the crack epidemic. On “I’m A African” the rappers pay tribute to their heritage (“I’m a African, never was an African-American/Blacker than black, I take it back to my origin”), and “They Schools” is a scathing indictment of the White Capitalist bias of America’s educational system. And then there is “Hip Hop”; the epitome of a trunk-rattling street anthem, filled to the brim with explosive content. It reminds the listener of the culture’s anti-establishment attitude, denouncing its exploitation by the media and the record industry. “Would you rather have a Lexus or justice?/A dream or some substance?/A Beamer, a necklace or freedom?” These guys posed some thought-provoking questions to a culture blinded by bling.
But Let’s Get Free went much further than the usual tropes of political rap. “Police State” revolves not around the much-alluded subject of police brutality, but rather lays open the perversity of a racist class system, in which the instruments of control only benefit the privileged. “Discipline” is an attempt to subvert the “Party and Bullshit” stereotype of black masculinity, and “Mind Sex” counters that of the hyper-masculine, over-potent black male. “Be Healthy” even advocates a lifestyle based on vegetarianism and self-preservation. Dead Prez made it unmistakably clear that they had truly internalized their “anarchist cookbook”.
Even though their debut album arguably represents dpz’ peak in spirit, music and rhyme, the rappers did not run out of ammunition following their first fusillade. From there on out, M-1 and stic.man quickly turned into hip hop’s go-to-guys when it came to politics. They were featured on The Coup’s Party Music and Paris’ Sonic Jihad, collaborated with other, likeminded rap artists for the Unbound Project, a tribute to Mumia Abu-Jamal, as well as joining in the AIDS awareness campaign Red Hot + Riot, dedicated to Fela Kuti. In 2004, they joined forces with Common and The Last Poets to record the song “Panthers”, and M-1 also appeared on the scholar Cornel West’s rap album Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations.
The Unbound Allstars – Mumia 911
In the build up to their second LP in 2004, entitled RBG (Revolutionary But Gangsta), Dead Prez launched their mixtape-series Turn Off the Radio. The first two installments, released in 2002 and 2003 respectively, demonstrated the scope of how far radical politics could be taken in hip hop, without a major label having to co-sign the output. A song like “Fuck the Law”, with its unambiguous incitement to riot (“Pimp the system, bang for freedom/Fuck the high schools, burn the prisons/Ride on the record labels, jump your A&Rs/Fuck the contract, grease the AR”), would hardly have made it past the controlling hands of a label executive. It also gave the group an opportunity to release some of their earlier recordings, such as the excellent street tale “Sellin’ D.O.P.E.”, and to appropriate popular hits like Aaliyah’s “We Need a Resolution” or Biggie’s “Juicy” and turn them into revolutionary proclamations. Another highlight was the inclusion of late New Orleans-legend Soulja Slim’s chef d’oeuvre, “Soulja Life Mentality”. Originally released as “Soulja 4 Life” on Slim’s 2001 album The Streets Made Me, the song does not even feature an appearance from Dead Prez, but its highly subversive and surprisingly reflective attitude (for a No Limit-signee) fit the dpz spirit to a T.
Soulja Slim – Soulja Life Mentality
After their second official album, on which the duo went as far as to enlist the help of a certain Jay-Z for the remix of their song “Hell Yeah (Pimp the System)”, Dead Prez’ creative output began to fade noticeably. A collaboration with 2Pac’s former crew, The Outlawz, a string of solo albums by both stic.man and M-1 (obviously missing the yin to their yang), and a rather toothless third addition to their mixtape series all hinted at the fact that the rappers were moving on to different ventures.
M-1 became more involved in political activism and has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause in recent years. stic.man wrote a book on The Art of Emceeing, is maintaining his own company, Boss Up Inc. and appears to have developed a fondness for physical exercise. In spite of a few bright spots, their 2010 collaboration with DJ Drama on Revolutionary But Gangsta Grillz was also not the return to form many of their followers had hoped for. Yet none of this can tarnish the mark that Dead Prez have irrevocably left on political hip hop, taking it to its most radical and intellectual extreme, never compromising their politics for a quick buck. The fact remains: M-1 and stic.man can teach you more about history and politics than your average high school teacher. So turn off the radio and pump this in your system.
Illustration by Skye Pilaftsi.
