Dead Prez
Album: Lets Get Free
Release Date: February 22, 2000
Label: Relativity
Review:
How did serious efforts to combat racism go outta’ style in Hip-Hop Land? Who
knows. But the battle ain’t over. Dead Prez would rather defend free speech
and poor communities than waste their Warholian 15 minutes obsessing over booze,
blunts, and hos. Dead Prez’s lacerating lyrical stance is unapologetically socialist
and pro-black, recalling X-Clan and Paris. This album is a recorded challenge
to hardrocks to renew their sense of activism---Insane Clown Posse diehards
need not apply. Neo-Black Panthers stic.man and M-1 attack a full spectrum of
politically charged issues. Check the antiflossing manifesto "Hip Hop"
("Would you rather have a Lexus or justice?") which works well over
brooding bass lines and bounce beats. On "Police State" the duo offer
their take on police brutality while the Pan-Africanist "African"
serves as a fitting ode to the Motherland. Interestingly, their revolutionary
tactics are not just political, but rather serve as a rallying point for the
mind, body, and soul. For the pro-vegetarianism of "Be Healthy" the
duo somehow coax the usually juvenile Prodigy (of Mobb Deep) to wax about the
evils of eating processed foods. Revolutionary indeed. And searing critiques
of the powerful and corrupt continue on "They Schools," where the
education system takes a lyrical beatdown over some synthesized string arrangements.
Let’s Get Free is geared toward those who would rather rage against the machine
than be eaten by it.
Track Listings:
1. Wolves
2. I’m a African
3. They Schools
4. Hip-Hop
5. Police State
6. Behind Enemy Lines
7. Assassination
8. Mind Sex
9. We Want Freedom
10. Be Healthy
11. Discipline
12. Psychology
13. Happiness
14. Animal in Man
15. You’ll Find a Way
16. It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop
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