How many of you are familiar with this concept:

Dead Prez: The Revolution
Wednesday - March 24, 2004
Albert McCluster III

Dead prez have been known for their political consciousness since their 1997 mixtape release of the track "Food Clothes and Shelter". Having received the torch passed on by such radical Hip Hop groups as Public Enemy and X-Clan...the duo of M-1 and stic are now set to release their new long awaited album, "RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta".

M-1 aka Lavon Alfred was born in 1973 in Jamaica, West Indies and stic.man aka Clayton Gavin was born in 1975, in Shadeville, Florida. M-1,who has since adopted the African name Mutulu Olugbala, grew up in Brooklyn's Albany housing projects. He was kicked out of Erasmus Hall high school for delinquent behavior then he temporarily relocated to North Carolina to complete his diploma...but afterwards returned to New York where he supported himself by selling crack.

stic had witnessed the effects of the crack on his own life growing up in Florida and it inspired him to become involved with Tallahassee's Black Survival Movement in Florida.

dead prez differs from many rap groups in that they came to activism first and music second

Conceiving music less as a craft and more as a platform for challenging racism and economic oppression, the duo garnered considerable critical praise with an appearance on the 1997 Loud's Set Up tape, "Food, Clothes, and Shelter" and a 12-inch single, "Police State". Their sound was defined laying an ominous rhythm track underneath their revolutionary analyses.

In 2000, dead prez released the full-length album, "Let's Get Free", the remix was done by Kanye West. Critics loved the LP, especially the track "It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop" which welded their critiques of capitalist society to a southern jeep beat that was outfitted to deliver them to the masses.

Tracks like "Mind Sex" and "Be Healthy" found them expanding their philosophical as well as their sonic repertoire, employing Latin guitar and spoken word interludes to promote an alternative lifestyle. dead prez even adopted a cautionary, if not counter-revolutionary tone on the song "Animal In Man", a rap adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm.

Since they have been involved in the National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement in New York and distributing the Burning Spear newspaper on subway trains. Both are avid martial artists and have since parted company with Loud Records.

A licensing dispute with Loud in early 2001 meant they were forced to adopt the "DPZ" name for their second full-length recording, "Turn Off The Radio: The Mixtape Volume 1." They have participated in the 2003 Lyricist Lounge tour with Killer Mike and the Get Free Or Die Tryin' tour with Erykah Badu.

As we opened the interview, I found that both of these young men were
serious about their craft and ideology. Uncompromising in their
views...they communicate with knowledge and intensity that makes you want to hear what they have to say.

"America...that's spelled A-M-E-R-I-KKK-A, is an invisible war zone," says stic "The battles are being fought day to day across the ghettos and urban centers. No one is really free here. I don't feel free. I'm not American. And I know I'm not free as a human being. Freedom as in having political control of your own life and that doesn't exist in the US. Not for the poor at least."

M-1 chimes in, "And through capitalism, the state...based in the capitalist U.S. and upheld by the world's wealthy 2%...dominate the rest of world. And they use the police and the government to maintain that power. A lot of people think we are racist or just out for black people. But this isn't a race issue..our goal is to instill a revolutionary consciousness in the oppressed masses so they can direct their frustrations at overthrowing the system, instead of destroying themselves. Once the corrupt system is gone, we can put in place one opposite of the old, where sharing and cooperation is the law. And the power is in the hands of the people."

But wouldn't that be socialism?

"I don't care what you call it, I'm talking about living fair," responds M-1. "We don't have to call it socialism. I don't even like speaking English, because I was robbed of my ability to have my own language. Basically the current system doesn't work for everyone...so, the majority suffers while the few profit...the needs of the few have outweighed the needs of the many in the world today."

Back in the early '70's Gil Scot Heron released the now legendary Black Panther anthem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" it's lyrics are the basis of dead prez's belief.

"A revolution is not an event...it's not something that just happens." says stic "We aren't looking for heaven on earth...but, it can be close. It could happen within the next ten years that everything can change."

"That is not our total goal, that a revolution happen in our lifetime, it's just that it happens sometime," M-1 clarifies. Both young men have already experienced revolutions on a personal level. As teens they both dealt drugs, or as they put it, "participated in the United States sponsored and created drug economy."

M-1, during one six-month stretch, tallied up four or five two-week jail terms for drugs, fighting, and breaking a car window. Everyone he met was either involved in drugs or knew someone who was. The battlefield was littered with ex-cons or cons-to-be and the generals were the ones with the most confidence, the ones who proudly shot you for your new shoes or a wrong look.

"It was war in Brooklyn...we call it Brooknam," M-1 says. "I was always on alert...looking over my shoulder for that bullet with my name on it. I went to school everyday..but, couldn't learn anything...kids got shot for their coats in the winter and shoes in the spring. Drug dealers even shot my high school principal."

With the new album, "RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta", the duo appears as serious about their music as their activism. "We just got finished shooting the video for the song "Pimp The System"...to define that," says M-1 "It's basically a jack move on the government...the community and poverty...The government has managed to outsource poverty worldwide. The premise of the video is a revolutionary jack move, it's about building up and standing up just tellin the fuckin truth is controversial."

"'RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta' is dead prez bringing the elements together." says stic "If you're in the system, you're one with streets and vice versa...we as people got to stand up where we're at. It's alot of pain and hope on this album...we don't want people to think we are criminal
gangsters...We're street hustlas...controlling our destinies and
communities."

When asked about their current relationship with their label...M-1 repsonds positively but, pessimistically. "Label relationship...the label is like a plantation and we are the rebel slaves. That's just the truth. Just cause we here talking to you don't mean shit...Everything that a label does for an artist has to do with money...we need an income...But, we still want to get our message across to the listener, you know? We are about knowledge first and profit second...unfornately the label isn't...it's just the truth."

What is the media's role? With the globalization and commercialization of Hip Hop...can dead prez compete in a world of P-Diddy, Eminem and 50 Cent?

"Hip hop is about to be undermined by a new system of production," says stic "It's back in the streets now and the major labels are having to fight more and more for their spoils...the people don't want to pay $17 for a cd no more...it's now about the people. It's the 'bottom up' philosophy We could give a fuck less about the profit and the bullshit. 'Pimp The System'...that's what we need to do. The world is fucked up enough...Bush, Iraq, Terrorism, Racism and hatred...It's the same as it ever was...there's a war going on and it's not terrorists who are the targets..it's the poor and people of color in the end that suffer and pay."

"Ours is to change it in our minds and then in our actions...that's all you can do." , says M-1

dead prez "RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta" is scheduled for US release on March 30. M-1 & stic are also releasing a book of their lyrics later this year called "The Book Of Life".
**************


Young Warriors, listen. You all had better be more aware of and more intune to what is going on within and around you all day, everyday. If you gonna be a warrior, you must be a warrior with a cause, not a warrior "just 'cause". If you do not learn to use the fire within, it will burn you as well as the whole forest.

Be wise
Be receptive to knowledge
Be a warrior with a cause...

__________________
Aluta Continua.. Victory is certain!

fuck reading this, summarize this shit

feat. Krayzie Bone
[Hook]
Walk Like a Warrior
Walk Like a Warrior
Walk Like a Warrior
Walk Like a Warrior

[M1]
I was trained to defend myself for my brain and my mental health
The white man got the wealth he held back
We're living in hell black and n'z can sell crack
But that ain't gonna change this thang
If you gonna bang, then bang for change, don't bang for crazy thangs
If not don't bang
If ya gonna ball play the game how it should be played
Can you dribble a grenade?
To save your life you payed the price, mama raised you right
Now how you aint gonna fight?
For the white man's laws hell naw
For the cause, because we got to get what's ours
Gotta struggle for the motherfucking power
Cuz we're livin in the last few hours
It's 11:59, I think it's bout time
We get on the grind, and get out the carbine
With freedom of mind we can see what we can find
If you can spot 'em, pop pop pop the po-9
This is only a rhyme so now don't get scared
Listen to the message in the word
Don't let your sight get blurred, you heard this righteous words
You might prefer it from a car mic
Timeout, I didn't say bug out, ball out, bling out
All ya'll sell-outs get the hell out
This year it's RBG so bang on out
Uh, we people army nigga bang on out

[Hook]

[Stic]
Yo, Yo, what you know bout heart?
Can't be the weak link in the squad
Gotta look way deep in your heart
Anything in the way gotta go straight through
Take charge
Can't hide from your flaws when you ride for the cause
Cuz a n will pull your card
Keep your guard up 24/7 on the street like you're doin hard time on the yard
What you know about heart?
Can you assemble your heat in the dark
Take it apart, and clean all the parts?
Life is a journey, a course, like learning a martial art
You can't have partial heart
Gotta get your own, if you drop the bone, dog, we all fall
It ain't over til the problem solved
Get your back up off the wall

My niggaz is riders, we fighters, we tight as a fist
RBG's up in this bitch, so bang on out
If your khakis is saggin, you reppin your rag and you holdin the magnum
Use it for freedom nigga, bang on out
All my dirtiest dirtys, revolutionaries and visionaries
Don't be no scaredy nigga, bang on out
It's a war goin on in the streets, we hollerin fuck the police
Ain't bout no peace, nigga, bang on out

[Krayzie Bone]
Me so you see fifty niggaz in all black fatigues
My regime runnin down your street
At the end of the block, we got the god damn cops
And they hope we sink, tell me what you see
I see (bang) buildings burning, motherfuckers trippin for a goddman purpose
The police is nervous, cuz we done observed 'em
Now niggaz is thinking about murder
We ain't talking, no more, and we ain't squashin shit with po-po
And we ain't marchin in the middle of the goddamn road
Cuz Martin got smoked
Niggaz ready for war, so get the fuck up, we fixin to set the city to fire
This time when we ride we burnin it down, turn this shit 'round
Keep your justice, your peace
And keep blessin the heat, and that there crooked officer
We won't stop blazin til they coughin up blood
Wanna slang my baseball cap to the back and get busy, nigga
You say you a soldier, well get over here nigga we under attack
As soon as they done, they get gone
Muder mo come, come, they done, me red rum, me red rum, they done
And when we put 'em in they grave
We toss in a donut, and tell 'em we don't surrender, surrender, naw

[Hook]

I ain't talkin bout no hustla
I ain't talkin bout no gangsta
I'm hollerin at them soldiers
Revolutionary culture
Bang on out

__________________
Aluta Continua.. Victory is certain!