HIP HOP REVIEWS

Michael Franti and Spearhead
Everyone Deserves Music
BOO BOO WAX 16.06.03
@www.vanguard-online.co.uk

 Following the incredible Stay Human from a couple of years ago, it took about thirty seconds from this record arriving at home to it being in the CD player. Boogying round the living room in an embarrassing manner I let the music flow over me and the words wash into my ears. Michael Franti follows the old P-Funk dictum: 'Free your ass and your mind will follow'. Knowing there is no reason that music can't educate and stimulate, Franti's history includes the Beatnigs and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. 2000's Stay Human was a powerfully polemical piece of work, attacking hypocrisy and the death penalty through inter-song links and gobsmacking tunes and lyrics. The one fault - the irritating nature of the inter-song dialogue after a few listens has been put right here and all we have are great great songs. Perhaps the easiest coat hook to hang a comparison on is Gil Scott Heron. Franti has a way of making politics a personal and moving experience, singing about people and feelings with an inspirational thrust that motivates. Meanwhile the music is soul in all its forms, shaking the booty till it falls off. A calypso tinged African piece sparks off a rap about the misuse of the penal system whilst still feeling joyous. Styles range from reggae (with Sly and Robbie) to funk to bossa nova to bits of dancehall to snippets of The Clash. All with a rich and affecting voice moving the song along and astonishing collaborators. Franti's commitment to campaigning work is the guiding force and this carries more wallop than a hundredweight of leaflets. Few people have dared to make music about the September 11th attacks. Bomb The World takes the chance and abandons cosy sentimentalism and simple outrage to question causes and attack simplistic responses. 'You're telling me it's unpatriotic but I call it when I see it, when I see it's idiotic. The tears of one mother are the same as any other'. 'You can bomb the world into pieces but you can't bomb the world into peace'. Still there is a love here, a warmth and humanity that brings me back again and again to bopping round my sofa. Like the song says - 'everyone deserves music'.

Ross McGibbon