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Michael Franti

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Michael Franti

Michael Franti (born April 21, 1966, in Oakland, California) is an American poet, musician, and composer of African, American Indian, Italian, and German descent. Franti is the creator and driving force behind Michael Franti & Spearhead, a band that blends hip hop with a variety of other styles including funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock. He is also an outspoken supporter for a wide spectrum of peace and social justice issues.

Biography

Beatnigs (1986–1990)

Franti began his music career in 1986 as part of the industrial punk band The Beatnigs. While attending the University of San Francisco and living above the college radio station he developed a fascination with music and decided to start a band. The Beatnigs included DJ Rono Tse and released a self-titled LP, and an EP Television on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles records. The records received some critical acclaim but little notoriety beyond the San Francisco bay area.

Disposable Heroes (1991–1993)

His next project, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, found Franti continuing his collaboration with Tse, and working with jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter, and electronic musicians Mark Pistel (Consolidated) and Jack Dangers (Meat Beat Manifesto). The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy wrote biting, progressive lyrics that railed against the injustices of the world, set to a fusion of industrial and hip hop. Their first album won acclaim for its social commentary, and they were chosen by U2 to open for their Zoo TV Tour.

Franti and the Disposable Heroes put together another record of music accompanying novelist William Burroughs' readings for an album entitled Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales. This album diverged greatly from the style of the band's previous work, as they were largely providing musical background and accompaniment to Burroughs' spoken readings from several of his books.

Spearhead (1994–1999)

In 1994, Franti formed a new band called Spearhead with a few studio musicians, including mainstay Carl Young, and announced the dissolution of Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Their first release, Home,, in September of 1994, was a departure from the rap heavy politically charged Disposable Heroes record and drew more from funk and soul music.

Their follow up album Chocolate Supa Highway was released in March of 1997, with several changes in band members between releases. This album featured a bit of a return to Hip Hop and a pronounced Reggae influence and included guest appearances by notables like Stephen Marley and Joan Osborne.

As Spearhead, the band released two albums, Home and Chocolate Supa Highway. A split with Capitol Records followed the second album, reportedly prompted by the label's repeated urging to perform with other artists like Will Smith. The band instead decided to create its own record label, "Boo-Boo Wax." Since Capitol Records owns the rights to the name "Spearhead," subsequent albums have all been released as "Michael Franti & Spearhead."

Michael Franti and Spearhead (2000–present)

In 1999, Franti began a deeper exploration of his music and politics. He returned the following year as an organizer and cultural worker tied to several intensifying political movements of the time, voicing his observations through his music.

Michael Franti & Spearhead released Stay Human in 2000 on indie music label, Boo Boo Wax and Six Degrees. The album's central theme was the unjust nature of the death penalty and other major themes included media monopolization, the prison-industrial complex and corporate globalization.

In an interview, Franti talks about the message of Stay Human: "Half the record is songs about what's happening in the world right now, and the other half is about how we cope with it as people who are concerned about what's going on," he says. "This spectre of war, intimidation, this nation vs. the rest of the world, it wears us out. Half the record is a healthy dose of venting anger about that, and the other half is about how do we hold on to our spirituality, our community and our connectedness to each other." [1]

Everyone Deserves Music was released in 2003. Franti composed many of the songs from his guitar and, like fellow 21st century cultural globalists Manu Chao and Ozomatli, continues to synthesize his eclectic influences. In a departure from the industrial sounds of the Beatnigs and Disposable Heroes, and the minimalism of early Spearhead, Franti's affirming lyrics are now set to appropriately swelling rock chords, while keeping a world-wise groove nodding towards reggae, dancehall, bossa nova, Afrobeat, and funk. Anthems like the title track "Everyone Deserves Music", "Yes I Will" and "Bomb The World" are constructed with a nod to the '80s rock of The Clash and U2, as well as classic soul from Stax and Motown. The song "We Don't Stop" (featuring Gift of Gab from Blackalicious and Spearhead's rapper/beatbox technician Radioactive) even manages to bridge the two sounds in a "Magnificent Seven" style mash-up. And on "Love Why Did You Go Away" and "What I Be", Franti reveals an alluring, sensual singing voice. "Pray For Grace" and "Bomb The World (Armageddon Version)" pair Franti with the reggae/funk giants Sly and Robbie (Grace Jones, Rolling Stones, Black Uhuru, No Doubt).

Also in 2003, Franti released a mostly acoustic album, Songs from the Front Porch containing rearranged versions of older songs from Chocolate Supa Highway, Stay Human and Everyone Deserves Music as well as a couple new tracks.

On July 25, 2006, Michael Franti & Spearhead released their new album, entitled " Yell Fire!", inspired by Franti's trip to Israel, Baghdad, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. In an effort to share his experiences from his trip and to explore the human cost of war, Franti produced a movie entitled "I Know I'm Not Alone", using the songs from his album " Yell Fire!" as a soundtrack. "One Step Closer To You" from Yell Fire! features Pink on backing vocals.

Michael Franti and Spearhead have taken a highly unconventional route to notoriety for an act with Hip Hop roots. Largely ignored by the traditional mainstream TV and radio channels of promotion, Franti and Spearhead have gained a passionate worldwide audience through extensive touring and appearances in alternative media like Mother Jones Magazine and Democracy Now.

Franti continues to hit the festival circuit worldwide, in addition to producing the annual Power to the Peaceful[2] festival, which has drawn more than 20,000 people to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco over the past seven years. Michael Franti continues to gain influence in both popular music and social movements largely through extensive touring and word of mouth fan support. Lyrics from his song "Bomb The World", written in the dark aftermath of September 11 such as "You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can't bomb it into peace.", have found their way onto protest signs and T-shirts all over the world from Los Angeles to Berlin, San Francisco to CNN, at demonstrations for peace large and small.

Politics

"Right now, people ask me, 'What can one person do to change what's going on with the world?' I don't know what one person can do except to connect with other people. In doing that, each of us play our roles," he says. "My role is as a storyteller and a songwriter. I'm somebody who is trying to keep the spirits of other people up, despite all the chaos and fear around us"

Some in the rap community have attempted to dismiss Franti's critique of the rampant, overt violence present in gangsta rap by ridiculing Franti's white adoptive parents though they never criticise the natural parents who abandoned him in the first place[citation needed]. But Franti's supporters note that he pushes for peace and justice regardless of race, and attempts to address contemporary social issues in America such as AIDS, homelessness, kidnapping, police brutality, the Iraq War and the death penalty.

Franti is also an advocate for peace in the Middle East. His Film I know I'm Not Alone features footage of Iraq, the territories within the Palestinian Authority, and Israel and communicates to the MTV, X, Y & Z generations, as well as the baby boomers about the human cost of war. The film's guerrilla style footage, captured in active war zones, is unlike many similar academic and politically driven pieces in the marketplace, offering instead an opportunity for audiences to travel with and hear the voices of everyday people living, creating and surviving under the harsh conditions of war and occupation.

Franti is also vegan.

Trivia

  • Franti draws attention to the division in the world between the consumer nations who buy shoes and the nations where people make shoes but can't afford them. He decided to forgo his own shoes, initially for three days, and never went back. Except for occasionally wearing flip-flops on an airplane or in a restaurant, Franti has been walking through life barefoot since 2000.
  • In December 2006, the song "What's this?" from "Nightmare Before Christmas" was covered by artists Michael Franti, Gabriel Rios and Flip Kowlier. This collaboration came about because of a charity event by Belgian radio station Studio Brussel and Dutch radio station 3FM. The single was available at a low price, and the entire profit was donated to the Red Cross to support their campaign for the victims of landmines, under the motto "Music for Life".

Discography

Artist Album title Year Label
The Beatnigs The Beatnigs 1988 Alternative Tentacles
The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury 1992 4th & Broadway
The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy w. William S. Burroughs Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales 1992 4th & Broadway
Spearhead Home 1994 Capitol
Spearhead Chocolate Supa Highway 1997 Capitol
Michael Franti live at the baobab 2000 Boo Boo Records
Michael Franti and Spearhead Stay Human 2001 Six Degrees
Michael Franti and Spearhead Rock the Nation (CD Single) 2001 Six Degrees
Michael Franti and Spearhead Everyone Deserves Music 2003 Boo Boo Wax
Michael Franti Songs from the Front Porch 2003 Import
Michael Franti and Spearhead Live in Sydney 2005 MVD
Michael Franti and Spearhead Love Kamikaze (Singles and Remixes) 2005 Liberation
Michael Franti and Spearhead Yell Fire! 2006 Anti
Franti, Gabriel Rios and Flip Kowlier What's this? 2006

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Michael Franti.
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