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Taken from Taiohi (August, 2003)
Everyone Deserves Franti
by Yvonne Tahana
 Michael Franti, front-man for Hip-Hop group Spearhead was in New Zealand to promote their new album for one night only. Taiohi writer Yvonne Tahana caught up with the Hip-Hop legend over the phone.
Read full Q 'n A
Franti spoke of his music, the new album, his kiri tuhi and his connection with Maori, and how he ended up doing what he loves. Michael Franti may be about to do final sound-checks before his Auckland gig, but he doesn't sound rushed, his voice flows down the line like comforting hot chocolate.
His music is a fusion of soul, reggae and punk-rock. It's what music can do, that he loves.
'Music has the ability to bring out emotions in us that we never thought existed,' Michael says. 'When we let those feelings come out, we grow and move on.'
Everyone Deserves Music is the title track from the album of the same name - the album's and Michael's message is compassion.
'We live in a world at war. Every time I pick up the newspaper, I read more and more about why we should be enemies with these people, with those people.
'But I'm somebody who believes that we should be seeking reconciliation. So I wrote [the song] and I said even our worst enemies deserve music.'
Even though this album deals with war, surprisingly it's not depressing to listen to lyrically or musically. The mix of reggae and Hip-Hop isn't done very often, but the result is a feel good experience for your ears.
Reggae heavy-weights, Sly and Robbie, who've played and collaborated with some of the biggest names in music - Bob Marley, Grace Jones, Rolling Stones, and No Doubt, helped out.
'They believe that music can touch people's hearts . so it was great to work with them."
His rhymes are often a simple expression of resistance. On "Bomb the World," Franti sings, reminiscent of Bob Marley, 'you can bomb the world to pieces but we can't bomb it into peace'.
Franti's Native American and Afro-American whakapapa combined with political beliefs may provide some explanation as to why he identifies so closely with Maori.
'I love being here . I think the struggle that Maori people have engaged in is really important for the rest of the world to know about.'
The struggle Franti talks of is of Indigenous people's ability to hold onto their cultures. The way Maori have been able to hold onto what makes them Maori, says Franti, while living in a European society is something that had not happened for Native Americans.
But his connection with Maori is more than skin deep; this brown brother has many kiri tuhi.
The kiri tuhi on Franti's left shoulder is the wheke or octopus, the tentacles representing his family, while another on his back represents his femininity and masculinity - a Maori yin and yang.
Auckland-based ta moko artist, Inia Taylor completed the works. Getting them done, Franti says was not a matter of rolling up to a tattoo place and ordering, 'number 3 . mickey mouse holding a beer'.
Instead it happened like this:
'We sat down and talked for many hours, meditated, and talked about things that were happening in my life. I wanted to move from one state of my life to the next and he marked that path for me.'
But music was not always the path that Franti wanted to travel. His first dream was to play basketball in the NBA. He earned a scholarship to play at the University of San Francisco and it seemed that his b-ball dreams were becoming real.
But 'music chose him'. While he was at uni, he started hanging out at a radio station in the basement of the building he lived in. Music sparked his interest but it was the birth of his first child that motivated him.
'When we got pregnant I was 20 . at that time I thought my life was over. I thought man, I'm so young, I'm a kid, and I'm trapped. But the thing is when my kid was born, I loved him so much I thought, if I'm going to really do music, I'm going to have to get serious about it.'
He did get serious about it because he's been releasing beats for 16 years first with the Beatnigs, then with the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, and with Spearhead since 1994.
He says that his longevity is due to loving what he does. 'Everyone has something that they like. we're not always going to be good at everything we try.
'But if you're a young person and there's something that you excel at, just work at that thing.'
Everyone Deserves Franti - Full Q 'n A
Remember, the term ta moko is applied only to Maori. Therefore persons not of Maori descent such as Robbie Williams, Ben Harper or Michael Franti don't have moko - they have kiri tuhi/skin art.
Taiohi: I thought we'd start with your beautiful kiri tuhi that you've got, your tattoos. You've got one on your back and 1 on each shoulder. Are the ones on your shoulders Maori tattoos as well?
Michael: Yes.
T: Who did those?
M: Inia Taylor, who runs a local ink in Auckland (Moko.Ink). The first one I did was in 1994. But ever since the first time I came to Aotearoa in '92. I've been hanging out with a buddy of mine George Nuku, he's a carver. He's the one who really immersed me into the Maori community ...
T: What's the meaning behind the one on your back?
M: It is a representation of my both my femininity and my masculinity. The man and a woman that's contained within each of us.
T: What's the whakaaro, what's the meaning behind the ones on your shoulders?
M: The ones on my shoulders are the wheke style, the octopus and they represent my family. The members of my family and each of the tentacles of the octopus are indicative of different people in my family, my children, my mother, my father.
T: Do you think that's a unique sort of something that make Maori tattoo's special? That you can express who you are with your tattoos a little bit more succinctly?
M: Yeah, it's the art of nature, it the art of who you are is a connection to the organic cycle of life. It's just not like, oh we walk into a shop and we look up on the wall of tattoos and say I'll have number 39, a Mickey Mouse holding a beer.
It's not essential to wear it on our outside. It's still who we are, and sometimes we just choose to embody them on our outside.
T: This is your second time in just under a year in Aotearoa. Why do you keep coming back?
M: I love being here. It's really exciting for me to come here, I feel a real connection to Maori and the struggle that Maori have engaged in.
T: 'Everyone Deserves Music' is a strong statement, would you tell us a bit about that?
M: Well you around world right now, we're in a world that's at war.
Every time I pick up the newspaper I read more and more about why we should be enemies with these people, why we should be with those people.
And so I wrote the song 'Everyone Deserves Music' and even our worse enemies deserve that. What I mean by that is use the music to bring out the emotions in us that we didn't know existed.
T: Do you think you are a lone voice?
M: Yeah, I'm one of the few voices out here that been doing this and it's been interesting because I've never sold millions of records but I've always been able to make another record.
I made my first album in 1987 and I'm still here now, so I feel really fortunate that I've been able to be around for a relatively long time.
Musically for me I'm growing everyday you know, I think as an artist you have to try to find new ways of trying to express stuff and there's never a shortage or things to talk about, you just have to look around life and see what's going on.
T: Tell us about yourself.
M: I lived in San Fransisco through 1984, but I grew up out of the city in a small town. I'm 37, 37 and never been kissed. Yeah, I've got 2 kids, one is 4 and one is 16. I had a kid at a pretty young age. he was born I was 21.
At that time I thought my life was over, 'Man I'm so young I'm having a kids. I'm trapped, but when my kid was born, I loved him so much . it was actually a really good thing for me to have a kid at a young age because it made me more motivated to do things.
One was I got to keep the lights on in the house, I've got to earn some money and take it really professionally and seriously.
And the other thing was if was if I'm gonna make music and travel around the world doing this, I want to be something that my kids can to be proud of. I don't want to come back and 'Hey, here's this record. I was out for while'. And there's me holding my crotch and getting drunk with my homies.
I want to make music that my kids can say 'Hey I'm proud of you', and now my kid's 16 and he does he really does respect what I do and he loves me for doing it.
T: If you could impart one thing to your children what would it be?
M: The main thing is just that I want them to know that whatever they do in their life whatever course they set for their lives that they're going to be excellent.
My older son likes to write graffiti. I can support him writing graffiti but I also say be respectful of where you do it. . Find ways to beautify our neighbourhood by doing your graffiti and so instead of trying to shut down his creativity, I try to open it up and say hey I appreciate what you do I respect what you do.
T: Do you think that's a key message to all sort of young people?
M: I think that the thing is, is that everybody has something that they like you know some choose to like to be sports and like do art and some like read. Everybody has different things and we're not all going to be great at everything that we try .
T: Did you always know that music was where you wanted to go, from an early age
M: No I always wanted to be a basketball player, I wanted to be in the NBA, that was my goal and I got a scholarship to play basketball for university of San Francisco. But while I was in university I lived in a building and downstairs at the bottom of the building was a radio station. And so I'd always hang out at the radio station and I fell in love with radio and music and I started hearing all sorts of music that id never heard while I was growing up. Music sort of chose me.
T: What were the influences in your musical life?
M: Well the biggest influences in my life have been . first it was soul music, that's what I grew up with in my house. Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Reggae, Bob Marley and Steel Pulse, stuff like that. Then I got interested in Punk Rock.
And then Hip-Hop came along in the early 80's and that's when I really decided 'ok this is a new step, it feels right for me'.
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