Multi-Genre/Multi-Hyphenate Artist Michael Franti and Spearhead to Play Cincinnati Concert This Week
Michael Franti (who plays Riverfront Live Wednesday) wants a better world for every living being, and he's dedicated his talent to disseminating that message to anyone who is willing to hear it and, more importantly, do something about it.
For the past three and a half decades, Michael Franti has been on the frontlines of changing the world as we know it through music. A consummate hyphenate, Franti possesses a resume with more slashes than the Halloween franchise: He's a multi-genre singer/songwriter/political activist/poet/multi-instrumentalist/filmmaker.
The San Francisco resident began his music career with the Beatnigs, an Industrial Punk/Spoken Word outfit whose lone 1986 full-length album was released on the Dead Kennedys' Alternative Tentacles label. In 1991, Franti and Beatnigs bandmate Rono Tse formed the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, releasing a phenomenal debut album, 1992's Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury, a triumph of musical hybridization and political awareness. The band's blend of Hip Hop. Fusion, Rock, Punk and Electronica was matched by its bold rejection of misogyny, homophobia, conflict politics and the passive culture of entertainment, typified by the album's impactful single "Television, the Drug of the Nation." The attendant buzz earned DHOH an opening slot on U2's Zoo TV tour.
In 1994, Franti dissolved DHOH and formed Spearhead, steering away from overt political statements and grounding his Hip Hop sound in a decidedly Funk/Soul direction. Spearhead's first two albums, 1994's Home and 1997's Chocolate Supa Highway, were critically well-received but Capitol Records wanted the band to collaborate with Hip Hop celebrities, which was not on Franti's creative radar. The band cut ties with Capitol and started their own label, Boo Boo Wax, but the major label owned the band's name, so subsequent recordings were released as Michael Franti & Spearhead.
Over the years, Franti has framed his social/political/cultural lyrics in more conventional Rock surroundings without abandoning his broad range of influences, including Reggae, Ska, Funk, Soul, Hip Hop and Punk. The band's amazing nine-album catalog and supporting tours have attracted a global fan base for Franti's music and his consistent messages of peace and equality A line from 2003's "Bomb the World" has become a rallying cry of sorts: "We can bomb the world to pieces but we can't bomb it to peace." Franti has also recorded a handful of titles under his name alone, including his latest, the propulsive Stay Human, Vol. II, a slight return to the 2001 Spearhead concept album and the soundtrack to Franti's new Stay Human film.
Michael Franti wants nothing less than a better world for every living being, and he's dedicated his talent to disseminating that message to anyone who is willing to hear it and, more importantly, do something about it.
