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Taken from MyrtleBeachOnline (Feb. 20, 2004)
 MUSIC RIGHTS
Spearhead makes hip-hop statement
by Kent Kimes
'We all deserve the opportunity to feel what music gives us.'
Michael Franti | Spearhead
For Michael Franti, leader of left-of-center, hip-hop group Spearhead, music is on par with life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness.
"I believe music is a natural right," he said, in a recent phone conversation from Asheville, N.C. "Like fresh air and a clean place to live. We all deserve the opportunity to feel what music gives us."
So he titled the latest CD by Spearhead - which opens for Ziggy Marley tonight at the House of Blues - "Everyone Deserves Music."
It's somewhat rare in hip-hop, but Spearhead is actually a band, playing its own instruments and not relying on drum machines, playbacks and DJs.
Spearhead has toured with some seemingly unlikely artists through the years, including The Indigo Girls.
But Franti said hooking up on the road with Marley, the eldest son of reggae legend Bob Marley, has been the most enjoyable experience so far. "Ziggy has these incredible footsteps to follow in, and it is very difficult," said Franti. "But he has done an awesome job of being an ambassador of reggae while still forging his own identity."
Piggybacking, if you will, on the reggae vibes of tonight's House of Blues show, the Brickhouse Lounge in Surfside Beach has booked a weekend of rasta-friendly shows. Tonight, Mystic Vibrations is the headliner. The show starts at midnight and there is a $3 cover charge. Mystic Vibrations is the opener for Jah Works on Saturday, starting at 9 p.m. There is an $8 cover.
Reggae, along with funk, soul, rock and disco, informs Franti's work, and although he professes a love for hip-hop, he said he disagrees philosophically with the commercialism and violence that have been associated with the genre in recent years.
Rashaun Hall, R&B editor for Airplay Monitor magazine, likened Franti and Spearhead to Black Eyed Peas prior to that group's breakout success "Where Is the Love?," a Grammy-nominated collaboration with Justin Timberlake.
"But he (Franti) is a little bit left of the Peas," said Hall, who also writes a hip-hop column for Billboard. "I don't think you'll see him hawking it on MTV or doing a Twix commercial."
Along the way, Franti, who also performed with Beatnig and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, has evolved from an angry young rapper to a peace-championing crooner, typified by the smooth-soul-sound-with-a-message song "Bomb the World" from the new CD.
Hall said because Spearhead borrows from other genres and because Franti is a classic emcee/vocalist, "they are a hip-hop based group. But their lyrical content is not common."
And as with the most effective hip-hop groups, Spearhead has a knack for getting a crowd up off its feet. Fans have dubbed the group's shows ExSpeariences. "Our shows are part spiritual, part booty-shaking sweat party," said Franti.
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