Lets Get Free

About

The combination of engaging music and eye-opening political education is a rare one. Few artists manage to create music that will make you reassess the world around you while also making your nod your head or tap your feet tap. In 2000, in the aftermath of Y2K hysteria—and on the precipice of some unpredictable historical happenings—Dead Prez pulled off this rare feat with its debut album, <i>Let’s Get Free</i>. Over the course of 18 tracks, the duo of M-1 and stic.man present an eye-level, pro-Black, and pro-worker critique of the systems we all live under. But unlike some of their “conscious rap” cohorts, the group also offers up material solutions for society’s ills in the form of radical change for the world. “Hip-Hop,” <i>Let’s Get Free</i>’s breakout single, arrived as the genre was reaching peak commercial viability—and being co-opted by Madison Avenue. “Hip-Hop” served as a counterpoint to the rap game’s excess, and a reminder that conspicuous consumption was a distraction from bigger issues: “Would you rather have a Lexus or justice?/A dream or some substance?/A Bimmer, a necklace, or freedom?” It’s not the only song on <i>Let’s Get Free</i> to examine everyday topics through a revolutionary lens. “Police State” takes aim at a system that surveils, criminalizes, and unjustly punishes marginalized communities. The somber “Behind Enemy Lines'' tackles mass incarceration and the realities of life behind bars, with a focus on political prisoner Fred Hampton, Jr. The duo also rails against the miseducation of Black youth on “They School,” and challenges corporate media narratives on “Propaganda.” But M-1 and stic.man also find time to balance their militance with flirtation and straight-up joy on “Mind Sex” and “Happiness”—proving that, at the end of the day, radicals are people too. And while the revolution may not have been televised, it definitely got the soundtrack it deserved with <i>Let’s Get Free</i>.

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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