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"Michael Franti (born April 21, 1966, in Oakland, California) is an American poet, musician, and composer. He is of African, 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. Franti was part of the industrial punk band The Beatnigs with DJ Rono Tse, which released a self-titled LP, and an EP Television on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles records, which achieved high status according to many reviewers.
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 injustice of the world and yearned for democratic reform, 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.
In 1994, Franti formed a new band called Spearhead. While he continued to create politically and socially conscious lyrics, Spearhead's music drew more from funk and soul than the industrial sound of his previous groups. Spearhead released their first album, Home, in September of 1994. Their follow up album Chocolate Supa Highway was released in March of 1997. It should be noted that these two albums were released under the band name 'Spearhead', while the name on all subsequent albums would be 'Michael Franti & Spearhead'. This is because their first two albums were released by Capitol Records. After the release of 'Chocolate Supa Highway' their manager at Capitol Records kept on trying to get them to do duo's with people like Will Smith. They were not impressed and thus, made their own record label, 'Boo-Boo Wax.'"
[reproduced or excerpted from the Wikipedia article "Michael Franti" and its use is thus licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License]"
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