Published on May 29, 1997
Protest albums are notorious for showing their age. All you have
to do to prove this is pick up your average protest album of the
’60s and give it a spin today. When the dust settles and most of
the issues covered by the artists (Vietnam, Kent State) are delt
with, not much is left to gnaw on musically. There’re some
exceptions to the rule, however. Case in point with the sole full
length album from The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy,
Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury. With lyric and even music
skills to rival fellow political rappers Public Enemy,
Hypocrisy falls into my top five all time favorite rap
albums made.
Head writer and rapper Michael Franti came up with some of the
most innovative wordplaying in rap music and even rock music on
this album, be it addressing how blacks are portrayed in the media
and how we buy into the media’s perceptions on “Fameous And Dandy
(Like Amos And Andy)” or how the cycle of violence comes back to
haunt an attacker on “Language Of Violence”. The album could have
coasted on the strength of lyrics alone.
Couple of points to back me up.. “The psychic plastic surgery
begins to take effect/As our souls watch astounded/Our characters
floundered”, “Exxon and on and on/The ministers of double speak”,
“I would tell you that music is the expression of emotion / And
that politics is merely the decoy of perception”
Luckily, there’s enough talented musicians to back up the
complex lyrics. Along with your usual samples, the Disposables drop
some pretty mean percussion beats down, through use of sheet metal
and steel drums. I saw these guys open up for U2 for their
Zoo TV tour in 1992, and they blew me away.
Over the last five years though, the album shows some signs of
aging. The “‘George Bush must go” sentiment of a couple of songs is
obviously dated. The thoughtful “The Winter Of The Long Hot
Summer”, a song about the Gulf War, also shows some weakness
now.
Still, when Franti begins to observe the social problems around
us, he still is right on target. “Television-The Drug Of A Nation”,
their biggest hit, is more timely than ever in the era of murdered
beauty pageant queens and celebrity court cases. Franti even points
the finger at himself in the jazz-fused “Music And Politics”.
One of the many highlights of this album comes with a truly
original cover of the Dead Kennedys’ “California Uber Alles”. With
one of the dopest (I know, it sounds stupid for a white guy to say
that) intros I’ve heard to a song. “I am your governor Pete Wilson
ya know/The baddest governor to ever grab a mike and go BOOM!”
It’s too bad these guys couldn’t stick around to do a couple
more albums. What we are left with is this great gem and a couple
of collaborations with other artists. If you’re interested, the
Disposables did a collaboration with writer William S. Burroughs on
one of his spoken word albums, well worth checking out. For
starters though, pick up
Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury – an album from one of the
groups that mattered in the 90s.