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 track, 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” cohort, 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 exce, 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?” .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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