Taking the Pulse of ‘Gangsta Revolutionaries’

—Neycha: Hey, what’s up?

Stic: Everything is up, man. Spring is here.

—Neycha: Yeah. It’s great. I’m excited to be chatting with you two on behalf of The Root. You know you guys are my favorite hip-hop artists.

Stic: (laughter) Ah, yeah, that’s what it do, give thanks!

—Neycha: So, listen. I’ve been doing this personal conversation series with crossfaders, visionaries and others whose work helps to move social consciousness forward. I think many of us agree that Dead Prez’s work has had a major impact on the collective conscious, particularly within the hip-hop community. I’m curious to know what impact you each believe your work has had on the larger community?

Stic: Wow. What a great question. You know, the way we see it, man, we are more so influenced by our culture and community than we look at ourselves as such. We only giving what we get. We’ve been influenced by the movement for black power, the movement for African liberation worldwide, the health movements, the green movements – just people taking care of their families, examples that we see of people. That’s our inspiration.

If anything, if I could humbly say, we’ve been adding inspiration and motivation for people to get involved with organizations and just speak up and question the answers.

—Neycha: So by motivation, you mean to light a fire under people who would not otherwise seek out this knowledge for themselves?

Stic: Yeah, that’s definitely been something. And also people who are participants, let’s say, in the movement but might get burnt out or might get disillusioned. So really just the whole life cycle, the lifestyle of striving to be a person that’s proactive.

I think one of the things Dead Prez has grown into, and really we’re still trying to grow into, is being a bridge for the streets and the struggle. We coined the phrase revolutionary but gangsta. We’re trying to take the most proactive elements, the most useful, practical aspects of the hood and our culture and our everyday life of survival and make a bridge with the revolutionary aspirations of our movement and our struggle. On all those levels – political power, health, family, culture, technology, land, education, all these kind of things.

Even with all that, we try to have a little bit of fun on Fridays too.

—Neycha: (laughter) I hope so.

M: I believe that we have made a collective cultural dent in the imaginary wall that white power imperialism has put up. I hope that’s where we’ve added on. I see this being manifested with us being able to have the ability to draw people towards unity and will in action. Let’s say somewhere like the Democratic National Convention, we’re not Democrats, yet our voice can be used in the same way that Fred Hampton, Sr. did it during 1968 at that Democratic National Convention to ring off in the same kind of way. I think it adds that kick.

It adds the same kick that Bob Marley had – against the system, when he was able to unite the P&P and the Revolutionary Party in Jamaica after he was shot. Also with the unity of words, and in a lot of ways culturally, he was able to give people something to stand behind. I think we add on here.

—Neycha: Indeed. Often the ideas put forth by Dead Prez are controversial, at least to the mainstream public. How do you manage being so popular for unpopular truths?

M: Well, I would dare say very humbly. Who knows what the future holds or what people are able to gain from each individual experience. I say dare to struggle, dare to win, which are words that are echoed by Chairman Mao Zedong and Assata Shakur who was my mentor, hero, a freedom fighter, and a political prisoner.

If we dare not to put some of our views into the popular mainstream, some of the most unpopular views, people may not, one, be able to know that these ideas exist, and two, they just might get a hell of an education, which is what I’ve been getting the whole while. (laughter) I think that’s how we’re able to do it – to remove the ego from center and be able to say, “Who does this represent? It’s not just me.”

I think there’s a sector of our community that has taken onto its shoulders a responsibility of social consciousness. It’s those people that I unite with the most. I’d rather hangout and party and have a good time and get wild with it, but it’s at the end of day that we have to say, “This is where I stand.” Even though that’s not very popular at times, I want to be able to stand with those people. That’s kind of how we manage to do it.

And I hope we do it with the go-ahead of people who believe that we’ll do it fairly or evenhandedly, even though we’re just human, and with the ancestors that know that we are intending to walk down this path and do it as good as they did. And if not, hopefully we can jump a little higher.

Stic: Well for example, Malcolm was a big influence on me. Malcolm said, if you don’t have no enemies, you doing something wrong, in this world. I always use that as a barometer. It’s easy to go with the status quo and conform. Even times when tactically you may find yourself in a position where the easiest move forward is what’s in front of you.

We’re not here for shock value and we’re not here to be rebels without a cause. If something is working, I’ll be the first to say, “I’m with that. That’s already in place.” At the same time, if it’s not, I think I have a duty based on my character and consciousness to input. That’s how I would like our music to be taken. It’s definitely raw, unapologetic and coming with the spirit of free speech.

—Neycha: To the ninth degree! (laughter)

Stic: There’s definitely a premise of humility in everything that we do. That is definitely where it’s coming from, even though some of the language and some of the way we express it might not always get that across in the best way. (laughter)

—Neycha: Or that it’s sometimes not in alignment with what is the popular consensus. For instance, one of the things that I wanted to chat with you guys about, which I spoke with M about last year when it was happening is this. At the height of the recent presidential race, you all released a song called “Politrikkks.” Why was it important for you to release that song at that particular time?

Stic: Oh, man, I definitely wanted it to go down on which side I was on regardless of popular opinion. I think people have to be aware that we just entered into a new stage of imperialism. We just entered into probably one of the most trickiest aspects of the game, and that is what Kwame Nkrumah coined as neo-colonialism and what the Panthers called negro-colonialism.

Being that Obama was a sensation of people’s emotions and hopes and ideas and expectations of what we’ve always wanted this country to represent, what it says it’s about but never has been – we entered into a state of kind of like euphoria just because of the level of charisma and the level of excitement around Obama.

For us, we knew that putting that song out would give us a platform to make sure more of the whole picture would be discussed. At first, I didn’t want to come out and be anti-Obama because there are so many positive things about what he represents. In terms of him being a family man, in terms of him at least having an honest disposition about politics and his background, many positive things. From his wife being a partner in everything he’s doing and his children. Just that black love.

All these things, you don’t just attack. With the song (Politrikkks), I wanted to make the distinction that we’re talking about the policies he puts into place. We’re talking about the seat itself of the presidency and what that represents in terms of furthering the American white power agenda, even though it’s a black face in that seat.

—Neycha: I commend you guys for staying steadfast; especially at a time when the message wasn’t popular and given the very real fact that Dead Prez is looked to for political commentary in our (hip-hop) community. Although I was not necessarily in agreement with every specific thing about it , at least in terms of my earlier conversation with M, I completely honored and respected and understood why it was important to continue being true to the DP message.

Stic: Yeah, and I’ll say that more than us trying to have a big debate on Obama’s legitimacy or whatever to the community, I think the fact that people are engaged politically more than in my lifetime is….For example, my son, of all people – when he sees Obama, him not knowing the political legacy of this country or anything, all he was seeing was a black man running against a white man. He was like, “I want him to win.”

If we were all seven years old, that would be a perfect world. When you realize that people’s propaganda and their image are not always created in authenticity but for a purpose, for a political agenda, then you say, “Hey, this shit ain’t start with the Obama campaign.” Politics has been going forever.

Like I said, about Kwame Nkrumah, if you study his book called Neo-colonialism, – he studied it in Africa – you’ll learn how the British or the French or the other different entities would wear out their welcome, so to speak, with the natives. Then the only way they could maintain their control is to pick a native to represent their interests.

As long as that black face represented the British or the French interests and had a connection, a real connection, with the people culturally, the British and the French could maintain their control through him. I just think our people should have that knowledge to perhaps see if it fits Obama or not. You know what I’m saying?

—Neycha: You’re saying have the full picture to perceive the situation through. Then people can flesh it out for themselves?

Stic: For sure because I definitely don’t have all the answers. I have some of the questions, though. (laughter)

—Neycha: Which is actually important. So Dead Prez has become synonymous with consciousness, community, activism. I’m curious how these things show up in your personal lives. What is the last revolutionary act either of you took in your personal lives to advance as men, as human beings?



Stic: Another great question! I’m committed to self-development. I’m constantly self-checking. I’m constantly setting goals for my own health, for my participation in my family, for the leadership of my son’s education. Just off the top of my head, those are things to me that, in my life, I’ve seen as revolutionary acts.

—Neycha: M, I want to tie you in on that question. What’s the last revolutionary act that you’ve taken in your personal life to advance as a man and as a human being?

M: I would have to say every day that you wake up, you have to recommit to taking a revolutionary stance in the world. That recommitment, of course, starts with recognizing that revolution is a broad struggle that doesn’t happen in one day. So here I am consciously saying, “Yes, I’m involved in that. That’s where I am in my life.” Then on a personal level, you have to figure out how you can involve yourself in a better way with that struggle.

For me, it may be that I need to have more patience with my children’s learning process, to allow myself to become a better teacher with their ABC’s and 123’s. That just happened to me today. Or, in my relationship.

People talk about revolution in the broad sense as a political kind of directive that is a change from one system to the next. We have to change those systems in our minds as well. We are human beings in this fucked up process of learning and unlearning and programming and deprogramming. Even something as small as disciplining myself to be on time is part of the whole revolutionary act.

Stic: Then you try to organize but if everybody ain’t on the same page, then that takes time. You can’t do nothing until people get on the same page. So you’re left with yourself, you know? This is the freedom. Not to say you don’t keep working in a group setting, because can’t nothing happen without the people. But for yourself, you have to make those certain personal goals and ask, “Am I being educated? Am I taking the effort to look behind the curtain? Am I disciplining myself to stay fit? Am I overindulging in recreational things when I could be doing something more positive?”

Yeah, so anything I can look at as a social issue for my community, I can see it in my family and then in myself. If I can’t do nothing else, I can fight that war that’s inside me and strive for that balance. There’s many other things, participating in independent schools for African boys, martial art programs, even the green fest, all kinds of shit that we do. For me, the first and the most revolutionary act is a commitment to develop your self.

—Neycha: Stic, M, thank you guys for sharing that. I completely understand where you’re each coming from. I think as fans, when we listen to the music, and really I think this is with any group, you make assumptions about who the people are based on the message that comes through in the music, and particularly conscious artists. It’s always fascinating to know how the artists behind the music hold themselves accountable to their ideas.

You guys have both put forward to me why it’s important for you to have the commitment on both sides of the aisle, creatively, artistically, but also personally. Are there personal rituals that you each engage in, martial arts, yoga, church, meditation? What helps you implement the disciplines around the things that you care most about?

Stic: Well, martial arts is definitely something I’ve been doing. Even before I started training, I was just a fan of and drawn to the discipline, the culture, the wisdom and the mystique about it. From training, I started in Kung Fu, Wushu Kung Fu in Brooklyn. Then I started training in Jeet Kun Do later, about two years later. Eight years later, I’m in Atlanta doing Egbe Ogun.

In all those disciplines, I find that martial arts is not just kick and punch, but martial arts is everything that I do. The principles, it’s in everything. When you’re talking about a struggle, you’re talking about a fight. When you’re talking about a people struggle, you’re just talking about a collective fight.

So the same principles that you learn, for example, return to the basics. A lot of people want to do the jump and flip, side kick and all the fancy stuff. Like in our movement, we have these big, lofty ideas and dreams of doing all kind of things. But the real martial arts mastery is coming from the basics, every day, the consistency, doing the small things that count.

That’s just one example of how martial arts training applies to every day. And business, it’s about maintenance. Are you maintaining what you have? Are you giving respect and honoring what makes the bigger things work? That’s where the struggle is. The real fight for people, as much as we project it out in front of us and project it onto the police or project it onto the courts and the government and the white folks and the White House and all of that, the biggest fight is in our own consciousness, in our own vault.

Martial arts is one of the many places that challenges that thing that we call the will. Certain revolutionaries, a lot of people don’t know George Jackson was a martial artist who taught prisoners. That had a lot to do with how he was useful in the movement as well as his own resolve and clarity. There are many, many other things.

—Neycha: M, anything to add to that?

M: Yeah. I’m definitely gonna ring on to it and say that Stic is saying exactly what it is. It really boils down to in a microcosm, not in the macro way, but in a very micro way, a battle that’s happening inside our minds and the minds of our people.

If we change our minds, then we’ll be free today, literally. If we change our mind, then some of the steps we’ve taken, literally, the physical steps we’re taking, we won’t go to those places, we won’t buy those things, we won’t be involved in certain things. We’ll all meet somewhere and tap the ass of the U.S. government. (Stic laughs) That would be really easy if we made up our minds.

For me, I got to give a lot of credit to my mom, because my mom became Buddhist when I was 15 years old. I would see her around with this little shrine or whatever it’s called that she created. It was more about staying on course in her mind. That helped me. I would hear her. She would say this Buddhist chant. Then she would get a whole bunch of people together doing that. I was blown away, number one, because she would do it by herself, but then when people would all get together, they would sound like a church, like a bunch of humming bees in church.

That’s what really put me onto meditation. I’ve used other things in that meditative process. Even for me, food, the way I eat, is a part of that. Even though a lot of times I’ll learn information that what I’ve been doing is wrong (laughter), it’s the fact that what I’m intending to do is part of me continuing the practice of freeing myself. You understand.

—Neycha: Of course. Let me move to the music. You both have had solo projects, like many duos and groups. Floetry and OutKast, Goodie Mob, Destiny’s Child, but unlike many of them, you guys are still together as a unit, almost after what, two decades? How long?

M: I’ve known my comrade now for 20 years. We met in 1990, so yeah, two decades.

—Neycha:— I’d like to have you both respond to this, and Stic, you can jump in on it first. What sustains the connection? Do you both feel that you’re able to tap into something together that you don’t have access to as easily apart?

Stic: I think it’s the camaraderie, man. M is my family. I look to him as my big brother. I look up to him, his mind, his insight. He’s truly a student of the movement. I just have high respect for him on a professional level and then on a personal level. We done been through so much shit. That’s my dude.

It’s not like can we not do it alone or whatever. We’re both artists who are capable of creating music and speaking our minds. I think we choose to work together because, at least for me, shit, I’ll be like, “What M gonna spit on that?” You know what I mean? M is such a great people person, too. I’m a little more laid-back. I think he helps push me and makes me get out and do more things, be more assertive in a lot of ways. I just think Dead Prez is the phenomena because of our dynamics.

—Neycha: M, you want to take it up?

M: People always say, “Which one is the yin and which one is the yang?” What I’ve come to find more are two people with both of those characteristics in them who are trying to find balance.

I can only echo musically that Stic has been an inspiration to me since I first even thought about being in a group. I never sat down and wrote a rap with another human being before I sat down with Stic. It totally inspired me to write rap in a new way, listen to what he was listening to. We were listening to them together, whether it was the speeches of Malcolm or The Last Poets or just someone else in the hood. (laughter)

I’m totally influenced by him as an artist and as a human being. It’s the principles and politics that really feed me more than anything. To me, that will be what holds us together. I’ve got to say, finally, at the end of the road, what unites Dead Prez is definitely because we’re friends. I feel better being able to look across the table at my comrade in times of heat and have a level of political education that has informed us. I really have to return to the OG’s to find the kind of discourse that Stic and me have around certain issues. I don’t get it on TV. I don’t get it out of a book or a magazine. It’s really cause we live in it and in the middle of it, we saying, “Damn. They about to make a black man the president.”

That helps us be able to come up with what it is instead of doing what Nas would do or what Mos Def or Erykah Badu or anybody else would do. I really appreciate Stic for that reason. So I’m going to go ahead and make albums with him for as long as he got vocal chords.

—Neycha: I hope you do stay together. I commend you guys. It’s the power of choice. We don’t choose our families, but we choose from that moment on every one else that we allow into our personal space. That’s a real testament to you both. Most groups, duos, don’t stay together for any number of reasons. You guys should be proud of yourselves.

Food, clothing, shelter, themes widely addressed on Dead Prez records. I notice there’s also been mention of addiction, at least on one of the mixed tapes I have. I’m wondering what you guys think we can do to begin addressing the tremendous impact addiction has had on our community?

Stic: We have to address it in ourselves, which gives us the authority to speak on it for and with the community. We are all addicted. We’re born into a society that exploits our addictive genes in every aspect of life. The chemical addiction of the lights reaction from the television is an addiction. Stroking your fucking ego is an addiction, (laughter) all the way down to Coca-Cola, all the way down to crack cocaine.

It’s the same thing in your brain but a different substance. With addiction, you have to identify and empathize. So when I know that I’m an addict too, it’s easy for me to empathize with anybody.

—Neycha: I like that. Identify and empathize.

Stic: My brother been a crack cocaine addict for 17 years. I’ve definitely been in the trenches trying to understand what it is. I definitely recognize that the system that we live in has caused the epidemic levels of addiction in our community. I hold them responsible for making the industrial mechanism to carry it out.

At the same time, I hold our community responsible for our response and our inability to develop the institution, education, and organization necessary to combat that on a community level.

One of the ways we have attempted to address it, of course, is in our music. We did a mixtape with The Outlaws called Can’t Sell Dope Forever where we tried to discuss the hustler’s point of view and the fiend’s point of view and then the family caught in between the two. I think that’s what it’s about.

In a nutshell, I think the solution for addiction is strengthening of the will through education and through alternatives. Having the understanding that what you put into your body becomes you and then not wanting to be a slave to anything. Not just the white man, but the white flour, the white rice, the white cocaine. That’s my two cents.

—Neycha: M, any thoughts about it?

M: Yeah, I definitely appreciate you for bringing that conversation into this interview. A lot of times people just disregard it. I see why because a lot of times we look at it from a position of helplessness. Addiction can be something that a lot of people are ashamed of. Just in our families, addiction has riddled, made zombies of our family members for years upon years. Man, we all go through the process together.

My aunt who is on crack. Our whole families be addicted to crack because of the people who send us through it. They steal the TV and then we all don’t have no TV. You know what I’m saying? That’s real. We’re all sitting there watching the wall. It’s not just what she’s going through. We all going through it with her. . It helps me in the same process just to be able to get it out and let it be a process, a healing process, and one that we deal with, which is a tough one.

My mom, too, spent 12 years of a 14-year sentence behind prison bars behind drugs. It wasn’t necessarily an addiction to it, it was the other side of the game, which is, to me the same thing. It leaves our community in the same place; renders it helpless, paralyzed by this legal/illegal drug trade that’s happening inside our community. It just goes on and people pass legislation around as if it’s a dirty dog little secret. Realistically, it’s the biggest domestic national product that the United States has – building prisons and locking niggas up for being on drugs or selling drugs.

To me, looking at it objectively helps me to be able to identify how we get out of the thing. Like with Stic, the song you mentioned is called “Window to My Soul.” It’s one of my favorite songs. I always big up big brother and mom in this family. We all have to struggle with it together, helping everybody get better.

—Neycha: It’s so meaningful when you can buy music that speaks to your personal situation. I think that’s how we all find healing and transformation. Stic, just to share your story in that song – that was a revolutionary act because sometimes artists don’t want to put their personal lives out there.

You have such a presence in terms of people listening to you that I think you, really all of us as artists, have that inherent responsibility to put those kinds of things forward. That brings me to the new project. Will that theme show up on the new record? Also, what’s the new record about? When is it coming out? Name? Tell me about it.

Stic: Well, it’s forward ever, backwards never. (laughter) We the same people, but every seven years your cells regenerate, so you’re actually a new being. Everything that we do is going to be a new configuration, a new development. Pulse Of The People is really just a pit stop before Information Age, which is our next full album.

We got with DJ Green Lantern, which we had a lot of respect for throughout the years, mutual respect from him as well. We like what lane he was in as far as he had the power of a street DJ, which is important and key in hip-hop. That’s the connection. The Africans with the bootleg, all that. As for independent artists, that’s power. He also chose to align himself with a certain politic that was kind of off the grid. Not to say we have the exact same politic, but definitely things that we felt we could support that separated him as a “DJ for the streets with consciousness.” We thought it was a good blend. We were on the Rock the Bells tour and we said, “Yo, we should make some time and get it in.”

—Neycha: And this is Pulse Of The People?

Stic: Yes. This is Pulse Of The People.

—Neycha: When is it coming out?

Stic: June 23rd. That’s how that project was born. M can tell you a little bit about what it sounds like, what it looks like, what it do.

M: Well, I mean, it’s kind of DJ Green Lantern’s production at the heart. If you know the stuff he did on Nas’ The Nigger Mixtape or on a particular song called “Black President.” Then there’s Immortal Technique’s mixed tape called 3rd World. That’s his production, the sounds of it, the grittiness of it, I think the concrete swag that it has, is the sound of the production coming from Green.

We making the same kind of relevant tunes, with words, hopefully chants that can go with it. We made songs like “Africa Hot” or “Devil Get Off Me,” which features K9. We got another joint on there called “Don’t Hate My Grind,” which, as you know, is me and Stic.

We’ve got a song that’s kind of like an ode to what New York represents in the imperialist world today. It’s a look at New York, which definitely was a growing place for Dead Prez for so many years, to help us put it into a Dead Prez perspective. We got one for the summertime. It’s called “Summertime.” (laughter)

—Neycha: DP got a summertime song? What?! (laughter)

M: Yeah, you know. We want to be able to touch that and definitely kind of end up in a very rounded way before Information Age jumps off so we can kind of just gather your ears you know, “Hear ye, hear ye. Come one, come all.” (laughter)

Stic: Did you mention “War Path?”

M: No, it’s fantastic! Made with the band…..

Stic: ….Rat Fink. You all got to check that joint. That’s one of my favorites. They’re old school, kind of like War, the old-school classic group. We collaborated on Green’s production expertise and suggestions. We got this song about the rampant police terrorism that’s going on in our neighborhoods. It’s called “War Path.” It’s real hot. It’s a lot of shit on there, man.

—Neycha: —This is exiting. Now, any way to hear Pulse To The People before June?

Stic: DeadPrez.com.

—Neycha: That’s right. That’s all freed up and released now, (the name) right? I checked it out about two weeks ago.

Stic: Yeah, we’re developing the full expression. We’ve been really touring and shit and just trying to get the artwork to represent where we going. Definitely, that’s where we’re going to release the first songs.

—Neycha: Ah, speaking of, let me ask you this. How has technology impacted Dead Prez in terms of the release and sharing of your music?

M: Greatly. I got to say, it’s been a step forward for us to be able to have direct connection with the people. The perception of what Dead Prez is can be affected by so many different kinds of platform. Whether you find us on iTunes or ReverbNation or through Bossup.com, which is a platform that Stic has been developing forever that helps us in many ways. As far as the marketplace goes, that conversation is wide open when you talk about the market of what we can sell and the availability of our music.

Stic: Just the whole information age, the net, it’s like what ProTools did for the studio. It gave the poor man with a little hustle in him the means of production. What the internet did was bring Madison Avenue to your office, to your career, to your studio. So we got the world stage!

The good thing about what we’ve been doing is we’re not local-minded. We have an international outlook and we have an international audience. The internet really is perfect for us in this way. And it’s a green thing to do. You know, if you download the shit, you ain’t got no paper. You ain’t got no petroleum CD. It’s the green thing to do, baby. (laughter)

—Neycha: I love that. I’m wrapping up dudes. Two more things. Given the media, and perhaps even your own direct knowledge from people you know, people that may be close to you, I’m sure you’re aware of the economic crisis our country is facing. As artists, as creative entrepreneurs, how have you both been relating to the economic slump? Do you feel that you’ve become part of the collective panic or have you found some way to reject the overwhelming sense of scarcity that’s so prevalent now?

Stic: Well, as far as I know, ever since I was born, we’ve been in a recession. (laughter) When I look back at my momma and all her mommas and grandmommas, we been in a recession. My mentality, ever since 15 years old has been we in an oppression, depression, recession. You have to hustle.

This is what I took from the streets more than any negative thing, survival, survival, survival! Thinking ahead, playing chess. How can we win in the most fucked up conditions and circumstances? That is the only thing I think. I never thought it was any different. So for me, as a person, an individual, I’m not looking at a recession in any way other than what we been on. It’s kind of like the story of the ant and the grasshopper.

Long story short, the grasshopper, he’s hopping around all summer and shit, big legs. “Oh, I’m free. I’m fine. I’m doing whatever.” (laughter) The ants are walking in a single-file line, carrying shit on their back the whole summer. The grasshopper is like, “You need to live. You gotta live a little. What are you all doing? Come on. Let’s go to the water.” The ants just ain’t saying nothing, soldiers.

Soon as wintertime comes, the grasshopper is cold, it’s snowing and he’s hopping around, can’t find nothing to eat and can’t find no ants. (laughter) He see the light on in the anthill and he knocks on the door and they like, “Yo. We good.” He’s like, “Yo, man, why you all lying? What’s good?” They’re like, “We chilling. We got popcorn. We got everything.” (laughter) The grasshopper can’t fit in the anthill and he’s basically just fucked. Why? Because when the light was on, he wasn’t thinking of when the light goes off.

The mentality of people that suffer from this so-called recession is thinking that the government was going to take care of them in the first place. That’s my two cents on it.

M: We mention this on the new full-length album, Information Age with one of principle joints called “What If The Lights Go Out.” African people have been forced to deal with limited resources ever since we were stripped from the main place that had provided resources for the whole world, which is Africa.

I want to say that definitely this particular kind of economy that we live in, which is scientifically called capitalism by “them”, was built knowing that it would not always exist in the same way. It was born literally from black blood and bodies, from stolen slave labor. Move from that, it’s a kind of an industrial thing – a production place that calls itself now a service kind of nation, which is all code words for basically being consumers, a high level of consumerism. Capitalism can’t exist that way if we know how capitalism works, and I’m talking strictly on a scientific level.

With that being said, you’re looking at a crisis of the world not being able to see the system that it was built off of – what it thought would be a resource that would never end, and yet it has. Now we have the crisis. Like I say, when America sneezes, black people get the flu.

So right now, America got the flu. So imagine what African people got. At this particular point, we’re studying it. We’re seeing a dying system that’s not going to be able to deal the way it always used to. Even if you just want to be a bloodsucker off the community or a poverty pimp, the same old poverty pimp programs ain’t happening the same old way no more. Even the trickle-down effect from our local communities and local government. Even those processes are being interrupted because of this particular kind of crisis of imperialism now. That’s going to affect us all.

That’s the reason why we have to be a part of influencing what happens next. It’s going to happen very soon. Now is the time for us to jump in and say, “This is a better way for us to govern this shit.” It’s like Stic said, it’s the green way to go. I think we have to be able to always offer them new ideas as opposed to them old, blood-sucking, parasitic ideas – that if they have it their way again, they’ll set it up the exact same way all over the world and have us all living under the weight for the world. Now is the perfect time for anybody who is full of bravery and full of courage with good ideas. Any ideas are better than their ideas. That’s where I’m at with it right now.

—Neycha: So really you’re saying this so-called crisis is actually a fertile moment for opportunity; especially for critical thinkers and for conscious-minded people. DP in the house! (laughter) Stic, you were gonna add something?

Stic: I was just going to say you’re right. The hustlers, you got to have some hustle in you. That was a popular phrase, but we got to put it in effect.

Neycha: Oh absolutely, and in a context that more people can embrace, right?

Stic: Exactly.

M: Exactly.

—Neycha: The whole shifting of the mental paradigm. You guys are so amazing.

Stic: You too. (laughter)

—Neycha: So here’s my last “neycha question”. (laughter) If each soul has a reason or a purpose for being, if we accept the premise that energies, groups of energies, have a reason for being on the planet, why is Dead Prez here, to accomplish what?

Stic: Wow! Well, let’s start with what we know. It’s a livelihood. We’re here to express our own and our generation’s perspective on our struggle. We’re here to be motivating to other people if we can. If we can keep our muthafucking selves motivated to be a ray of hope, a piece of rope or whatever for the next person. Dead Prez is not going to be defined by people’s expectations, but we’re going to continue to be an example of defining your own phenomenon and owning it and continuing it.

People don’t have to say, “Ah, I knew it. They was gonna shoot at each other and have some beef records” or some stupid shit like that. You ain’t got to worry about none of that. You know what I mean? We here to the wheels fall off. We’re going to be a concrete example of the ideas in our music, at the end of the day. Like M said, if we find out that we were completely, thoroughly wrong, we’ll be the first people to say, “Fuck Dead Prez.” (laughter)

M: The last thing I would say is Dead Prez is here basically to complete the revolution that’s happening inside of us personally and the one that’s happening around us politically. It’s already begun. I think that’s why we’re here, so we can come to our own, new revolutionary conclusions and hopefully be a part of the whole world doing it as well.

—Neycha: I hope so. I hope the new record will reach even further and broader and deeper into the psyches of those who’ve not been awakened yet. Long live DP! (laughter)

Stic: Dig that!

—Neycha: You know I think you guys are virtual courage for the people who’ve not been able to manifest and implement it for themselves. You put on a record like “It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop,” and that becomes the torch song for people who are basically trying to find their balls.

M: (laughter) Exactly, exactly.

—Neycha: Keep going, y’all. I love it! Anything else you want to add?

Stic: Thank you, thank you much for an interesting and unique interview, which is rare with the propaganda press. I really appreciate it and look forward to continuing to build.

M: Me too. and I hope also it (Information Age) goes far and wide to. Thank you Neycha.

K. Neycha Herford is a musician, writer, transformational counselor and new media journalist living in Brooklyn, New York. A visionary in the field of personal growth and human consciousness, she profiles crossfaders, visionaries, and others whose work helps to move social consciousness forward. www.neycha.com/epk.htm