Michael Franti
Michael Franti is an American singer, songwriter, musician, poet, activist, documentarian, and rapper — widely known for his numerous musical projects with political and social emphasis, including the Beatnigs and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Franti founded and is lead vocalist of Michael Franti & Spearhead, a band blending hip hop with a variety of other styles including funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock. He is outspoken on peace and social justice and Middle East issues.
Early life
Franti was born in Oakland, California. His mother, Mary Lofy, had Irish, German, and Belgian ancestry; his father, Thomas Hopkins, was of African American and Native American descent. He was adopted by Carole Wisti and Charles Franti, a Finnish American couple in Oakland, who at the time had three biological children and one adopted African American son. Charles Franti was a professor in the department of epidemiology and preventive medicine of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and died in 2003. Franti's four adoptive siblings are Rebecca, Sara, Dan, and Matthew. Michael also has four half-siblings, Thea, Thomas, Charles, and Arthur Hopkins.Franti attended Highland Junior High School in Edmonton, Alberta through grade 9, later attending Davis Senior High School and the University of San Francisco — the latter, on a full basketball scholarship, averaging 2.4 pts per game during the 1985–1986 season. At USF, Franti met a priest who taught him how to write stories, and soon he was writing poetry. He purchased a bass guitar at a pawn shop and started creating music inspired by hip hop, punk, and reggae which was being played on the campus radio station, KUSF.
Career
The Beatnigs (1986–1990)
Franti began his music career in 1986 as part of the industrial punk/spoken word band the Beatnigs. While attending the University of San Francisco and living above KUSF he developed a fascination with music and decided to start a band. The Beatnigs included dancer and percussionist Rono Tse; the band released a self-titled LP and an EP Television on Alternative Tentacles records. The records received some critical acclaim but little fame beyond the San Francisco Bay Area.The group recorded at Dancin' Dog Studio in Emeryville and was distributed by Alternative Tentacles. In addition to Michael Franti and Ron Tse the band included Henry Flood Andre Flores Kevin Carnes and Louis 'Troy' Dixon. All members made multiple instrumental contributions.
Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy (1991–93)
His next project, the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, found Franti continuing his collaboration with Tse, and working with jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter, as well as electronic musicians Mark Pistel and Jack Dangers. The Disposable Heroes wrote politically charged lyrics that railed against the injustices of the world, set to a fusion of industrial music and hip hop. Their first album, Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury, won plaudits for its social commentary, and they were chosen by U2 to open for their Zoo TV Tour.The album's lyrics dealt with a range of issues, including the US involvement in the Gulf war, the oil industry, homophobic violence, immigration, Franti's own cultural background and adoption, and more personal politics. The single "Television, The Drug of The Nation" gained airplay on college and alternative radio stations for its critique of mainstream television, which as the title implies, blames the media for a political numbing of ordinary people, explicit in the lyrics: "T.V., it satellite links, our United States of unconsciousness, apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive".
The Disposable Heroes recorded music accompanying novelist William Burroughs' readings for an album entitled Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales. The distinctive work of the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy has been analyzed in various academic papers, including by author Leslie Haywood and editor Jeniffer Drake in the book Third Wave Agenda, Being Feminist and Doing Feminism. The analysis involved the role of masculinity in the misogynist point of view which dominates popular music e.g. in rap music. The authors assert that Franti's lyrics in treating women fairly in relationships is an exception.
According to the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy is an innovative contemporary hip hop crew; a mixture of articulate manifesto rap which broke down beyond the black and white rhetoric, especially in the song "Language of Violence", one of the first raps to speak about homophobia.
Michael Franti and Spearhead (1994–present)
In 1994, Franti dissolved the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and formed a new band called Spearhead with a few studio musicians, including mainstay Carl Young. Their first release, Home, in September 1994, was a departure from the politically charged rap of the Disposable Heroes and drew more from funk and soul music. The album was produced by Franti and Joe Nicolo. The song "Positive", also from the album Home, appeared on the Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool compilation album by the Red Hot Organization. In 1998, Spearhead recorded "I Got Plenty 'o Nuthin" with Ernest Ranglin for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody.Their follow-up album, Chocolate Supa Highway was released in March 1997, with several changes in band members between releases. This album featured a return to hip hop elements and a pronounced reggae influence and included guest appearances by notables like Stephen Marley and Joan Osborne.
After releasing the two albums, the band split with Capitol Records. The band instead decided to create its own record label, Boo Boo Wax. Since Capitol Records owned the rights to the name "Spearhead", subsequent albums were all released as "Michael Franti & Spearhead." His song "Sometimes" was included on the soundtrack to the 1999 film Mystery Men, as well as the soundtrack to the 2006 film Last Holiday. Also, under the "Spearhead" name, their cover version of The Police's 1979 No. 32 hit, "Roxanne", was featured on the soundtrack to the 1997 film Good Burger.
Michael Franti & Spearhead released Stay Human in 2000 under their own label Boo Boo Wax in alignment with indie music label Six Degrees Records. The album's central theme was the unjust nature of the death penalty and other major themes included mass media monopolization, the prison-industrial complex and corporate globalization. In an interview, Franti talked about the message of Stay Human: "Half the record is songs about what's happening in the world right now, and the other half is about how we cope with it as people who are concerned about what's going on", he said. "This specter of war, intimidation, this nation vs. the rest of the world, it wears us out. Half the record is a healthy dose of venting anger about that, and the other half is about how do we hold on to our spirituality, our community and our connectedness to each other."
In 2001, Franti was featured on Lamb's album What Sound, providing backing vocals on the track "I Cry". Also in 2001, Michael Franti & Spearhead released the song "Oh My God", arguably one of Michael Franti & Spearhead's most precise resistance songs. It was analyzed in Catherine Chaput's book Entertaining Fear: Rhetoric and the Political Economy of Social Control. Chaput uses the lyrics of "Oh My God" to show how it is counter-productive to understand politics as distinct from economics and culture. The lyrics make connections across science, popular culture and politics.
Everyone Deserves Music was released in 2003. Franti composed many of the songs from his guitar and, like fellow 21st-century cultural globalists Manu Chao and Ozomatli, continues to synthesize his eclectic influences. In a departure from the industrial sounds of the Beatnigs and Disposable Heroes, and the minimalism of early Spearhead, Franti's affirming lyrics are now set to swelling rock chords, while keeping a world-wise groove nodding towards reggae, dancehall, bossa nova, Afrobeat, and funk. Anthems like the title track "Everyone Deserves Music", "Yes I Will" and "Bomb The World" are constructed with a nod to the 1980s rock of The Clash and U2, as well as to classic soul from Stax and Motown. The song "We Don't Stop" bridges the two sounds in a "Magnificent Seven" style mash-up. And on "Love Why Did You Go Away" and "What I Be", Franti reveals an alluring, sensual singing voice. "Pray For Grace" and "Bomb The World " pair Franti with the reggae/funk giants Sly and Robbie.
Also in 2003, Franti released a mostly acoustic album, Songs from the Front Porch, containing rearranged versions of older songs from Chocolate Supa Highway, Stay Human, and Everyone Deserves Music as well as a couple of new tracks.
On July 25, 2006, Michael Franti & Spearhead released Yell Fire!, inspired by Franti's trip to Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Iraq. In an effort to share his experiences from his trip and to explore the human cost of war, Franti produced a movie entitled I Know I'm Not Alone, using the songs from his album Yell Fire! as a soundtrack. "One Step Closer To You" from Yell Fire! features Pink on backing vocals. The whole album is available for listening in his website.
Franti and Spearhead have gained a worldwide audience through touring and appearances in alternative media like Mother Jones magazine and Democracy Now!.
Franti continues to tour in addition to producing the annual Power to the Peaceful festival each year since 1998. The festival originated as a way of supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been convicted of murdering a policeman but is considered by some on the Left to be a political prisoner. Michael Franti continues to gain influence in both popular music and social movements largely through extensive touring and word of mouth fan support. Lyrics from his song "Bomb The World", written in the dark aftermath of September 11 such as "You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can't bomb it into peace" have found their way onto protest signs and t-shirts all over the world from Los Angeles to Berlin, San Francisco to CNN, at demonstrations for peace large and small.
The song "Light Up Ya Lighter" by Michael Franti & Spearhead was included on the soundtrack to Body of War, an award-winning documentary about Tomas Young, a paralyzed Iraq War veteran. Songs from Yell Fire and All Rebel Rockers are on the soundtrack to The Edge of Never, a documentary about extreme skiers mentoring 15-year-old Kye Peterson in his quest to ski the route in Chamonix, France that killed his father, Trevor Peterson, nine years earlier.
The album All Rebel Rockers was released on September 9, 2008, and was largely recorded in Jamaica at the Anchor studio in St Andrew. The band worked with ubiquitous rhythm team Sly and Robbie and featured multi-talented vocalist Cherine Anderson on the set which entered the Billboard 200 pop chart in September at number 38. The single Say Hey ' also reached Number 18 on the US Hot 100, providing Franti with his first US Top 20 single. Michael Franti was featured on Aux.tv's show Volume where he spoke about U.S. politics and his efforts to make the world a better place.
Franti played three different events to commemorate President Barack Obama's inauguration: The Green Ball, The Peace Ball, and the Rock the Vote Party. Franti announced in November 2009 that he would be joining musician John Mayer on the Battle Studies Tour in spring 2010. As part of the band's commitment to environmentalism, Michael Franti and Spearhead avoid the use of water bottles on national tours and run their tour bus on biodiesel.
Franti announced the release of The Sound of Sunshine on his official website in July 2010. It features 12 tracks including two versions of the title track, the new hit single, "Shake It", and staples of his recent live performances including "Hey Hey Hey", "Anytime You Need Me", "The Thing That Helps Me Get Through", and the anthemic arena-rock ballad "I'll Be Waiting". The album was originally set to be released on August 24, but was pushed back to September 21 to give the album "more runway."
Franti started the recording process for The Sound of Sunshine in Jamaica but then continued to mix tracks and record in Bali before choosing to bring a portable studio on the road. He continued to record on the road and then test his ideas in front of live audiences to see if they liked it before going back and revamping it the next day. He has since been quoted as saying 90% of the album ended up being recorded on his laptop. In 2012, he joined the 11th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.
In 2013, Franti released All People. The single, "I'm Alive ", was released on July 30, 2013, and was featured on The Sims 4 and Rayman Legends game trailers. He released the album SoulRocker in 2016. All the songs began on the acoustic guitar. In March 2018, Franti announced a new album, Stay Human, Vol. II, would be released in June 2018 and also stands as the soundtrack to his new documentary. In July Franti, via Instagram, announced the album was delayed until Fall 2018. Stay Human, Vol. II was released on January 25, 2019, and on October 12 the first single was released, "Just to Say I Love you".
In 2020, Franti released the album "Work Hard and Be Nice." His single "Good Day for a Good Day" from his 2022 album "Follow Your Heart" was a top 25 AAA hit. He did the music for the Woody Harrelson film Champions''.