The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy laid down some funky polemic with this industrial hip-hop manifesto. Michael Franti and Rono Tse had been in the Beatnigs together mixing jazz with experimental noise before forming this new crew. Franti wrote, programmed, and arranged the songs while Tse handled percussion, drums, noise, and sheet metal. Charlie Hunter played bass and a seven-string guitar. Simone White also played drums.
'Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury' was recorded in San Francisco at Razor's Edge and Komotion studios. Consolidated's Mark Pistel co-produced the album with Franti and Meat Beat Manifesto's Jack Dangers assisted with mixing. Franti's confident voice delivers an insightful analysis of the dehumanization and prejudice of American economic politics and culture from a decidedly left-wing perspective while the beats, samples, and industrial noise (including chainsaws) provides a stirring undercurrent.
'Satanic Reverses' samples 'Miles Runs The Voodoo Down' by Miles Davis.
"Exxon and on and on and on
The ministers of double speak
New meaning of clean they
Tried to teach us
They staged the phoney shampoo of the
Valdez greases
Completely jheri curled the beaches"
'Famous and Dandy (Like Amos and Andy)' samples 'Watermelon Man' by Herbie Hancock.
"We're born believing we're greater than circumstance
Infinitely stronger than chance
As our first breath is handed
We taste the double standard
The need to wear the mask
And with society's nurturing
The psychic plastic surgery
Begins to take effect
As our souls watch astouned
Our characters flounder
Duplicitous identity
Diction and contradiction
Have become the skills
Of assimilation
Razor honed to perfection
From the moment of creation
It's gone from identity crisis
To survival slingshot to rifle
Sin to revival
Try to get looked at
But not poked in the eyeball
Warned of our impurities
Afraid of insecurities
Real life experts of the artificial
Athletes and entertainers
Have become the minstrels
On commercials"
'Language of Violence' deals with violence in schools. It samples 'Barramundi' by This Mortal Coil.
"It's tough to be young,
The young long to be tougher
When we pick on someone else
It might make us feel rougher
Abused by their fathers
But was at home though
So to prove to each other
That they were not homos
The exclamation of the phobic fury
Executioner, a judge and jury
The mob mentality, individuality was nowhere
Dignity forgotten at the bottom
Of a dumb old dare and a numb cold stare"
'The Winter of the Long Hot Summer' samples 'Waves Become Wings' by This Mortal Coil
"On January second the Bush administration
Announced a recession had stricken
The Nation the highest quarterly
Earnings in ten years were posted
By Chevron
Meanwhile a budget was placed in our hands
As the deadline in the sand came to an end
So much for the peace dividend
One billion a day is what we spent
And our grandchildren will pay for it 'til the end
When schools are unfunded
And kids don't get their diplomas
They get used for gun boat diplomacy
Disproportionately
Black or brown we see
Bullet catchers for the slave master"
'Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury'
"Careerism, opportunism
can turn the politics into cartoonism
Let's not patronize or criticize
Let's open the door and look inside
Pull the file on this state of denial"
'Music and Politics'
"If ever I would stop thinking about music and politics
I would tell you that sometimes
It's easier to desire and pursue
The attention and admiration of a hundred strangers
Than it is to accept the love and loyalty
Of those closest to me"
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