Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy is a mouthful of a moniker. But the hip-hop group gives listeners an earful of the some of the smartest, most socially aware music recorded this year.
You can dance to it, too.
Indispensable is the way to describe this San Francisco-based duo.
On its debut album, ”Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury,” DHH tackles such topics as TV`s numbing effect on people, Hollywood`s mistreatment of blacks, homophobia and self-awareness. The music grooves to the sound of such percussion instruments as tire rims, electronic springs and sheet metal.
The combination of Michael Franti`s thoughtful and trenchant raps and Rono Tse`s creative percussion has attracted the attention of critics from London to Los Angeles.
DHH has been lumped into the so-called alternative rap movement along with Arrested Development and Me Phi Me. The alternative rappers don`t emphasize the partying, machismo, self-righteousness and violence that have been associated with many more-famous rappers.
Moreover, the alternative sound embraces a greater variety of musical styles, though the words are often more compelling than the music.
Franti, 26, said he`s merely trying to get people to think. ”I compare and contrast what I call politics-personal politics-with Politics, world politics,” he said. ”I try to view my life as a father and a member of the community where I live with what`s going on in Politics.”
Franti`s style is often likened to that of Gil Scott-Heron, a political-minded poet who began reciting righteous rhymes to music in the 1970s before the word ”rap” was coined. Like Scott-Heron, Franti is college-educated, and some critics have charged that the newcomer sometimes sounds detached, authoritative or analytical.
Franti calls himself a ”news junkie.” He devours newspapers, magazines and TV news to try to figure out how governmental policies affect his own life, and then he explains his perspective through his music. He believes it`s his responsibility to take advantage of his access to the media to challenge what`s going on in the world.
Is DHH`s music too elitist for the streets? ”Our stuff doesn`t hit the streets like Das EFX,” Franti said, referring to a recent best-selling rap posse. ”I`m not looking to have a million-selling single. We`re looking to do things within the community. Rap is so radio- and club-based; you`re either large or unknown. We`re on the middle level.”
Franti, who attended the University of San Francisco on a basketball scholarship, and Tse, a football player at the College of Marin, first teamed up in the Beatnigs, a noisy industrial-rock band known for its performances pairing power tools and political outrage.
After Beatnigs dissolved, rapper Franti and dancer-percussionist Tse formed Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. The group also features a guitarist and drummer for performances, as well as slides and videos.
The ”Disposable Heroes” refers to how Franti`s heroes, black athletes and entertainers, have a built-in obsolescence in their careers and ”then are thrown into scrap heaps,” he said.
”Hiphoprisy,” he said, refers to the hypocrisy of being a hip-hop artist with a social conscience recording for a company owned by a major corporation.
