Michael Franti keeps the streets alive with Stay Human (playing now). Click the  button to hear Skin on the Drum. Click it again to hear Firefly. Burn baby burn. |
When Gaye shook the world with What’s Going On, he drew from the experience of his Vietnam-serving brother. Motown threatened to quash the album for being too controversial. Early U2 songs like Sunday, Bloody Sunday and Bullet the Blue Sky are the result of the terrorist violence that band members witnessed as Dublin youths.
From this tradition of a social conscience based on personal experience comes Michael Franti.
Franti was born and grew up in Oakland, a city representative of the social problems endemic in urban America. While he’s not a protest singer per se, his most powerful songs have a clear message and consistent theme. His 2001 album Stay Human is devoted to the reality that crimes common in the black community receive the harshest punishment, and black men disproportionately populate death row.
But like his Motown predecessors, Franti’s message is as much about love as about frustration. The popular title track (subtitled All the Freaky People) includes my favorite Franti lyric, “We need to heed the words of Dalai Lama (or at least the words of ya mama).” Now that is a common-sense message.
Franti’s 2007 EP Rock the Nation features two songs with strong social messages. The title track and Skin on the Drum remind us that regardless of his commercial success, Franti always remembers that Oakland is part of him, and there are Oaklands all across the nation.
My favorite Franti factoid is that wherever he plays, he includes a family-friendly matinee show - no hip-hop vernacular. I believe he does this because he sees the importance of imparting his message to a generation that still has time to make social change. I share his optimism and enjoy his message.
spearheadvibrations.com
Note: Michael Franti and Spearhead will play at Bonnaroo on Friday, June 15, in Manchester, Tenn. Check the schedule: bonnaroo.com.
