Michael Franti

Michael Franti (born April 21, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, poet, activist, documentarian, and rapper.

Known for his participation in many musical projects, most with a political and social emphasis, including the Beatnigs and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy.

He is the creator and lead vocalist of Michael Franti & Spearhead, a band that blends hip hop with a variety of other styles including funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock.

He is also an outspoken supporter for a wide spectrum of peace and social justice issues, and he is especially an advocate for peace in the Middle East.

Michael Franti was born in Oakland, California.

His mother, Mary Lofy, had Irish, German, and Belgian ancestry, and 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.

He then attended Davis Senior High School and University of San Francisco on a full basketball scholarship, where during the 1985–1986 season, he averaged 2.4 pts per game.

During his time at school there he met a priest who taught him how to write stories, and soon he was writing poetry.

He purchased a bass at a pawn shop and started creating music inspired by hip hop, punk, and reggae that was being played on the campus radio station, KUSF.

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 1988 LP release The Beatnigs was recorded at Dancin' Dog Studio in Emeryville and distributed by Alternative Tentacles.

In addition to Michael Franti and Ron Tse, the band included Henry Flood on percussion, Andre Flores on keyboards, and Kevin Carnes on vocals.

All of the band members made multiple instrumental contributions, including industrial percussion.

See main article: The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy

His next project, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, found Franti continuing his collaboration with Tse, and working with jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter, and electronic musicians Mark Pistel (Consolidated) and Jack Dangers (Meat Beat Manifesto).

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 (on Island Records), 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' (previously recorded by Franti's former project, The Beatnigs) 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 also 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.

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.

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 (reportedly prompted by the label's repeated urging to perform with other artists like Will Smith).

In 1998, Spearhead recorded "I Got Plenty 'o Nuthin" with Ernest Ranglin for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody.

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 named Rebecca, Sara, Dan, and Matthew.

Franti also has four half-siblings, Thea, Thomas, Charles, and Arthur Hopkins.

Franti spent his grade 9 school year at Highland Junior High School in Edmonton, Alberta.