10 Minutes with M-1 of Dead Prez

Whenever Hip Hop and Politics meet they appear to have an allergic reaction. Hip hop artists even the “conscious” of hip hop artists make overt political statements when it comes to the current Bush Administration or any other civil unjustness, but what bothers me is when artists are asked the question are they political their immediate response seems to always be, “No, or I’m not a politician.” Maybe it’s for fear of losing a certain status, corporate sponsorship or they’re own livelihood, but the truth in the matter is there are politics in everything; all the way down to who is picked to be the next American Idol, what’s played on the radio and what CNN, FOXNews, and the New York Times decide to inform the people about.

Dead Prez is a group that does not fear what comes from the idea of sacrificing for the bigger cause which for one half of the duo M-1 is freedom. I had the opportunity to sit down with M-1 at a political event in Washington, DC to discuss how it felt to be in the presence of the government and to be in the Capitol buildings and hear what those walls could say if they could talk.

Scheme: What was it like being inside the capital building for the first time?

M-1: It felt like that old White bureaucracy, establishment. It felt so much in the way of ruling class oppression. The walls were wide and you could tell that much miscarriage of justice had taken place here. I was just happy to be able to holla at them.

Scheme: What has it been like coming to DC and experiencing driving past buildings like the CIA, FBI, the Pentagon because for me these buildings comprise a bunch of false truths; what was that like for you?

M-1: It was much like being at the State Capitol in Tallahassee (Florida) that me and Stic (Man) started organizing, it felt the same except more engrained and more institutionalized. We’ve been fighting this same ugly beast that rears its head in every city. We started in Tallahassee and I’ve fought this same head in Springfield, IL, Chicago, IL, Oakland, CA, Wichita, KS, Philadelphia, PA-you name it it’s happened.

“I’ve been experiencing dueling with the beast, I think we have to. Our leadership has learned that. I’ve seen Malcolm do it Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Toure) and I’ve seen so much of our leadership able to express clear leadership objectives in the face of trickery because that’s what it is.”

Scheme: When did you first create your worldview and perspective?

M-1: I was influenced, my political education was influenced by what was left from the Black Panther Organization and the best organizers who picked up the pieces. Willie Mukasa Ricks and Enua Injerry and I learned indirectly from Fred Hampton Sr. Deputy Chairman of the Black Panther Party in Chicago, IL who became my mentor in many ways.

Scheme: I watched you on Fox News and what was it like going into a set-up in which the media was going to twist to make it seem like they were in the right?

M-1: I’ve been experiencing dueling with the beast, I think we have to. Our leadership has learned that. I’ve seen Malcolm do it Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Toure) and I’ve seen so much of our leadership able to express clear leadership objectives in the face of trickery because that’s what it is. The media is smoke and mirrors and they want to create the illusion of legitimacy in a world when the reality is that their bankrupt and they don’t have it and I don’t do it for them, I do it for our people. I primarily don’t even communicate with them; they could never get a message from me they would have to go through DaveyD.com.

Scheme: Do you ever wake up in the morning and say to yourself “I’m tired” and not tired in the sense of lack of sleep but exhausted and mentally drained and you begin to sound like Fannie Lou Hamer where you are, “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”?

M-1: Yeah, Fannie Lou Hamer was essential to the struggle even here in Washington, DC. That phrase is literally tattooed in my brain because when I met Sister Assata who is our hero she explained the concept of a reluctant revolutionary. She basically said our highest interest is not to fight but we are forced into this position because we are warriors at heart and we are faced with oppression so we become this reluctant visionary and that’s where the concept of being tired is because of the job that we know we must do but its so much of what we really want to be doing but can’t be doing.

“To the sistas who can’t hear that message know that the brothas are sincere. The truest love is going to be the love that we develop in the struggle for freedom for one another.”

Scheme: If you had 10 or 5 points how would you begin to initiate what you just stated regarding a revolution?

M-1: It would be the RGB Code (Red, Black & Green)
1) No Snitching: We don’t deal with our oppressor in anyway possible as much as we can. All snitches don’t where uniforms.
2) Each One Teach One
3) Protect yourself, your family and your community at all times.
4) Be organized
5) Be productive and that’s the RBG Code.

Scheme: What do you say to the young women of color who have this image of them put on television that says if a guy has a nice car in some money you should get with him? What do you say to the woman who knows that there is more than that but doesn’t see it?

M-1: Everything is clouded by oppression. The search for love, understanding, health, family, economic stability is all clouded by exploitation of oppression. It’s hard to find that when every moment is an emergency or alert mode. To the sistas who can’t hear that message know that the brothas are sincere. The truest love is going to be the love that we develop in the struggle for freedom for one another.

Scheme: Before it’s all said and done what do you want to accomplish here on earth?

M-1: Our highest aspiration is freedom and we won’t compromise it. We pick up from the footsteps of those who were assassinated and who were attempting to carry out the mission that’s what and where I am. The ultimate mission is liberation for our people-true liberation and self-determination and anything short is a failure. I can’t be satisfied by gold trinkets and materialism or the high life.

Scheme: What are some of the craziest things you’ve heard from a record company when you present yourself to them?

M-1: It’s a general non-connection that we can read before they can ever get to the point where they can say something that is offensive directly. It generally comes after we sign the contract and theirs a marriage and we’re debating on the points of our attack or presentation to the people and that’s when the most absurd comments come out. Ultimately it’s censorship, when somebody has something to say the thing that would violate that most would be not being able to say it.