In 1986, Franti formed the Beatings, whose black industrial sound deconstructed punk, rock, and Reaganism with a leather-jacketed "No!" to militarism, racism, and compromise.

By 1992, Franti and Beating member Rono Tse became the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy with multi-instrumentalist Charlie Huner. Their album Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury delivered assaulting Publie Enemy-inspired beats and rhymes, but also offered naked songs like the self-probing "Socio-Genetic Experiment" and the movement-mantric "Music and Politcs".

Franti toured with U2, recorded with William Burroughs, and became a protest music icon.

His next step defied expectations. In 1994, he signed to Capitol Records for his new band, Spearhead, and dove headfirst into his blackness, musing up Mayfield and Marley, Scott-Heron and Scarface. Home and Chocolate Supa Highway sold hundreds of thousands of copies and Spearhead became a worldwide phenomenon.

But by 1999, Franti had retreated from the major-label treadmill to re-center his music and politics. He returned the following year as an organizer and cultural worker tied to the rising movements against the death penalty, the prison-industrial complex and corporate globalization, voicing his observations through his music.

2000's Stay Human, co-released on his own indie label Boo Boo Wax and Six Degrees, was a statement on justice and survival, touching on issues like media monopolization and incarceration. Franti displayed a new side. A vulnerable, articulate and expanisive voice unafraid to embrace differences and envision the possibilities of another world, but also not fearful of speaking loud and on the edge of pacifism.

Courtesy of Jeff Chang