dead prez

The Florida-based political rap duo Dead Prez pairs Stic.man with M-1, two artists who drew early motivation from revolutionaries spanning Malcolm X through Public Enemy. While developing their distinct brand of hip-hop, the pair delved deeply into political and social scholarship. They later appeared alongside Big Punisher on the rapper’s 1998 album Capital Punishment and issued the singles “Police State with Chairman Omali” in 1998 and “It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop” in 1999. Their first full-length effort, Lets Get Free, surfaced in early 2000. A pair of mixtapes—Turn off the Radio: The Mixtape, Vol. 1 and Turn off the Radio: The Mixtape, Vol. 2: Get Free or Die Tryin'—arrived in successive years, 2002 and 2003, each loaded with fresh material, before the group returned with the studio album RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta in 2004. Two years afterward, the remaining members of the Outlawz joined Dead Prez for the collaborative project Can't Sell Dope Forever, and Stic.man soon partnered with Young Noble on the joint release Soldier 2 Soldier. Pulse of the People, presented by DJ Green Lantern in 2009 and regarded as the third installment in the Turn off the Radio sequence, featured guest contributions from Chuck D, Bun B, and Styles P. By 2012 the duo delivered Information Age, an album that shifted toward futuristic, electro-driven beats while retaining its core focus on politically charged lyrics.