How best to spread revolutionary ideology? By insurrectionist noise, or a gentle subversion of the mainstream? For their latest album (their fourth, vaguely), Dead Prez have opted for the latter path to enlightenment. M-1 and Stic.man may talk like Black Panther militia generals, but musically their hip-hop has evolved into a poppy, soulful relative of Outkast circa "Stankonia".
Clearly, this is a pretty shrewd tactic. The lazily twanging guitars and distant synth whoosh complement the duo's machine-gun rapping style, and derail the Public Enemy comparisons that have dogged Dead Prez since their emergence at the turn of the century. Doubtless, there's a political strategy behind this – to disseminate radical politics under cover of accessible pop. But the more cynical might see significance in the fact that Erykah Badu, one-time partner of Andre 3000, is now reputedly involved with M-1 (and contributes backing vocals to "Walk Like A Warrior").
Whatever, the results are slick and provocative, with the languid likes of "W-4" providing a lucid analysis of contemporary poverty and offering a sweetly-cooed solution: "I'm gonna run up in the White House and kick in the door." At times, they can be funny, too. If nothing here quite matches their 2002 bootleg remix of Aaliyah, "We Need A Revolution", even Stic's memoirs of alcoholism ("Fu*ked Up") come with a spiky wit as he concludes, "I used to have a thing for cognac/ Nowadays I train for combat."
Nevertheless, the best track by some distance is a remix of their rockish "Hell Yeah" single, entitled "Pimp The System", which pits Dead Prez's community-conscious radicalism against hip-hop's champion rhymer and materialist, Jay-Z. As ever, the latter is superb, equating his street dealer past as a rational response to economic oppression, and plainly delighting in falling in with such an unlikely crowd.
For all Dead Prez's clarity and positivity, it's ironic – and slightly depressing – that a consummate businessman rather than a Marxist rebel should end up stealing the show.
