Whatever happened to hip-hop's ability to provoke

people? When I was 14, rap wasn't just something that

made people dance, that pumped them up as they rode to

school or to a concert. It pissed people off. Think about it

— Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome,"

N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton, BDP's "Criminal

Minded," even Eric B. and Rakim's "I Ain't No Joke." That

era is the reason I like hip-hop.

That's why I like Dead Prez's Let's Get Free. It

faithfully restores hip-hop's polemics, shoving the red, black

and green of Black Nationalism in White America's face with

glee.

"I don't believe Bob Marley died from cancer/ 31 years ago,

I would have been a Panther," stic.man and M-1 sing on the

hook to "Propaganda." "They schools can't teach us shit …

all my high school teachers can suck my dick, telling me

white man's lies, straight bullshit," they rap on "They

Schools" which attacks the public school system.

Other titles attack white racism even more viciously. "Police

State" (

href="http://media.addict.com/music/Dead_Prez/Police_Stat

e.ram">RealAudio excerpt), "We Want Freedom"

and "Enemy Lines" carry the album into breathtaking, at-

times disturbing territory. They even fantasize about

throwing a Molotov cocktail through a police station window

on "Police State." The young radicals also use the platform

to honor a woman's mind on "Mind Sex" and promote

vegetarianism on "Be Healthy."

The vitriol is refreshing. But Dead Prez also understand that

the power of hip-hop lies ultimately in the music, and the

music here is strong, marked by strings, classical guitar and

live percussion work. "Hip Hop" (

href="http://media.addict.com/music/Dead_Prez/Hip_Hop.ra

m">RealAudio excerpt), judging by the over-the-

top response of fans at recent New York club shows,

figures to enter the bassline hall of fame — that

bassline is thick, unsettling and plain ol' nasty.