Moderator Hello everyone. Michael Franti from Spearhead is here.

Sofie Who is your favorite hip hop group?

SPEARHEAD Tribe. I toured with them last summer.

Sofie Do you like the Wu?

SPEARHEAD I love the Wu too. I buy almost every record that comes out. My favorite record this year is Redman's Muddywaters.

SA Have you ever been to Italy?

SPEARHEAD I was just in Italy, we played in Milan. They love hip-hop in Italy.

jewels91 Do they like crap like the Spice Girls?

SPEARHEAD What do you mean, "crap"? The Spice Girls are one of the marvels of 20th Century technology.

Arno In "Gas Gauge", what happened when he pushed the "star 69" on the phone? (In Europe it is not the same...)

SPEARHEAD When you push *69 on the phone in America, it rings back to the person who just last dialed you.

SA Cool! I want *69 too!

Arno I have another question about some lyrics. In "People In Tha Middle", what do you want to say when you say "diddle to the people in da middle"?

SPEARHEAD People in the middle are people that get caught between the cracks.

Arno I think in the Spearhead band the lyrics are really important. I don't wanna read the lips! I try to translate the M. Franti word in French, but sometimes it don't work, like with the "diddle". Do you have a other word for this one ?

SPEARHEAD Hey, "diddle diddle" is from a nursery rhyme. It's really not a word. It just rhymes.

Sofie Do you like Erykah Badu?

SPEARHEAD I love Erykah Badu. I met her in London about 6 weeks ago. She's

beautiful.

SonicMod Do you like the Notorious B.I.G.?

SPEARHEAD Biggie is my favorite rapper.

Lil Who do you think killed Biggie?

SPEARHEAD I think that the climate of envy, jealousy and greed was responsible for Biggie's death. It's impossible for me to say who it was specifically, but it's a tragedy that this system has us all strung out doing desperate deeds for our own personal gains.

Lil What do you think about the West/East coast mess?

SPEARHEAD The whole thing was built up by the media in order to sell magazines and records. In the end, all it did was divide brothers and sisters who had no real beef with one another.

Lil Is there any other artist you would like to work with?

SPEARHEAD I would love to work with Curtis Mayfield.

Lil If not for hip hop, what would you be doing right now?

SPEARHEAD If it weren't for hip hop, I would be doing some other creative, cultural expression, like movie making or, hmmmmm... cooking!

Now it's time to say good-bye to all our company. One love y'all, it's always a treat. Hold tha vibes and stand firm.