20th Anniversary to the Let’s Get Free Album. Everything from the Lyrics to the Contract
Full interview unedited on one of the most critically acclaimed albums in music history.
The Objective: When you linked up with your lyrical partner M1, what was the motivation, the ora the karma around the album?
Stic of dead prez: It was basically a summary of our political views at the time, our frustration and our hopes for a better world. And we wanted to bring the hardest album we could to the HipHop space and use the HipHop platform for more than it was being used for. So Let’s get free came outta that.
Songs like Police State, which we can see today. Propaganda, which we can see today. All these things-lets get free- that message of self-determination and just liberation on mind, body, spirit and community all way around that was the inspiration behind that, and that’s the inspiration still behind the work we’re doing. Even though we had time to grow, process, develop, mature, test theories, adapt and have a white belt mindset as we go.
My path has led me to holistic health and wellness as front lines of the work that I’m doing. I think I can make the most impact in that space, and it led me away from ambulance chasing and confrontational politics of what I’m against and what ain’t right and complaining. I feel like I tested that theory, and I feel helping people be well, be fit, have confidence, be mentally encouraged; I’ve seen more productive results. That what has led me to do FitHop and my new album The Workout 2.
The Objective: One of our team members interviewed you years ago, on your shift from political awareness to health, and you corrected them that it wasn’t a shift. You told us you can’t have freedom if you’re not healthy.
Stic of dead prez: Someone said you can enjoy $10 in health more than you can enjoy $1 Million in poor health. That goes the same with freedom, or any other political objective is health has to the front line. You can’t send soldiers nowhere if they ain’t healthy.
The Objective: Your album was very eclectic. You used stuff from the Last Poets and the Black Panthers ect. Do you wanna talk about some of the collaborators you used on the album?
Stic of dead prez: Ya.. the last poets you mentioned. We worked with Abiodun Oyewole. On the song mind sex, he did the Black Rose poem. We sampled a lot of our heroes Omali Yeshitela from the African People’s Socialist Party. That’s him on Police State and Wolves. We sampled movies and different documentaries like The Spook Who Sat By The Door and speeches from Huey P Newton and other Black Panther Party members. We were on Loud Records at the time, so Sean C, Schott free, Matt Life was our A&R Team, and they helped us build our sound. Lord Jamal was instrumental in us getting a deal, co-producing and helping to have that sound that the album is unique for. It was a powerful document.
My Homies from Florida, our whole team, contributed to that record. A lot of people want let’s get free 2, but I’m like, that was that era. It’s always there, I send people back to it. I’m like, Oh, you want let’s get free 2? – listen to it again. Revolutionary, but Gansta was our next record, which was like the prequel to what made us make let’s get free.
A lot of people don’t realize RBG was how we were living before we became revolutionaries and became members of the National People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement and African People’s Socialist Party. RBG was the prequel. Our third album Information Age was a look towards the future, which if we look, it’s like where we’re at now. Songs like what if the lights go out, new beginnings, we were looking at new kinds of terms, attempting to create a soundtrack for what the future might look like for communities trying to get empowered.
The Objective: When you started out, how were the contracts? Basically, the music industry hasn’t been kind to us since the Cadillac records days. What was it like dealing with the industry and the contract. Getting something tangible for you and your family?
Stic of dead Prez: That was definitely a battleground. I think the first offer we got was ten stacks -$10,000. I was like man, I didn’t come all the way from Florida and be homeless in NYC to be splitting ten G’s with my team. That’s ridiculous. The thing is, Lord Jamar, he had Brand Nubian fame, they had already been a signed act for many years and established themselves when we met them and he was telling me that they got signed for I believe $5,000 each-Brand Nubian! So, when he was telling me that, I was like that’s not what I came here for.
So, the record label hit us with certain offers, and I had to take the matters in my own hands, be my own attorney. The lawyers we had was telling us this is standard- everything was standard. Which means status quo, which means take it up the a**. It is what it is. So, I had to get in those conversations and negotiate from a perspective of what I thought our work was worth, and we ended up boosting what we signed was $250,000. At that time artists were getting deals like that which went out in the year 2000. We were one of the last artists getting a signed deal like that.
Every time we would get an advance, I would always invest in equipment, trademarks and different things I see the record labels and companies doing. I would say boom! Let me take some bread and do that, let me buy the equipment, so I don’t have to pay the studio- let me get this, so I own that. Let me invest in T-shirts so we can do our own merchandising. So, we have always been trying to have the means of production and be in charge as best we could as we negotiate these deals with the industry.
The Objective: How was the music received at that time, inside our community and outside our community? Like when you pushed it out, and you went on tour and the mixtapes, how was the reception?
The reception was all love. We went around the world, Africa, Cuba, Germany you name it… We went everywhere, and it was mad love, it was packed, everybody knew the lyrics. The energy was high, don’t matter what color, Black, White, different nationalities, different languages, everybody was on it, and it been like that since we came out.
The Objective: What would be your message for the youth right now? Rather they want to get healthy or get in the music industry?
Stic of dead prez: My message to the youth, to the elders and everything in between. Health is wealth. Holistic health is wealth. Take care of your body through fitness, self-care practices, nurse yourself, grow food, eat clean. Meditate, and stay open-minded, keep a White Belt mindset.
Be of service to other people, be humble, be strong, develop your skillset. That’s holistic health. Through that, you always going to be wealthy. We don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring with the pandemic that’s going on right now. We don’t know if the very foundation of capitalism is over. We don’t know that. So, I can’t tell you what capitalism is going to look like ten minutes from now.
But what I do know is regardless of capitalism or other ism’s people bring forth, your health is your economy. Your health is your way to navigate through whatever happens and whatever happening and be at your best to face whatever. If that means we gotta walk ten miles to get water or it means we just gotta have compassion not to argue and fight each other cause we quarantined. It’s about refocusing our priorities on health, self-care and being present in the best way for ourselves and loved ones. So that’s not a youth question that’s just for anybody. It’s what times call for right now. To be unified, have integrity to our values and not take advantage of people right now. To have self-control over our emotions, so they don’t get the best of us when your frustrated or worried or doubting and having anxiety and be like water and just adapt. Water doesn’t resist what’s in front of it. It just adapts and finds balance. That’s my two cents; be like water, stay unified.
The Objective: The last thing, we saw you signed a deal with the Canadian company Lululemon and congrats on that.
Stic of dead prez: Thank you. What I’m doing with Lululemon is I’m a running ambassador, and we are doing all kinds of creative projects. We started last year and will continue. We doing creative projects that bring together my passion for running with my experience in HipHop and my platform. Lululemon’s agenda and message of being all in, in what you do. Being authentic about health and wellness and doing it for yourself and other people. So, lookout for a few campaigns. We got one called experience FitHop about this 14 year old boxer that qualified for the Olympics and how my music fuels her and inspiration. We got a be all in project coming later about changing the landscape of manhood and men can be vulnerable and find strength in that. We got all a lot stuff to look forward to. Lululemon is a huge corporation but has a really focused and authentic agenda as it relates to the community they’re trying to build, so I’m honoured to get to work with them.