'It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop'

Political hip-hop will take over the Buskirk-Chumley Theater as rap duo Dead Prez arrives in Bloomington on Wednesday.

As a highlight to this year’s ArtsWeek, an annual Bloomington festival celebrating its 25th anniversary, Dead Prez will perform amid an 11-day celebration focusing on politics and the arts that also includes lectures, documentaries and exhibitions that range in topic from Islamic art to women in jazz.

“They are very politically minded, which might cause a stir with a few individuals who may not understand their ideology or aims,” said WIUX Station Manager Craig Shank, “but Bloomington is really accepting of a wide variety of music and viewpoints.”

The show, presented by ArtsWeek, Spirit of ’68 Productions and the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, comes on the heels of the duo’s autumn release of its latest single, the election-themed “Politrikkks.” The single will be featured on Dead Prez’s upcoming February release “Information Age.”

The album, which will mark Dead Prez emcees Stic.man and M-1’s first release since 2004’s “RGB: Revolutionary But Gangsta,” is the duo’s third collaborative effort.
Both rappers have recorded solo projects since, but “Information Age” sees Stic.man and M-1 reunited for both the album and a winter tour.

First coming together at Florida A&M University in the early 1990s through their interest in politics and social action, the two decided to reach a bigger audience by moving to New York.

After releasing a few singles, the duo released its critically acclaimed debut album in 2000, “Let’s Get Free,” which featured the widely popular single, “It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop,” a track later featured as the theme song for Comedy Central’s “Chappelle’s Show.”

With lyrics that focused on topics such as racism, capitalism, education and even veganism, Stic.man and M-1 made waves and hailed comparisons to hip-hop acts like Public Enemy and KRS-One.

With such politically based material, local residents are both interested and excited to see the rap duo in a college town like Bloomington.

“Having such a creative and exciting act come to Bloomington is certainly a big deal, regardless of how they are perceived,” Shank said.

Andrew East, IU junior and Dead Prez fan, anticipates the group’s local show.

“I decided to check out the show because Dead Prez is one of my favorite hip-hop groups, and I think they would be really good live,” East said. “They have a lot of great things to say. I hope the Bloomington response will be good. I think anyone who is a fan of hip-hop will enjoy it.”

Tickets can be purchased at Landlocked Music, Tracks, the Sunrise Box Office and
www.bloomingtonarts.info.