Dead Prez: RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Dead Prez were saying "stay outta school" well before Kanye West made dropping out of college his wedge issue. But since 2000's Let's Get Free, the Brooklyn militant-socialist vegetarian rap duo has been dealing with label woes and run-ins with the authorities. Its follow-up, Revolutionary But Gangsta (the title is a riff on black-nationalist colors red, black and green), has been in limbo for two years, but it still sounds fresh. Jay-Z lights up a remix of the brain-searing single "Hell Yeah (Pimp the System)," which describes scraping up scratch and sticking up the pizza guy. But Dead Prez are worlds away from standard-issue iced-up criminality: Over popping electro beats, Stic and M1 deliver lines such as "Modern-day slave conditions/Got me flippin'/Burgers with no power/Can't even buy one with what I make in an hour." Revolutionary But Gangsta is a vicious, conscious kick.

LAURA SINAGRA
(RS 947, April 29, 2004)