dead prez

With their third official album, dead prez invoke the current financial meltdown and seize the depressed zeitgeist. Songs like the synth-laden, Bun B-supported “Don’t Hate My Grind” find MCs stic.man and M1 brimming with proletariat pride and gleefully critiquing corrupt, bailed-out corporations; the more intense “Warpath” seethes with social unrest, suggesting that the revolution will not be downsized. Still, the duo aren’t simply dogmatic: “Summer Time” is both a breezy ride-out anthem and, with its references to food-stamp-friendly fruit stands, a keen snapshot of inner-city life.

By Will Dukes