The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy

Over at slant truth Kevin Andre Elliott posts on Michael Franti and the Disposable Heroes:

Earlier today I was listening to the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury . Remember them? Michael Franti’s second group (after the Beatnigs and before Spearhead) along with Ron Tse. Back in the early nineties, when this album came out, it was the shit, but I would have expected it to have grown stale with time. Fortunately that’s not the case. In many ways, I find the album more relevant now than ever. The lyrics from the title track:

Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury

Life these days can be so complex
We don’t make the time to stop and reflect
I know from first hand experience one can go delirious
seriously it can be like that
But before I put my foot in my mouth
cause that’s what I’m about to start talking about
Please let me confess before all the rest
that I’m afflicted by this addicted like most in the U.S.
It’s tough to make a living when you’re an artist
It’s even tougher when you’re socially conscious
Careerism, opportunism
can turn the politics into cartoonism
Let’s not patronize or criticize
Let’s open the door and look inside
Pull the file on this state of denial

[Chorus:]
Hypocrisy is the greatest luxury

Raise the double standard
(2x)

The bass, the treble
don’t make a rebel
Having your life together does
AMERICA
has an image of a young one
fast living not give an expletive
no respect for his
or the lives of those around him
Suicidal, homicidal or at very least
extremely unbridled
How convenient for those
who would like to destroy him
The problem has never been our political logic
but the way we enact it
We can imagine a perfect society
but can’t maintain a decent relationship
The failure found in the luxury, not in the hardship

[Chorus:]
Hipocrisy is the greatest luxury
Raise the double standard