thaFormula.com - How did you guys come with the whole concept of the first album "Let's Get Free?"

M1 of dead prez - That album right there came straight out the minds of Stic Man and M1 and one day we sat in a limo and we was going to a show and we didn't have a name for the album yet. We was like "damn man what are we gonna call the shit?" Then you know we said "Let's get free man," 'cause that's what we wanted to do. So we named the shit "Lets Get Free." It wasn't like no grand plan like we were gonna make a master plan album, as a matter a fact we had no idea what it was really gonna be like. Ultimately we made a whole bunch of songs all in the vein that we knew what we wanted. We made a bunch of songs in that vein and that's what helped us to make that album.

thaFormula.com - So you guys didn't just sit down and say "this is how we are gonna make this album?"

M1 of dead prez - Not sit down and make every song like "oh we need this, we need this." No, we knew the stuff we wanted to lay out, but it wasn't like we had an outline before we started. Basically we had the outline of struggling in our lives. It was like "okay we got to talk about the police if were talking about struggling, we got to talk about being poor broke and hungry. We gotta talk about trying to eat healthy with no money and staying alive without eating the bullshit." So those are just things that happened out of us recognizing that hey, we tired of struggling.

thaFormula.com - That's crazy because that album seemed to flow together from beginning to end?

M1 of dead prez - Yeah I agree and I knew that the album needed to be pushed but its obvious that it wasn't to the extent that it could have been to maximize the movement that it could have built. But on the low it did build that movement. I just made an album, but my whole role now in making an album is that I'm in a totally different place then when I made "Lets Get Free" and my album now is just me and before it was me and Stic. But I really have respect for that piece of work we did.

thaFormula.com - You know I have heard people say that your solo album was not like the older stuff and it seems like everyone wants you guys to do "Let's Get Free" all the time and really have a hard time accepting anything else, what do you say to that?

M1 of dead prez - You will never get it. I can't be something I'm not and I just do me. If you want it then please go buy 3 of them because that's beautiful.

thaFormula.com - How different was your mind frame recording back then as opposed to now?

M1 of dead prez - There was a lot of different things. You can't even compare the two times. It's been 10 years since we made that.

thaFormula.com - So when you listen to "Let's Get Free" now, how do you view that album and the lyrics you guys were spitting at the time?

M1 of dead prez - Oh I say the same exact things now. I say the same exact "Let's Get Free" words that I say on my album. For this album I changed it cognitively. It's obvious if you listen to all my songs, every one of them are filled with politics in this album and every album that I've ever done. Every song is filled with the politics of black and brown revolution. Not no soft shit at all. Now I definitely did change the sound of the music but you know you grow and you experiment as an artist. I can't make the same songs 50 different times.

thaFormula.com - How hard is it when people keep trying to pigeon hole you and keep you in that one place?

M1 of dead prez - I refuse to and that's why I make albums that have different kind of sounds on it because I don't want to be pigeon holed. That's what we did with "RBG." We were tired of being pigeon holed as the "Let's Get Free" artist that came out in 2000, so when 2004 came 4 years later and I'm talkin' 4 whole years we dropped "RBG," people said "oh we want 'Let's Get Free'." We were like "come on that was 4 years ago!" Now it's 2007 and I refuse to be pigeon holed. I think we have to grow with the times and make music for now. I mean you have to make good music no matter what. If you don't like the music then that's something else and I respect that. I love to hear creative criticism for real. I think the Internet is the best thing that ever happened when it comes to criticism because people won't really come up to your face and be like "I don't like the album." People don't do that, like I wish people would do that because it would make me feel a lot better about it uh, because I know everybody don't like everything.

thaFormula.com - It seems like every artist that drops what many people consider a classic album on their first attempt seem to find it hard to try and top it, so how do you top that?

M1 of dead prez - You don't. I mean you can go ahead and make more music but you got to understand we didn't know it was a classic when we made it. So the only thing you can do is make more music that your vibing with and that you're in tune with and that's the only thing you could do. The person who judges it as a classic is the listener. Me, I didn't judge it as that when I made it and I don't know how to judge it. I let the listener do that. So I know this album won't be for a lot of people because it's not a Dead Prez album, it's an M1 album and I hope to gain a whole lot of new fans that I didn't have with Dead Prez and when it's time to come back and make Dead Prez music, maybe we will make a "Lets Get Free," but for me, I definitely wanted to do something different then I've ever done before and that's why I make the music that I'm making now.

thaFormula.com - So speaking of what you are doing now, how did your solo project end up doing for you?

M1 of dead prez - It was a fantastic and valuable learning experience that I got from that. It basically led me to understand the independent game a lot more. Working with Koch who distributed the album because I still own the album, it was a double edge sword in the way that I wasn't able to do all the kind of accounting that I wanted to do. You know for our sales overseas and here domestically, but at the same time, I could have more control where and when the record was able to make certain surges, when the video was able to play, and when I was able to get certain radio spots. In New York there was a battle because I was able to do this on the ground to get radio to play the record. But pretty much anywhere else there was not really any radio presence. But in New York it was and the video, it still gets played on VH1's soul. It has been a very valuable lesson and I think we ended up selling like 50,000 units. It's pretty good, but I expected more. I expected to do about 100,000 and I think that would have been my optimum goal because I have partners with a record label called Sadi Records. So it was a half and half venture and I believe that would have been more fruitful for me had I sold enough. You know success on the independent level is major when it's at 100,000 because you really reap the benefits. It's easy to reach the break even point at a very low number. If you get 30,000 or 40,000 it's a good look, but I didn't meet my expectations.

thaFormula.com - So what exactly were you not able to control that you would have wanted?

M1 of dead prez - Controlling videos, promotion and budget, on spot promotion and merchandising, and in-store presence of the album. You know I wasn't able to get the placement that I wanted to get.

thaFormula.com - The industry seems to be sinking more and more everyday, what are your views on that?

M1 of dead prez - It's sinking because of its relationship to the people. Because we have a direct relationship to the people and Hip-Hop is alive and thriving. We are out here alive and thriving. You know we saw these things coming. The destabilization of the game has got a lot to do with the fact that they can't control the Internet. Sales are there. There was over 60 million downloads last year. It's just that they were only able to control 20 percent of those downloads.

thaFormula.com - So is this the time that Dead Prez has been waiting for?

M1 of dead prez - Yeah of course and now we are just waiting for the structure to be able to put the next thing through and that's what we are looking for now, structure to build. At this point we are still not at a point where we can do it ourselves but we know that the destabilization of it has made a crack in it that's gonna allow a new system to be built on top of something that's broken and that's what we've been waiting for. We know it's time. It's gonna take a movement though. The thing it's gonna take is that solidarity, that group mindedness that will be able to reign. That Psycho Realm, that Dead Prez, that Planet Asia and Zion I. Right now I see more of us hitting the ground floor and getting a reality check and it's beautiful because it's telling us what we have to do. I just see my family coming together more.

thaFormula.com - What is the situation with the new Dead Prez album? Have you guys recorded anything?

M1 of dead prez - Yeah, we have recorded, but we have not recorded anything to where we say "this is a new album and this is what we are putting out now."

thaFormula.com - So what's the plan for the next few releases for you guys?

M1 of dead prez - We are gonna put out Stic's solo album and then come back and put out a Dead Prez album.

thaFormula.com - What was your reaction to the whole Kramer situation and what are your thoughts on that today?

M1 of dead prez - He exposed himself. I wasn't surprised one bit. I was surprised that our reaction was so delayed. We did have a reaction but it was just delayed. I think we were stunned by it because we love Seinfeld. We were duped to believe that Seinfeld was innocent and that the players were not biased and not racist because it was wholesome and All-American and then we were shocked. It was like a glass of cold water to the face.

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