Michael Franti and Spearhead

In the early ’90s, when forward-thinking acts like Arrested Development and P.M. Dawn were changing the face of hip-hop forever, Michael Franti was on the frontlines of revolutionary rap with the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, unleashing brash-but-brainy social critiques like “Television, the Drug of the Nation.” Bay Area MC Franti expanded his vision even further by founding Spearhead. If Gil Scott-Heron had forged his style in the alt-rock era, it might’ve sounded like “Hole in the Bucket,” an economic cautionary tale that’s more relevant now than ever. But Franti doesn’t always tackle the tough issues — he delivers a hook-filled hymn to the heart over clap-happy playground beats on the unabashedly romantic “Say Hey (I Love You).”

In Next Steps, Michael Franti flies far beyond hip-hop’s boundaries.

Michael Franti’s approach may be rooted in rap, but his sonic superpower is an uncanny ability to transcend hip-hop conventions. He nodded to his punky past with the Beatnigs when the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy ignited their explosive adaptation of the Dead Kennedys’ “California Über Alles.” There are some solid reggae rhythms bouncing around in Spearhead’s bag of tricks, and they blend seamlessly with raw rock riffs on the anti-war anthem “Light Up Ya Lighter.” And on “One Step Closer to You,” Franti molds that reggae feel to fit a folk-flavored ballad, creating what amounts to his own “No Woman No Cry” in the process.

In Deep Cuts, follow Franti’s musical moves from Afro-pop to indie punk.

Though Spearhead has been Michael Franti’s musical home base since the mid-’90s, his talent is too big to be bottled up in just one project. Franti’s journey started while he was still a college kid, banging out industrial-tinged blasts of punky rage like “C.I.A.” with the Beatnigs. The West Coast wordsmith reached out in a bigger way than ever by working with World Music collective 1 Giant Leap on the percolating, percussive Afro-pop-plus-poetry of “Passion.” In his Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy days, Franti put the beat in beatnik, collaborating with William S. Burroughs on an album full of uncompromising collisions of music and poetry, like “Last Words With Michael Franti.”

Michael Franti isn’t just an artist — he’s a force of nature. Following the twists and turns of his career is like following the path of a perfect storm, and it’s just as breathtaking. Join us for a journey through the singer/rapper/bandleader’s many phases, from the aural assault of his late-’80s industrial-punk band the Beatnigs to his maverick MC maneuvers with the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and the musical melting pot that’s made Spearhead an endlessly surprising outfit for almost two decades. Hip-hop, rock, reggae, R&B — it’s all a part of Franti’s multifaceted musical makeup, and it’s all right here in our guided tour of his most crucial cuts.