The “louder” sample here will be familiar to rap fans – it was used in Public Enemy’s “Louder Than a Bomb” and originally comes from Mountain’s “Long Red”

The phrase “Uncle Tom” refers to a person unusually subservient to authority. It is often used to refer to blacks perceived to be acquiescent to whites

The phrase comes from the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly

While Stowe intended the book to be a jeremiad against slavery, and for Tom to be a rejection of minstrel stereotype, there was always critique of Tom’s passivity (he never escapes and is ultimately beaten to death by his owner). In 1949, James Baldwin published a passionate and influential essay critical of Tom and the novel as a whole, and the phrase “Uncle Tom” began to transform into an epithet

stic points out that the white power structure has created situations where blacks are forced to rely on precarious and often illegal means to survive. A viciously racist and punitive penal system has taken the freedom of a stunning number of young blacks, and counter-intelligence, often led by the F.B.I., has caused the harassment and even death of many prominent black leaders

Again, a project-encompassing quote. The group wants to get people to become freedom fighters (hopefully by joining their favored Uhuru-affiliated African People’s Socialist Party), but makes accessible music in order to push their message forward

Natty dreadlock is a term used by the Rastafari community to describe a fellow Rasta (“natty” being a derivation of “knotty”, and dreads being the Rasta hairstyle). Bob Marley would name his 1974 album after the phrase:

“People’s Army”, as mentioned above, is dp’s name for their extended circle of artists

These two lines reference the NWA – Niggaz 4 Life:

It’s plain to see, you can’t change me
Cause I'mma be a nigga for life

People’s Army refers to a variety of socialist armed forces for different countries. Dead Prez align themselves with both the socialist economics and militaristic power of these groups.

Abu is a member of dp’s extended family of artists, called People’s Army. He is credited with “additional vocals” on several Let’s Get Free songs, including this one

M1 distances himself from “white” America, returning to his African roots—he’s proud of his heritage.

Technically, M1 may not actually an African-American, as the dictionary definition is an African who is directly descended from enslaved Africans.