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" Traveling to the Middle East and playing music for people on the street, for soldiers, for people in hospitals, and for people who lost their homes, and seeing people open up through the experience of music really restored my faith in music, in art, and in culture to change things. "

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" There are so many things to be worried about, and I wanted to make a record that people could put on, and it would lift them up the way the sun did for me each day. "

Michael Franti

Way

Sun

People

" Rap has so many possibilities that need to be explored. There are different factions of rap, but some are in a rut. Rap doesn't have to be about boosting egos and grabbing your crotch and dissing women. There's a way to make political and social issues interesting and entertaining to the young rap audience. "

" It's a really personal thing for me to write a song. "

" Bonnaroo has kind of become the granddaddy of all American festivals. The thing I love about it most is that it wasn't born out of picking the top ten bands off the Billboard chart and creating a festival around it. "

" With all the people hating and hurting each other, I don't understand how people could get upset about people of the same sex caring for each other. "

" It doesn't matter if you're black, white, gay, straight, come from different countries, different language... every single person is significant and is meaningful. "

" We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can't bomb it into peace. "

" To sit back and say, 'Oh, we're going to let the government do whatever they want, right or wrong,' is giving up. "

" I came up playing in both punk rock bands and hip-hop bands, and I found a more universal way of reaching people, especially with music that has a message to it. "

" I have a desire that I want to make people feel happy through my music. I'm always trying to find optimistic ways to express myself. "

" San Francisco has always been a haven for misfits and weirdos. I'm both of those, which is why I came here. "

" I've always found that the poorer the places that I go, the more smiles I see, and the more happiness I see. "

" The rap community has been singled out as more homophobic than other groups, but I don't think that's right. It's homophobic, all right, but no more so than the heavy-metal community or the Hollywood community or any other community. "

Michael Franti

Think

Hollywood

" The U.S. has historically been the world's largest contributor to climate change. "

" After a show, I'll get the 16-year-old white kid whose lip is pierced, his head is shaved and his parents hate him, and the young gangster from the screwed-up 'hood, and they say that now they realize there's someone out there who thinks like they do. "

" I don't know if it's so grand that I can change the entire world, but I know that I can help one person. So that's the goal. "

" Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just to stay human. "

" In Jamaica, the music is recorded for the sound system, not the iPod. It's about experiencing music together, with other people. "

" Every single soul is a poem. "

" You get everything you could have ever wished for if you're willing to give that eternal bliss away to somebody else, to give it back. "

" My parents said sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you. But I always felt a sense of exhilaration after a fight; it was the names that really hurt me. "

" The corporate media is there to push the agenda of the sponsors, and many of those sponsors are weapons manufacturers. So it stands to reason that you won't get a diversity of opinions on television. "

" People underestimate the hip-hop audience and the capacity to understand politics when it's part of music. "

" Through music I either tame my demons or unleash them and allow them to be what they are. I don't want the music to be about provocation, I want the music to bring you to a place where you feel at home. "

" Everybody's opinion is equally valid, and I feel like everybody should have an opportunity to speak out, and everyone should have the courage to speak out. "

" I went to Iraq because I wanted to see what one year of occupation had done to Iraqi society, and I went to the West Bank and Gaza Strip because I wanted to see what three generations of occupation had done to Palestinian society. I found a lot more hopelessness and despair in Palestine. "

" The way the music comes to you starts to affect how you listen to music. When you're a kid, it's 'Does it rock? Does it make me feel good? Does it make me tap my feet? Does it make me go to sleep?' "

Michael Franti

Feel Good

Good

" It really is a strange time we're living in, when saying 'Don't kill people' is considered a radical point of view. "

" All my songs are different, but from the overall experience, I want people to sense that they can overcome and move through difficult times and find strength in my music. Maybe it's a song that makes them cry and move through something else. "

" Collectively, we activists are essential to advancing U.S. policy to help empower marginalized people to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty for good. "