The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy was an American industrial hip-hop band, active during the early 1990s. The band was formed in 1990 by Michael Franti and Rono Tse, who had been in the Beatnigs, and introduced the work of guitarist Charlie Hunter. The band's name was derived in part from the phrase "The Disposable Heroes of Hypocrisy", used in some Socialist literature.
The group were associated by genre with others of the time, including House of Pain and Pop Will Eat Itself. They also were somewhat reminiscent of Gil Scott-Heron due to the vocal styles of Franti and the up-front political messages in the music. They played many concerts, sometimes opening the bill for more well-known acts such as U2 (on their landmark Zoo TV Tour), Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana and Arrested Development.
Their debut album, Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury, received critical and underground acclaim upon its release in 1992, but was never commercially successful. Franti's lyrics address a wide range of issues, from Mass Media bias and abuse on "Television, the Drug of the Nation" to racial equality on "Socio-Genetic Experiment", in large part inspired by his own childhood, and Homophobia, in the song "Language of Violence". The album also included a cover of the Dead Kennedys track "California Über Alles" (with updated lyrics about Governor Pete Wilson). "Television," which received wide airplay on college and alternative radio stations, had previously been recorded by Michael Franti's first band, The Beatnigs. In common with other bands of the time on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy used sampling and scratching as a primary tool of music recording, and mixed rock, hip hop and jazz. The album was listed in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
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