Uploaded January 2009 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Track 9. 'Socio-Genetic Experiment'. From the album 'Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury'

Written by M. Franti

Hiphoprisy is: Michael Franti & Rono Tse

Musicians: Michael Franti - Vocals
Rono Tse - Angle Grinder, Tire Rims, Chains, Break Drums, Electronic Springs, Sheet Metal & Steel Drums
Charlie Hunter - Guitar

Programming and Musical Arrangements by Mark Pistel & Michael Franti

Mixed by Jack Dangers, Mark Pistel

Engineered by Mark "Spliffler" Pistel, John Baker

Post production engineering by Jeff Mann

♪♫ Sometimes I feel like a socio-genetic experiment
a petri-dish community's token of infection
I feel like a socio-genetic experiment
a petri-dish community's token of infection

You see I'm African Native American
Irish and German
I was adopted by parents who loved me
they were the same color
as the kids who called me nigger
on the walk home from school
I cried until I found out what it meant
then I got me some equipment
My fists, man
I was a hitman with no friends
But who the hell am I cursing those whose skin
is half my DNA
Why am I
and why shouldn't I
be ashamed of this fact
after all the feces they dumped on me
and my species

But sometimes I feel like a socio-genetic experiment
a petri-dish community's token of infection
I feel like a socio-genetic experiment
a petri-dish community's token of infection

Those filthy mother...
Shut 'cho mouth
There I go again with those high and mighty speeches
when they are in fact part of my species
Or is it the other way around
Did I piss in their gene pool
If I did it wouldn't matter
they kept me in the deep end
'cause the slightest dilution
in their solution
was perceived as pollution

But sometimes I feel like a socio-genetic experiment
a petri-dish community's token of infection
I feel like a socio-genetic experiment
a petri-dish community's token of infection

But I am not solely race, nor environment, nor destiny
I am the human scientific process
over and over and over again
The dirt that I shovel to uncover the truth
often buries something else growing
acceptance of my own
weakness and my own intolerance
is seldom
But that is in fact my identity
Uncluttered by the maskings of consumer addiction
ethno-centricity
in the light of miscegenation
This fable of elements
which classify order species, subspecies
genus phyla
animal vegetable illegal chemical
socialist democrat republican
yuppy-buppy-guppy
proud racist
black white African Native American Irish and German

But sometimes I feel like a socio-genetic experiment
a petri-dish community's token of infection
I feel like a socio-genetic experiment
a petri-dish community's token of infection
I feel like a socio-genetic experiment
a petri-dish community's token of infection
I feel like a socio-genetic experiment
a petri-dish community's token of infection
a petri-dish community's token of infection
a petri-dish community's token of infection

And I'm proud ♪♫

Note: This album is dedicated to Tahan K. Jones, the first African-American conscientious objector from the Iraqi slaughter, and to all others who refused to kill or be killed in the name of the New World Order, and to the infamy of those who did and were.

~ [Many thanks to the copyright owners UMG for allowing this to be heard on YouTube] ~ ☺