The following is an interview with Not4Prophet, the voice of Ricanstruction, a Puerto Rican punk band, hailing from New York, with a multitude of influences and a strong revolutionary message for the world.

Soon to release their full-length studio CD, Love and Revolution, Ricanstruction continues to deliver a highly original sound backed by both power and proverb. Dealing with a variety of social issues and a keen understanding of true people's revolution, Not4Prophet reveals the underpinnings of their revolutionary music.

Q: Your music seems to encompass many different genres at once and yet has a central theme and unified approach. Was there any conscious decision to reach this sort of amalgamated plateau, or was it merely coincidental?

A: Essentially, we wanted to create a music that encompassed anything and everything that had ever inspired us, from punk and politics, to salsa and sedition, to hip hop and history, to reggae and revolution. We have, in our lifetime, been moved and motivated by so much, so we could never understand how any artist, particularly growing up in a place like New York City, could do just one thing. Punk as a profession, jazz as a job, opera as an occupation, Calypso as a career, mambo moonlighting, you know. From a
musical perspective, we did not believe in categories, or stereotypes, or styles, or "genrefication," so we set out to commit a kind of genrecide that would hopefully smash all musical borders, boundaries and bullshit.

Q: On your first studio release you cover "War" by Bob Marley. You also credit him as an influence in your music. What other influences, musical and otherwise, have inspired you?

A: Shit, there's such a wide range of inspiration and vision for Ricanstruction. Musically, everyone from Bad Brains and Ruben Blades, to Black Flag and Burning Spear, to Mutaburuka and Monk, to Coltrane (Alice and John) and Crass, to Public Enemy and Jaco Pastorius, to KRS-One and LKJ and on and on.

In terms of political folks, there's everyone from Malcolm to Marcus Garvey, and Che and Fidel as well, and Assata and Angela Davis, and Frantz Fanon and Huey Newton, and political prisoners Oscar Lopez Rivera, and Haydee Beltran, and Mumia and MOVE, and Leonard Peltier and Russell "Maroon" Shoatz, and the list will star boring you ventually, so I'll stop now. But all these people have inspiring lives worthy of study and emulation. Our lives pale in comparison, so the least we could do was make a little political puerto punk rock in their image.

Q: Where do you see the music industry headed with so much MTV fashion, synchronized dance numbers, and love songs crowding the airwaves?

A: I guess the music industry is headed where it's always been headed. It's always been about sales and commercial viability and co-optation of art. Nothing's changed, except maybe its' becoming more and more centralized, with TV, radio, record labels, liquor, merchandise, toilet seat cover manufacturers, all entering into incestuous relationships for fun and profit. I don't think that the music "business" has every actually been about the music. The question is not whether MTV rules the world, but how do we subvert it.

Q: Do you feel Ricanstruction, and other bands like yours, can stay afloat above such materialistic consumerism?

A: There have always been artists and bands who've existed outside the mainstream consumerist shistem. The key is to attempt to find alternatives, and work within the DIY network that supports underground art. There are zines, pirate radio, punk performance spaces, salvation army anti-fashion, that exist to support artists who are attempting not to get swallowed by the machine. However, the truth is, that if you want to reach three million people instead of just three thousand, you may have to face certain realties and devise other tactics, and become, as Eldridge Cleaver said, "the nigga in the machine."

Q: You're about to release your second full-length studio CD Love and Revolution. Is it driven by the same passions and perceptions of your debut, Liberation Day?

A: Really, it's mostly just love songs this time around. What did Che Guevara say, "The true revolutionary is guided by the greatest feelings of love." We figure that maybe if we write some love songs and synchronize our dance steps, we can get on MTV and become that "nigga" we was just talking about...

Q: Ricanstruction has a very revolutionary basis in its lyrics and yet you do not openly side with any particular political party...

A: We don't mess wit politricks, but we do believe in revolution as a way of life. We think that as long as this babylonial shitstem exists to exploit, downpress and brutalize us, it is necessary that we do all we can to deconstruct and destroy it first.

Q: What do your recent activities include? I've heard you tend to do a lot of political and social events.

A: We try to stay as close to the grassroots as possible. We support MOVE and the Free Mumia and Leonard Peltier and Russell "Maroon" Shoatz movements. We also support the struggle to remove the US navy from Vieques, Puerto Rico, and the Puerto Rican liberation movement. We also do work around squatting and pirate radio, which are quite important and worthy causes. We also do our best to support the DIY ethic.

Q: Was there any push for Nader in the previous election on the part of Ricanstruction, as was the case with Rage Against the Machine?

A: No, we did not do any work around the Nader campaign. We have nothing against Nader, and he was certainly the only "decent" human being of thethree "major" candidates. But we didn't see any purpose in encouraging people back in the US voting process. In an election that was already in the hands of the corporations, Nader's main function was to bring up important issues that the republicrats would have preferred to ignore. This is cool, but the most we would have gotten some serious reforms, which to our
downpressed, damaged, duped and damned sensibilities, is just not enough. Fuck reform, let's make some revolution.

Q: What is your view on revolution and what sort of unification techniques might we establish to make a true people's revolution possible?

A: Revolution is everything that this shitstem is no: freedom, unity, solidarity, equality, love, peace. An end to exploitation and injustice, and capitalism, and consumerism. A fresh start, a new beginning, a turned page, a revelation, an end to violence, and a beginning to what Oscar Romero called "the violence of love." In terms of creating a "true people's" revolution, I think we need to first create a revolutionary consciousness within ourselves, our communities and our world. We need to train, educate, confront, agitate and mobilize our communities. Those who are historically privileged must divest themselves of their privilege and embrace the downpressed, and those e who are historically downpressed must lead the way towards a real revolution. It's the sufferahs who will ultimately make the revolution.

Q: Hardcore punk has often been associated with the idealism of anarchist. As a band, do you embrace anarchism?

A: As "a band," we mostly embrace music and culture. instead of reaching for a gun, we reach for a guitar, and instead of a bomb, we go for a bass. And instead of a molotav cocktail, we grab the mic. For now, anyway....Generally, we try to steer clear of all dem isms and schisms, but anarchism, probably comes closest to some of my beliefs. What did Zapata say, "A strong people need no leaders." But I think mostly we do things our way and are just your average everyday "angry and agitated anti-establishment
anarcho-puerto punx."

Q: How does your approach differ from traditional anarchism?

A: Maybe it doesn't.

Q: Ricanstruction has stood strongly in support of Mumia and the campaign for his freedom. What is your perspective on the recent denied pardon of Leonard Peltier by ex-president Clinton? Do you feel Mumia's situation will be resolved in the coming year and what path do you feel is needed to achieve this?

A: We were not surprised by Clinton's decision, and we didn't put our hopes on what a democratic president would do as opposed to a republican one. He, of course, like every other US president, is in the pocket of the corporations that run this decaying shitstem and make all the political decision. So it came as no surprise that in the process of politricking he would decide not to free just another plan ol' innocent "Indian" with no use to anyone except those who believe in truth, justice and resistance and
freedom. As far as Mumia goes, I think he will only be freed when the people step up the struggle to see him free. We may have to intensify our tactics in order for true justice to be done.

Q: As in your homeland, Puerto Rico, the history of Latin American exploitation is endless. What are your views of the Cuban Revolution, as well as the current revolution being played out today in Peru?

A: I think the Cuban revolution was an amazing force, a liberating and empowering event for all of Latin America, and the rest of the so-called third world. The "wretched of the earth" needed further proof that we could liberate ourselves from within the entrails of the monsters, and the Cuban revolution was yet one more indication that we could. And Cuba's revolutionary defiance continues to this day, under ridiculous odds. I think Peru, with its refusal to compromise and truly revolutionary stance, will serve as yet another historical proof that, when the time is right and ripe, the people can and will break their own chains.

Q: Do you believe that these Latin and South American countries that are being exploited and dominated by US economic interests must inevitably become unified in protest to quell such a rampant monster as US imperialism?

A: No doubt, the colony known as Puerto Rico, and the many neo-colonies all over Latin America will have to eventually come together as a unified force if imperialism is ever to be quelled in Latin America and the rest of the so-called third world. At some point, we will all have to look beyond nationalism and capitalism, and personal squabbles in order to stagger and stop the monster once and for all.

Q: What is our part in this regard?

A: When you say "our," I assume you mean those of us living in the U.S. I suppose our part is to deny, disrupt, destabilize, and eventually destroy every aspect of western civilization. Che Guevara said that he envied North Americans because they lived in "the middle of the beast," and were fighting the most important fight of all, right in the "center of the battle." Yeah, I guess that's "our part..."