Prophets of Rage, comprised of members of Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill, stops at the EagleBank Arena on Friday.
The first widely visible mash-up of rock and rap was released in 1986, when Run-D.M.C. and members of Aerosmith collaborated on the hit, “Walk This Way.” Through the ’90s, this type of crossover became ever more common, but before or since, no one has done it better than Rage Against The Machine.
RATM was one of the most outspoken and vital bands of the ’90s, but for the past 15 years its potent rhythm section—comprised of guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford, and drummer Brad Wilk—have what could be described, at best, as an on-again-off-again relationship with Rage frontman Zack de la Rocha.
“The chemistry between the four of us is so special, it could never get replaced,” Wilk said of that partnership during an interview with DCist.
That hasn’t stopped the remaining three Rage members from working with other vocalists, most notably and successfully in Audioslave, a band formed with Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell.
Audioslave came to an end when Morello decided he wanted to return to more explicitly political music, which he has done as his solo alter ago, The Nightwatchman. As this election season was heating up, Morello wanted to enter the political conversation in a more visible way, and that’s when Wilk received a call to start firing up the engine.
“I got a call from Tom about getting into a room with Chuck D and DJ Lord,” Wilk explained. “There are not a lot of bands with a political message in this climate, and lots of people are feeling disenfranchised.”
And who better to call than one of the most recognizable and strident voices in all of hip-hop, Public Enemy’s Chuck D? The mastermind behind anthems like “Fight The Power”, “911 Is A Joke”, “Bring The Noise”, and “Don’t Believe The Hype” was a perfect choice for the nascent project.
Cypress Hill’s B-Real was tapped to round out the lineup. That group’s biggest hit was the quirky “Insane in the Brain”, released in ’93, but that song overshadows the fact that Cypress Hill was also committed to social issues, as evidenced in its first single, 1991’s “How I Could Just Kill a Man.” Cypress Hill was also an early example of the merger between hip-hop and Latin culture, whose diaspora is playing an increasingly influential role in this country’s social discourse.
“B-Real and Chuck are such iconic rappers,” Wilk said. “They are both really intelligent and have really great things to say.”
Adopting the moniker, Prophets of Rage, taken from the title of a song that appears on Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, the band will release an EP, The Party’s Over, on August 26.
Prophets of Rage has also embarked on a summer and fall tour, provocatively called Make America Rage Again, which will kick off at George Mason University’s Patriot Center EagleBank Arena on Friday.
At the time of our interview, the band was still in rehearsals and Wilk did not want to share too much about its plans beyond its first two scheduled shows, which were free performances on L.A.’s Skid Row and in Cleveland during the Republican National Convention. He did say that the setlist for the tour would include new material, as well as songs from all three of the Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill catalogs.
Wilk hopes that, at the very least, Prophets of Rage can stir people’s thoughts about the state of the world and begin a conversation. While he acknowledged that the answers won’t be found in the music alone, he believes the songs may give voice to the disenfranchised.
“There’s power in numbers and power in the people,” Wilk said. “I have two kids and I’m hopeful for a peaceful revolution. Unfortunately in history, that’s not how it usually happens, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t.”
Prophets of Rage plays EagleBank Arena on Friday, August 19 with openers AWOLnation and Wakrat. 7 p.m. Tickets $20-$69.50.
