Newly formed supergroup Prophets of Rage, a powerhouse outfit that features members of Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill, will head to Cleveland in July to attempt to disrupt the Republican National Convention.
For members of Rage Against the Machine, this won’t be the first time they have attempted such a feat. In 2008, the rock/hip-hop outfit put on a concert at the Target Center in Minneapolis during the RNC. Protests resulted that eventually saw the arrests of more than 100 people.
“My view is that progressive, radical change always comes from below, not above. So even if you stake all of your hopes for you and your family on hope, well sometimes that doesn’t work out. If you stake it on this xenophobic, fear-based racism, that’s not gonna work out either,” Morello said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Longtime purveyors of politically dissenting music, it makes sense that Prophets of Rage members Chuck D (Public Enemy) and Morello, among the others, would be interested in bringing as much pop-culture attention to this year’s presidential — and other political races — as possible.
“The underlying problems are systemic,” Morello said, “The songs that we’ve been writing about for decades attack the system, not the individual candidates. How people change the world, it starts around people’s kitchen tables, it starts in their classrooms, it starts wherever people talk about making a world we want to one day see.”
Whether or not the band will also “invade” the Democratic National Convention, which takes place this year in Philadelphia, remains to be seen, but the frontman did say that “anything’s possible” regarding that decision.
Formal show plans have yet to be announced — the group likely will host numerous “pop-up” style events rather that one massive concert — but fans of the new supergroup would be wise to get to Cleveland in July if they want to get in on the sonic protest.
The Republican National Convention takes place from July 18-21.
