Government officials and police officers may have won a significant victory against Occupy Wall Street after a city judge upheld Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s eviction of protesters from Zuccotti Park, but that hardly means the movement is dead. With similar Occupy protests gaining traction all across the country, any chance of permanently quelling the public’s unrest over economic inequities in America is out of the question.
Now, one of Hip Hop’s most outspoken activists – Zach de la Rocha – is lending his pen to the movement. According to a recent press release, the Rage Against the Machine and One Day As a Lion frontman decided to write a tribute poem to the multitudes of Occupy protesters across the country who have sacrificed their personal well-being for the cause.
“This poem is dedicated to the Occupy movement whose courage is changing the world. Stay Strong. We are winning,” said la Rocha.
Zach de la Rocha’s untitled poem can be read in full below.
“The beginning spills through city veins Into the arteries
And under powers poison clouds
We move like the shadows
Through the alley ways
Through nightmares bought and sold as dreams
Through barren factories
Through boarded schools
Through rotting fields
Through the burning doors of the past
Through imaginations exploding
To break the curfews in our minds
Our actions awaken dreams of actions multiplied
A restless fury
Once buried like burning embers
Left alone to smolder
But together stacked under the walls of a dying order
All sparks are counted
Calloused hands raised in silence
Over the bonfire of hope unincorporated
It’s flame restores tomorrows meaning
Across the graveyards of hollow promises
As gold dipped vultures pick at what is left of our denial
And the youngest among us
Stare at us stoned like eyes determined
And say
Death for us may come early
Cause dignity has no price
At the corner of now and nowhere
Anywhere
Everywhere
Tomorrow is calling
Tomorrow is calling
Do not be afraid”
RELATED: Lupe Fiasco Talks Family Upbringing, Occupy Wall Street
#Occupy All Day, Everyday.
HipHopDx knows about Rage Against the Machine? Props to Sean Ryon and Props to Zach for the poem.
Huge RATM fan, my whole life i wished zach de la rocha did a hip hop album, his verse on krs one CIA it the greatest thing known to man
Fuck Hova, Welcome to the Real Takeover. Occupy Together or Hide Forever, think, speak, and DO… Consider this Your call to action. Thank you Zach.
Zach’s support is good, and perhaps more sincere than other celebrities. I hope he actually puts out a solo album soon, though. Get producers like DJ Premier, Rick Rubin..
Zack needs to get back in the studio!
RATM = GOAT in music. Also best concert of my life. Rock am Ring 2010 (Germany). PZ
WORD!!! been waiting for this for over 10 years!!!
word to Bill Cooper!!!
behold a pale horse
“one of Hip Hop’s most outspoken activists” – since when is RATM hip hop? They make phenomenal music, but hip hop they are not.
u is a gump ass muthafucka of course rage against the machine is hip hop maybe partly but of course they r u gimpy ass fuck
RATM is very hip hop oriented and Zach’s done songs with The Roots etc. As an activist and artist, he’s garnered lots of respect in the Hop Hop community.
Besides all that…have you never heard A Bullet in the Head?
Being respected in the hip hop community and being part of the hip hop community are two different things. Is Linkin Park hip hop because they did a joint EP with Jay-Z? Kid Rock has done songs with rappers, but that doesn’t mean he’s hip hop.
Zach can rap his ass off, but that doesn’t make Rage hip hop. Their songs are only played on Rock stations. Their albums are only in the rock section of music stores. They cater to the rock crowd and play rock music festivals.
When I see Rage on Rap City I’ll change my mind.
As a band they’re not. I know that, I was specifically talking about Zach who does things other than work with rage. Zach did a song with the Roots not rage. RATM is a rock band. Zach de la Rocha does many genres.
To Rpgh:
Don’t let the man who stocks the music stores or decides what is played on the radio define music or culture for you. Get your mind out of the master’s cage. HipHop = Intelligent Movement.
I just don’t agree with calling him ‘one of hip hop’s leading activist’. To me, he’s one of rocks leading activist because he does rock music.
He’s done a couple songs that are hip hop (w/ KRS and the Roots), but that doesn’t make him ‘a hip hop activist’. Shit, Coldplay did a song with Kanye and one with Jay, does that make them ‘hip hop’ singers? No, it doesn’t.
Fred Durst did a song w/ Method Man produced by Premo that he rapped on, does that make him hip hop?
Being featured in a song or two doesn’t label you as a hip hop artist.