Produced by El-P from Run The Jewels, the track is a swirling storm of the kind of righteous anger de la Rocha’s erstwhile bandmates hoped to bottle with their new Chuck D and B-Real fronted project, Prophets of Rage.
While that project draws heavily on the legacy of all the musicians involved, de la Rocha’s ‘digging for windows’ is a far more contemporary beast and sure to be a treat for those who wanted more from the reclusive frontman following his explosive verse on the Run The Jewels 2 track, ‘Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)’.
It’s also the first official solo release from de la Rocha, who has been beset by rumours of a solo album in the works since he first left Rage Against The Machine in 2000.
There have been sporadic releases and leaks from his collaboration with DJ Shadow, with whom de la Rocha originally began work on a solo record following Rage’s split. There have also been rumours of a shelved collaboration with Nine Inch Nails mastermind, Trent Reznor, the only official evidence of which was the track ‘We Want It All’ released on the soundtrack to the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 911.
Apart from various guest verses with artists like Blackalicious and Roni Size/Reprazent, and of course with Run The Jewels, de la Rocha’s only official post-Rage project was the short lived but excellent One Day As A Lion with current Queens of the Stone Age Drummer Jon Theodore.
Listen to ‘digging for windows’ below and get excited for what may be the impending release of one of the most anticipated solo records in recent years.