Rock/rap supergroup Prophets of Rage talk about their incendiary debut album

The weekend before I interviewed ex-Cypress Hill man B-Real about his new agit-prop outfit Prophets Of Rage – a supergroup formed alongside Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello – I caught some of Prophets’ Download performance during Sky Arts’ coverage of the festival. In a blistering performance of Rage’s classic ‘Killing In The Name Of’, B-Real and Chuck’s tag-team act saw them change the verse to, “Some of those that burn crosses / Are the same that hold office”.

The symbolism of the PE icon delivering such a line could not be ignored, making for one of the most powerful live moments of the year.

“It feels like people are embracing it from what we’ve been seeing at the shows,” acknowledges B-Real, speaking down the line from LA. “In terms of the background to the band, I’ve been a fan of Rage Against The Machine for many years, and we’ve done tours together and so on. We’ve had a friendship for a long time and the same goes for Public Enemy. So coming in to do these particular songs feels very natural.”

While Rage and Public Enemy's political credentials are well known, Cypress Hill were less motivated by the news headlines, although B-Real does point out that they had plenty of social commentary on their records.

“We’ve always spoken on social content,” he says, “in terms of the ills of society and whatnot. So we’ve touched on those issues, but not to the level of Public Enemy and Rage. Coming into this, though, I did feel that Cypress Hill and other things I’ve done musically were good preparation, with regard to the rock-hip hop fusion.

“To compare it to European football, you might say we all play for different teams in the league. But when the national team calls you up, you go play for them! Prophets Of Rage is our national team – and we’re going for the World fucking Cup (laughs).”A notable moment in the group’s brief history came with their protest performance at the Republican National Convention during the Presidential election.

“It turned out really well,” reflects B-Real. “We did a peaceful protest and played our music, and some Rage material, and people were hungry for it. There was a really good turnout and the police let us do our protest without causing problems. Unfortunately, Trump ended up being elected, but you can’t win ‘em all, so you’ve got to dust yourself off and keep fighting the fight.”

Presumably the band have found themselves on the end of some poisonous comments from the alt.right on social media.

“Oh yeah, of course,” nods B-Real. “You have Trump supporters out there and because they think we’re targeting him, they lash out. Realistically we’re not just targeting him, he’s only a part of the problem. The problems began long before him and they’ll be there long after. He’s just exacerbated some of the issues and taken the country backwards.

“Because of our platform and what we’re talking about, you are going to have a little bit of backlash, but we don’t care. We knew not everyone would agree with what we’re talking about, but there are a majority who do. We’re going let our music speak for itself.

“There’s a lot of division right now, but that’s been the case for years. With Trump, for some reason, people have amplified their feelings of division. It’s pretty ugly at the moment, and we need unity.”

Will we see Prophets in Ireland at some point?

“It would be amazing to get over there. God willing, it’ll happen, because it’s a beautiful country with a lot of passionate people.”
Prophets Of Rage is released on September 15 on Caroline International.