Nate Investigates Rage Against the Machine

A graphic celebrating Rage Against the Machine
(RATM).  Image located at aopinionatedman.com.

A longtime member of Kildonan's music program, Nate entered Edge intending to expand his awareness of international genres.  More specifically, he wished to devote himself to the study of Maracatu, an Afro-Brazillian fusion.  In addition to researching Brazilian instruments and the origins of the genre,  Nate designed a course of study that proved heavily hands-on.  He consulted rhythms in various books, negotiated an agreement with Kildonan's music faculty that allowed him to practice in the music building (on genuine Maracatu instruments, no less), and played Samba rhythms with the Edge Team.  His investigation into Maracatu culminated in a visit to Maracatu New York, a Brooklyn-based Maracatu ensemble led by percussionist Scott Kettner (@scottkettner).  While in NYC, Nate recorded the group at work, interviewed Scott and Catherine Taft about the ensemble and musical influences, and learned to tune a drum.  He returned to campus feeling elated and ready to continue pursuing Maracatu.

And yet...something began to change for Nate not long after his homecoming.  He lost the interest to practice drumming, instead focusing his attention on the fact that Maracatu players of antiquity parodied rulers during their performances.  While he at first presented this information as a small detail during a conversation with the Edge Team, he eventually used it as a pivot point to alter his entire topic within the program.  Indeed, this satire allowed him to unite his passion for music with another longstanding interest:  politics.

This dual topic saw him begin to explore the environmental activism inherent in the late Pete Seeger's songs, but it also allowed him (more recently) to begin to examine the political underpinnings of Pussy Riot.  Nestled between those two, perhaps, rests Rage Against a Machine (RATM), a Los Angeles-based rap metal band that used music to blast the American media and the foreign policy of the United States government.  Wishing to reflect upon this group, Nate produced a writing assignment that we now share with you. (NOTE:  In order to present Nate's words in their unadulterated form, we The Edge Team have not modified the piece beyond those revisions we conducted with him.)

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So this year in Edge I have been looking for connections with politics and music. Earlier, in the 1960s, there were more protest songs directed towards Vietnam or attacking the government. I started looking and I knew that there was a lot of aggression with music towards the government in the 1960s but I wanted to look at something more modern. I was personally always a fan of the group Rage Against the Machine. I new that they had a deep understanding of the political world around them in there music, so I worked from there and found that all the band members had a shockingly high understanding of the flaws in the government.

Tom Morello.  Image located
at en.wikipedia.org.

Rage Against the Machine is one of the most politically driven bands of our generation. They wrote and sang music about their frustrations towards the government more then once. But for you to see the meaning behind there music you need to take a look deep in to the band it self.

Tom Morello is the guitar player for Rage. He has a deep understanding of the world around him due to his family's political surroundings. The roots of politics start with his father Ngethe Njoroge, who was the first Kenyan ambassador to the U.S. Tom Morello carried on with his knowledge of politics to study social problems at Harvard and got his B.A. degree in social studies when he was there.

Zacarias De La Rocha.  Image
located on Zach's Twitter profile.

Zacarias Manuel de la Rocha is the lead singer of Rage. He has a strong view against the political system, and that is seen repeatedly in the lyrics he has written as the lead singer of Rage Against the Machine. But he has a great education like Tom Morello did. Zach attended the University of California at Irvine where he earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology.

Tom and Zach were the driving force in Rage Against the Machine. But if you look at Rage, you would not think that they were successful in the real world. We almost look at the book by the cover, or profile them, and then think less of them. But I think that was the point they where trying to make: to show people that they are underestimating the deeper meanings of their songs and what they were singing and talking about. They had solid ground to stand on with their views and I think that helped them, being as successful as they were.

After looking into the band, you should take a look at what was going on in the late 1990s. The economy was booming with the launch of the internet. And the American people were doing well and unemployment was at 4% (which is really low compared to today). There was a blunder at the end with President Bill Clinton. In the late 1990s he had an affair with a coworker in the White House and it was leaked to the press. At first he decided he had no involvement with the affair and was put in front of Congress for a hearing. They found him in his lies, so the president gave it up and told the truth.

During this time people had no trust in politicians and their politics and there was anger. With this, you can see how Rage put their stamp on this tense climate.

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We at Edge are grateful to have you as an Edge Maker, Nate, and we look forward to seeing you flourish in the future! We also applaud your diligence in editing, as you have helped us usher in the first student blog post this year.

Have a thought on Nate's journey? A resource for his investigation? Please post in the comments below!