Mic Check

In Rage Against The Machine's mashup of rap and rock, "Mic Check" is squarely rap, to the point of being a parody of superficial rap music that's all about wealth, status and consumerism - all things the band raged against. Lead singer Zack de la Rocha fills the song with lots of hip-hop clichés, like spelling out a name. But instead of the usual rap lyrics, he delivers a screed on power and corruption. So the word he spells out is "rebel" ("R to the "E"...). In the '90s, rappers often said "mic check" in their rhymes to stir up the crowd, which is what De la Rocha is doing.

The song is sometimes called "Mic Check (Once Hunting, Now Hunted)" referring to the police who were once "Hunting from 9-to-5, through factory lines" and are now hunted on "This modern day auction block."

Rage Against The Machine played "Mic Check" live a handful of times before they released it on their third album, The Battle Of Los Angeles, in November 1999. On January 28, 1999, they played it at a benefit concert for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a prisoner the band thought was innocent. Beastie Boys and Bad Religion also played that show. This live version includes the chorus lyric: "From the field, to the factory - mic check, ha ha ha!"