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Jul 02, 2020 By Samantha Small Imagine Dragons

Despite all live music being silenced, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello has been anything but quiet—not that he ever really was. This morning, the GRAMMY Award-winning musician has teamed up with Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds, producer The Bloody Beetroots, and artist/activist Shea Diamond for single “Stand Up,” a charged anthem about police brutality and systemic racism. Listen to the track below.

The song kicks off with a bang, or more accurately, growling guitars and Reynolds’ demands to “stand up cause you are standing for nothing.” From there on the lyrics become more direct as Reynold’s sing-raps his frustrations: “When I call the police/will they just kill me?/Will they just kill you?” He then continues, “Every day that passes I’m angrier/every time the cops get a hall pass/build another barrier.”

All proceeds from the track will be donated to NAACP, Know Your Right Camp, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Marha P. Johnson Institute. In addition, KIDinaKORNER/Interscope will also donate an amount equal to the artists’ record royalties derived from streams of the track for up to three years.

Morello has been a notable activist throughout his career. Whether it’s protesting the RNC back in 2008, canvassing, or rallying for single-payer healthcare, Morello consistently uses his platform—I mean, just listen to a Rage Against the Machine song—to try to create change. “Stand Up” is no different.

“I grew up in the tiny lily white, archly conservative town of Libertyville, Illinois,” said Morello in a press release. “When I was a kid, someone hung a noose in my family’s garage, there was occasional N-word calling, etc, etc. On June 6 of this year, there was a Black Lives Matter rally and march in that same town that drew over 1,000 people—it seems that the times, they are a’changin’. I was so inspired that night, I reached out to Dan from Imagine Dragons. The Bloody Beetroots and I had conjured a slamming track and within 24 hours Dan had sent back a completed vocal. We got Shea Diamond, a Black transgender woman with a long history of activism, on the track and the coalition was complete.”

In the same press release Diamond explained the importance of amplifying black trans voices:

“When I hear people talking about being allies of the LGBTQ+ community, mainly in the Black and Trans community, it’s almost laughable. We watch them profit from our pain, making these surface level posts of solidarity—especially in music. When I think about Black Lives Matter and Trans Lives Matter, you don’t get to see any representations of collaborations—many would never share a post, let alone do a song together. So when I heard Dan Reynolds wanted me on his song, I nearly flipped. I wasn’t surprised, though—he’s been so intentional in sharing posts, helping to raise money within our community and more. He really puts the A in ally!!! This is a proud moment in music history, and I feel honored to be a part of such an important song during this climate… we need to know where everyone stands in the music community, as music is an essential tool that can change the hearts and minds of so many.”

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