Watch Denzel Curry Cover Rage Against The Machine’s “Bulls On Parade”
If you went to high school in the ’90s, you almost definitely saw someone cover Rage Against The Machine’s 1996 monster-banger “Bulls On Parade” at least once. Maybe you covered the song yourself. We couldn’t help that shit. “Bulls On Parade” was in the air, and even if you had no idea what a five-sided fistagon was, you wanted to yell that shit. None of us could hope to match the intensity of Zack De La Rocha, but we all tried anyway.
One person who might hope to match that intensity is Denzel Curry, the South Florida rap phenom. Curry is young, but he helped pioneer the janky, chaotic subgenre that came to be known as SoundCloud rap. And last year, he released the convulsive TAI300, one of the year’s best rap albums. Curry recently took part in Like A Version, the video series from the Australian radio network Triple J. This is one of those shows where artists cover songs that they like, and Curry bravely gave “Bulls On Parade” a shot.
Performing with a live band, Curry absolutely throws himself into the song, thrashing all around the room as he raps. And at the end of the song, he crosses himself and then launches into a brand-new riff that fits the song nicely. (Sample lyric: “Donald Trump! Donald Duck! What the fuck! What’s the difference!” That looks terrible typed out, but he makes it work.) At the end of it, he very gently places the mic on the ground. Watch it all happen below, and while you’re at it, watch the original “Bulls On Parade” video.
TAI300 is out now on Loma Vista.