"I Got No Property But Yo I'm A Piece Of It..."1996's Evil Empire distilled the raw sound of Rage's self-titled debut released 4 years prior, bearing more overt hip-hop and funk influences as well as a crunchier sound thanks to producer Brendan O'Brien who the band would work with for the rest of their career. It also doubled down on the indemnification of the Federal government, equating its crimes against black and brown people with that of colonialism in Africa, bloodshed in Haiti, the Holocaust, and that's just in the first verse of "Year Of Tha Boomerang." My friends and I really felt like we were fighting the power listening to this record. But more than anything we were just scouring early internet forums in the school library trying to download transcriptions of The Anarchist Cookbook so we could learn new ways to light shit on fire. Includes the singles "Bulls On Parade" and "People Of The Sun" as well as fan faves "Down Rodeo," "Vietnow," "Roll Right" and the aforementioned "Year Of Tha Boomerang." 2018 repress on 180g vinyl with code for digital download. Damn, I might fuck around and buy this myself.

• 180g black vinyl pressing
• printed insert
• digital download included
• music label: Epic Records 2018

reviewed by Sarakaya Komzin 10/2018