First Look: Street Sweeper Social Club EP

They're more than a band, they're a mutha fuckin' social club: brand new The Ghetto Blaster EP drops August 10 on SSSC/ILG.

By Jose Martinez

The militant brainchild of Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello and The Coup's Boots Riley, Street Sweeper Social Club isn't as incendiary as Rage but it's definitely a proud middle-finger in the air amongst the current rock pack. Aptly mixing rock and hip-hop, this isn't the frat boy, date rape fare we've come to associate with the rock ‘n' rap moniker. Aiming for a Clash meets Ohio Players vibe, the seven-song EP includes raw covers of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" and LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out." While the EP's title track continues in the same vein as the band's relentless debut, "The New Fuck You" finds them in rough and ready mode creating music that would be proudly blaring at a Panthers party back in the day. In the ‘70s they said the revolution will be televised; well, it definitely now has a soundtrack. And as Boots declares on the LL Cool J cover, "We're more than a band, we're a mutha fuckin' social club."