Rappers from South Florida have received a lot of attention lately for the way they spent the last few years mashing up the manic energy of metal and the strident sensibilities of emo with their aggressive street-centric rap delivery, but they’re far from the first to combine rap and rock. Florida trailblazer Denzel Curry embodies this ideal when he stopped by Australian radio station Triple J for a roaring performance on the station’s Youtube show “Like A Version.” Denzel reaches back to one of those early pioneers for inspiration, ripping through a cover of Rage Against The Machine‘s “Bulls On Parade” with a little of his own modern flavor.
Like Rage, Denzel was one of the first of his kind to come through and make noise on the national scene, opening the door for other South Florida standouts like Lil Pump and Ski Mask The Slump God. Similarly, Rage was one of the first bands of the so-called nu-metal wave, combining elements of hardcore rock with conscious, politically-minded hip-hop. “Bulls On Parade” was one of the band’s biggest hits from its best-selling album Evil Empire.
“Like A Version” doesn’t get rappers as guests as often as some other genres, but the results are always spectacular, such as Brockhampton’s performance of Alicia Keys’ “Un-thinkable,” ASAP Rocky’s cover of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” or perhaps most famously, Childish Gambino’s cover of Tamia’s “So Into You.”
