You’d be forgiven for never having heard the name Aaron Bushnell before—after all, the US Air Force veteran who self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in D.C. back in February of 2024 in protest of our nation’s continued funding of the Palestinian genocide barely registered within a national mainstream media notorious for its unwillingness to acknowledge Israel’s war crimes.
The story of Bushnell’s death, the decades-long atrocities he refused to be complicit with, and the lack of coverage surrounding his martyrdom are the sources of the rage fueling grandson’s new single, “Self Immolation.” The latest rap-rocking track to be shared from the artist’s forthcoming album Inertia draws attention to the lack of progress in US foreign relations over the past century, implicitly referencing the adjacent topics Rage Against the Machine once railed against with powerful riffs that bring Tom Morello to mind filling the chorus—to say nothing of the repeated song title invoking that band’s debut album cover.
“‘Self Immolation’ is the sound of an intergenerational thread of resistance—from protests in Vietnam and revolutions of the 20th century to the brave stand against the American industrial military complex and arming of the decimation of Gaza in modern times,” grandson shares. “It’s brutal and heavy and urgent and constant.”
Check out the track’s visual below, or stream it here. You can also pre-order Inertia ahead of its September 5 release via XX Records here.
