Zack de la Rocha

Zack de la Rocha
De la Rocha performing with Rage Against the Machine in Indio, California on April 29, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Zacharias Manuel de la Rocha
Born	(1970-01-12) January 12, 1970 (age 47) Long Beach, California
Genres	Rap metal alternative metal funk metal protest music hardcore punk political hip hop
Occupation(s)	Musician rapper singer songwriter poet activist
Instruments	Vocals guitar drums keyboards jarana jarocha
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Epic Revelation ANTI-
Associated acts	Hardstance Inside Out Rage Against the Machine Farside One Day as a Lion Run the Jewels No For An Answer

Zacharias Manuel "Zack" de la Rocha (born January 12, 1970) is an American musician, poet, rapper, and activist best known as the vocalist and lyricist of rap metal band Rage Against the Machine from 1991–2000, and after the band's reunion in 2007 until their last show in 2011. He left Rage Against the Machine in October 2000, and embarked on a low-key solo career. With former Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore, de la Rocha also co-founded One Day as a Lion in 2008.

Zacharias Manuel de la Rocha was born in Long Beach, California, on January 12, 1970, to a Mexican-American father, the artist Robert "Beto" de la Rocha (born 1937 in Wilmar, California), and a mother of German and Irish origin, Olivia Lorryne Carter (born 1941 in Los Angeles). His father played an integral part in his cultural upbringing. Beto was a muralist and a member of Los Four, the first Chicano art collective to be exhibited at a museum (LACMA, 1973). De la Rocha's grandfather, Isaac de la Rocha Beltrán (born 1910 in Cananea, Mexico - died 1985 in Los Angeles), was a Sonorensan revolutionary who fought in the Mexican Revolution and worked as an agricultural labourer in the United States. Later, de la Rocha would see the hardships his grandfather endured reflected in the struggles of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.