Tom Morello Enlists All-Star Musicians, Activists for Protest Song ‘Stand Up’

Tom Morello has teamed up with Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds, producer duo the Bloody Beetroots, and artist/activist Shea Diamond for a new protest song, “Stand Up,” inspired by ongoing protests for racial justice across the nation.

The explosive, Nineties-esque rap-rock track features Reynolds and Diamond outlining the racial injustices in the U.S. through their own experiences.

“When I call the police, will they just kill me?/Will they just kill you?” Reynolds spits. “When I call the police, will they just protect me ’cause I’m white-skinned too?”

On her verse, Diamond, a black transgender woman, describes herself as “a living soul with my own agenda,” and expresses hope for the “eruption in the streets” bringing down police corruption.

One hundred percent of all artist proceeds from “Stand Up” will be donated to the NAACP, Know Your Rights Camp, Southern Poverty Law Center and the Marsha P. Johnson Institute. KIDinaKORNER/Interscope, who released the song, will additionally donate an amount equal to the artists’ record royalties derived from streams of the track for a three-year period.

Morello has vocally supported the George Floyd protests since they began in late May. In the week following Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police, Morello called for fans to write and record songs about avenging Floyd, offering to play the best ones on his SiriusXM radio show.