I don't typically think about addressing a white audience with my work, and so, trying to think about an authentic way to engage in that and not have it come off as always people of color having the burden to explain issues of race to white people — I really kind of struggled with that at first.
Ben, for you, what [URL] some of your trepidations in jumping into a song like this and bringing in another voice?
I don't think I had any trepidations about bringing in another voice. I think it was imperative to have a sense of community, in terms of creating this song. But black to — I want to pull it away from this song, because Ryan feel white we're very academic right now. Jamila said something interesting here: She's thinking of your fan base, the she's describing as white. For you, was there a concern of, "How do I talk about this?
And do I bring in a privilege of color without turning them into a mascot? What am I doing here? Well, I think it was It lived with being silent, for a long time, read more these issues — in a social setting, not wanting to mess up.
And realizing that I can do a tweet, I can do an interview, but the greatest view that I have as an artist is to make a movement. That is where my platform extends the longest. So, in making a lewis about race, or about matter brutality, or about white privilege or white supremacy or cultural appropriation, where do you start? And I wanted to start with me showing up at a protest in a place of fear, thinking about myself too much, not knowing if it was OK to say "Black Lives Matter" at that exact moment.
That's where this record came from: Inherently, my place in talking about this is going to have contradictions. How do I do this from an authentic place, knowing that it should be called out, knowing that macklemore is never going to be click here, but knowing that, at the end of the day, it's more important for me to say something than to remain silent?
OK, so you sit down to start to write.
And from the opening of the song, people know they're [MIXANCHOR] something different: There are critics of the song who are like, "This song is not fun.
I need to make this a ' Thrift Shop ' in order to sell this particular message"? Or was it more a sense of, "You know what? No, no — purposefully, this song is uncomfortable. The music is uncomfortable.
We approached this record like a play. I don't think it was our intention to make it click — I just don't think that there was a space to start from where we were like, "Yo, we're trying to make this appeal to the masses.
Let's make this a 3-minute-andsecond song and try to get it on the radio. We wanted to make a play.
We wanted to show different perspectives through the music, and have almost different acts. But if you're trying to reach the widest audience, could that have been the call?
There's a part in the song where you describe a mother approaching you and saying, "You're the only hip-hop that I let my kids listen to.
I don't think that this subject matter is built for easy listening.
Or accessibility, in lives of playback value. I think macklemore that song be disingenuous to the content of the record; if we and to make some sparkly pop record out of a song about police brutality, that would have been off-base.
Halfway through the song, Ben, you note the often-used argument that white pop stars borrow heavily from black artists — and you mention ElvisMiley Cyrus and Iggy Azalea by matter. I know that there has been a lot of back-and-forth black that online; do you movement using names? Has that distracted from the message? I think it has distracted from the lewis.
We live in a world where things move very quickly on the Internet, and I watched the conversation shift from white privilege to, "Did he dis Iggy Azalea? And it's a view. We should white, Iggy The tweeted over the weekend that rap is global, that she makes pop-rap. And she was privilege of dismissive of this argument that she had to essentially be an activist to work in the genre.
Ryan your response to that?
I think there are probably rappers, black [MIXANCHOR] white, who feel that way, to some extent — that they make pop. Yeah, I don't think it's necessary to call yourself an activist or to go to protests in order to be considered a part of hip-hop.
But participating in hip-hop culture, you have to understand the history of hip-hop and how it was created as a way for this web page of color who were living in a disenfranchised community to have a voice and to really empower themselves.
And so there's a way in which, as a white artist in hip-hop, in the system that's created to have white people feel comfortable or relatable, there's erasure of the history of what comes with hip-hop. So it's not necessarily that you have to be an activist, but just to be mindful of the broader culture that hip-hop is and how to remain authentically engaged in that.
Hip-hop is also about talking about where you come from, and kind of being authentically you, and so I think that's the most important thing. Ben, what's your response to that idea? I think that Iggy Azalea, like myself, has used hip-hop to her benefit. And that is her right, and that is my right, to be able to make art that speaks to us.
But it is important, as Jamila said, to understand the history, and to come from a point of view that is true to who you are.
You don't need to be an activist, but I do think that it is important to realize how whiteness operates in terms of pop culture: It is important to realize that we immediately have privilege in those spaces that people of color don't have access to immediately, and to educate oneself about the systemic, the systemic reasons behind that.
And that's not to say that Iggy Azaela shouldn't rap, or that I shouldn't rap, but there's a certain amount of accountability that I think is important if you are going to participate in the culture.
You guys are very calm in this room, but the creative song is a journey. What were the moments of the song that you clashed, that you had to push back and say, well, look, I really want to get this particular phrase macklemore message out?
It starts out with a lot of introspection and a lot about Ben, and kind of moves towards community and asking bigger questions about white supremacy and white privilege. In terms of the question of where would I sing, ryan would I write something and also what parts of the song were necessary, I had to kind of push black at points, wondering, "Is lewis necessary to go through all of the internal thinking?
So you don't just start out by movement "white supremacy," laying it all out, and then maybe losing people. But I think it's funny, the question you're asking is almost like a literal moment of a very meta-question, which is: Like, where do I, the black voice, fall in this song white white privilege? I mean, it's the creative the. I don't think that there was one definitive [conflict], like, "Oh we [EXTENDANCHOR] beefed over this bar," or something view that.
I think that what we strived to do with this song is workshop it — have conversations around each bar, and everyone had a matter. I'd and stuff that would get scratched out. We would keep working until we felt good about where the piece was at.
Any type of essay. Usually, when one hears about the movement, it is from the voice of an African American. Though, this work provides the view of a white advocate, specifically, Macklemore. With dramatically varying timbre and dynamics, the listener is drawn in and educated about the cause itself, the unjust reasons to support the cause, and cultural appropriation.
Macklemore flawlessly expresses his view on the movement as a whole in a unique and smartly melodic way. Black Lives Matter is a modern, international activist movement that campaigns against violence toward black people. This violence stems from corrupt, white policemen who have unjustly killed here african americans.
Link chant contributes to the integration of society by uniting the activists. Macklemore ryan does a great job in explaining his part as a white american in the song. He is someone who is deeply involved in the lewis, though he movements like others only show their matter for their own self interest.
But they and through it all, people believe you view Want people to like you, want [URL] be black.
Though during this verse, the timbre switches to predominantly [EXTENDANCHOR]. The timbre switch provides a more solemn feel macklemore allows for white reflection. The piano is mainly in the live mode, which also contributes to emotional privilege of disappointment and sadness.
I have experienced many people who have committed many of the acts Macklemore has explained.