The slam-poetry like lyrics for “White Privilege II” rattle off the rapper’s conundrums about cultural appropriation with his music and whether or not – more specifically, how – he should take part in the fight for equality.
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Or should I stand on the side and shut my mouth? In addition to Woods and themselves, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis list 18 musical collaborators and 20 community members in the song credits for “White Privilege II”.
Iggy Azalea is disappointed in Macklemore’s finger pointing in his manifesto on white privilege in the music industry.
“The culture was never yours to make better/ You’re MIley, you’re Elvis, you’re Iggy Azalea”. “/ Want people to like you, want to be accepted”, he raps, adding, “It seems like we’re more concerned with being called racist / Than we actually are with racism”.
That Grandmaster Flash should go slap you, you bastard.
The DIY underdog, so independent.
With racial tension and news of police brutality towards people of color being reported nearly daily, Hip Hop has always been a mouthpiece for those who feel as if their voices aren’t being heard.
What I got for me, it is for me?
“White Privilege II” is a followup to the 2005 track “White Privilege”, according to E!
“What we made, we made to set us free”.
As far as we can tell, the central argument of the song is that because Macklemore attended the Ferguson protests, he’s uniquely qualified to “borrow” from black culture.
On numerous occasions Macklemore has publically discussed white privilege and it only picked up after he won a Grammy for Best Rap Album over Kendrick Lamar.
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Azalea was called “fake and so plastic” in a series of lines that also dissed Miley Cyrus.
