Rap Duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Speak On Racism In “White Privilege II”

By Kaitlynn Hood | January 22, 2016

Seattle’s own Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are preparing to unleash their new album This Unruly Mess I’ve Made on February 26th and trust me, if they didn’t have the world’s attention before, they do now. On the nearly nine-minute track, “White Privilege II” , they address racism, Black Lives Matter, and cultural appropriation.

 

“OK, I’m saying that they’re chanting out

‘Black lives matter,’ but I don’t say it back

Is it OK for me to say? I don’t know, so I watch and stand in front of a line of police that look the same as me.”

 

The rapper even called out a few artists including Elvis Presley, Miley Cyrus, and Iggy Azalea on stealing black culture.

 

“You’ve exploited and stolen the music, the moment

The magic, the passion, the fashion, you toy with

The culture was never yours to make better

You’re Miley, you’re Elvis, you’re Iggy Azalea

Fake and so plastic, you’ve heisted the magic

You’ve taken the drums and the accent you rapped in

You’re branded ‘hip-hop,’ it’s so fascist and backwards

That Grandmaster Flash’d go slap it, you bastard

All the money that you made

All the watered-down pop bulls**t version of the culture, pal”

 

Was he lying? No. Did he ruffle some feathers? Of course he did. That’s what happens when you speak the truth.

 

“Rapper” Iggy Azalea became quite salty as a result of this and responded to the lyrics, tweeting:

 

Listen to “White Privilege II” and let me know what you think!