Macklemore - White Privlege song / article on "indie rise"

[ardamus]

At least I know why the Harlem Shake all of a sudden became popular again with the off beat hipsters trying to do it. Thanks Baauer.

[The Rapping Coffin]

The videos are like your average cubicle worker and uncle. White people in the media are really pissed that white people at large don't know about a minor rap dance move that had it's height of popularity in a gdep video 10 years ago.

why didn't they care about the planking meme offending Somalian pirates??!?!?!?!?!? Cultural elitism is why!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mindbender Futurama]

The videos are like your average cubicle worker and uncle. White people in the media are really pissed that white people at large don't know about a minor rap dance move that had it's height of popularity in a gdep video 10 years ago.

why didn't they care about the planking meme offending Somalian pirates??!?!?!?!?!? Cultural elitism is why!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i have not watched ONE of these videos

i'm waiting for the WHOOMP! THERE IT IS revival

[Career Over Like Mike(NJJ)]

IT WAS 2 G-DEP VIDEOS, OMNI, DAMNIT!!!!!!

[The Rapping Coffin]

I know! Let's get It has a top 5 Diddy verse and is one of my favorite songs ever.

[ayentee]

Im talking out of my ass here and thinking on the fly but I'm assuming the reason why white america adopted and over ran rock and roll as an artform so quickly is because it was based on fairly basic rhythms and very upbeat chord progressions. Its easy to make and easy to sell to kids looking for a good time. Soul is a bit harder to make and a bit harder to sell, making it not as attractive from a business stand point. Less business = less mainstream attention = less white people interested in turning a profit in a music and culture that they didn't invent.

/end bullshit

[peanut butter]

the fish and spaghetti shot is one of my favorite synchronized song/video moments ever


PEACE

[ayentee]

shit, i forgot to quote the post i was responding to. I fail at ing

[Career Over Like Mike(NJJ)]

One of the main problems with N.Y rap is that songs no longer have accompanying dances and that N.Y rappers don't dance in their videos.

The Chicken Noodle Soup will go down in history as the most important N.Y rap single of the 2nd half of the noughties since the semi-official-but-not-approved-by-Amalgam-Digital video for Max B's Where Do I Go where he showed us the correct hand-movements you're supposed to do during the "chicka-oww-chicka-oww-owws" was removed from the internet.

[Echo Leader]

Clicked on this thread solely because of that fucking screenname. Lol...shoulda known it was IDAL.

[Kid That's Lifeless]

I know! Let's get It has a top 5 Diddy verse and is one of my favorite songs ever.

Such a great track.

[drizzle]

[EichTurner]

^ i swear he's in this new ihop grillers commercial too..

[ardamus]

http://potholesinmyblog.com/macklemore- ... lling-out/

I knew something was fishy with Macklemore ever since he started dropping music with Ryan Lewis. None of what was being released seemed to be genuine. To me at least. Instead, it looked like Macklemore was just picking random causes to rap about, while Ryan Lewis created an epic-sounding beat to go with it. And then they made an incredibly well-produced video to go along with.

Anyway, what I am trying to say here is that Macklemore’s music didn’t seem to be anything more than a good business plan. And now as his song “Thrift Shop” tops the chart, we can’t help but debate his rise to stardom. And I don’t care about people selling out. Artists do things in order to make money all the time. But there is something so off about the way Macklemore is doing it.

With that said, Macklemore has been getting a lot of heat in general. But he decided to only address the recent buzz surrounding his appearance in the 2013 NBA All Star game. His song “Wings”, which is about consumerism by the way, was used as a theme song for the event. Apparently bloggers and Twitter fiends have been talking shit about it. In turn, it looks like he felt the need to defend himself against the critics. Here is what he had to say: [via Easy-Mack]

Over the past couple days, I’ve read numerous tweets and a couple articles about the use of our song “Wings” as the intro for the 2013 NBA All Star Game. While most people were congratulatory over the television appearance, it seemed like there were a fair amount of people that were quick to throw out the good, old-fashioned “sellout” statement. The bigger our profile gets, the more I’m getting use to the phrase and the “purists” who toss it around so liberally. But I figured I should probably break it down from my perspective to let you know where I stand.

The song “Wings” is about the pursuit of identity through the means of consumerism. The attempt is to dissect our infatuation and attachment to logos, labels, brands and the fleeting happiness that is intrinsically linked to the almighty power of the purchase. The subject I use in the song is shoes, but its aim is to paint a broader picture of being a consumer and tracing the lineage back to my first memory of retail infused desire.

I love the NBA. Always have, ever since I was a little kid. When we got offered the TNT All Star game intro it was a no-brainer. I showed up that day to a middle school gym in LA and as I was reading the script I was informed that they re-arranged the structure of the song. I didn’t know prior to that day that my lyrics were going to be edited. But to be 100% honest with you, I didn’t really care once I learned that they were. The only thing that I was a little “ehhhh” about was the last bar. But I put it on the ethics scale, and the last bar alteration wasn’t outweighing the potential reach that I saw in doing the video.

In any licensing deal they are going to edit your music. A 4 minute song does not fit into a 30 second movie trailer. Lyrics have to get cut in order for the trailer/ad to make sense with what the company is promoting. And a song about consumerism doesn’t fit into an NBA All Star Game intro without some tailoring. There is a story telling aspect of Wings that chronicles loving basketball, being a kid and wanting to be like Jordan. That’s the side that the NBA wanted to use. Makes sense. Probably doesn’t make sense for them to use the part that’s breaking down our obsession with the shoes that 90% of the players in the NBA wear, right?

The All Star game intro was seen by millions of people on Sunday who had no idea who we were. My thinking was, if they liked the song they will go and listen to the full version. Those who hear the original song in its entirety will get the core of what gives the song depth. Some might even buy it and become real fans. And guess what version they get? Not the TNT chopped up edit, but the full one.

In my stripped down definition, selling out is compromising your artistic integrity for money/fame. In my heart I can tell you that my personal artistic integrity remained completely intact over the weekend. TNT used our song. They’re still my words. They picked the parts that fit their ad campaign, and visually matched it to us performing, threw in a highlight reel of crazy dunks and had a bunch of kids singing the hook in a gym. Word. I’m all for that. If you take away the consumerism cautionary core of Wings, a story still remains. And that story is one that I’m still proud of, and it’s dope to me that it’s relatable enough for TNT to want to use it.

I would understand the “Macklemore sold out” complaints more if we matched Wings to a shoe commercial. That would be blatant irony, it would completely contradict the song and would appear as a sell out move. But an NBA commercial? The NBA has very little to do with what Wings was really about. The songs subject is about shoes, but the guts of the record are about consumer culture. Is the NBA tied up in this culture and related in some way? Of course. All companies selling a product are. But this is the result of American culture. Does the NBA happen to fall under the capitalist umbrella? Absolutely. But it’s no different than the brands you’re currently wearing, the company that manufactured the couch that you’re sitting on or the computer/phone you’re staring into while reading this.

If there was any trace of irony by Wings being one of the official songs of the 2013 All Star Game, that’s great. That means that we won. The song about consumerism was embraced on a national level, and played to the entire country of sports fans that tuned in. More people download the song, got the truth (the actual/full song) and we converted strangers that didn’t know who we were into fans. If that’s selling out to you, word. But to me that’s nothing but an all around win.

Let us know what you think about Macklemore’s statement in the comments section below. Personally, I wish that Macklemore would address all the other issues the Internet seems to be having with him at this time.

[The Rapping Coffin]

the idea of "sell out" is almost always dumb as fuck. But in this instance you have a guy who made his career pandering on his soapbox to dids-clones and college freshman about the horrors of consumerism. He then lets the NBA use his anti-nike song to sell nikes. He's the music version of every preachy liberal college student who becomes a republican in their late 30s.

[Employee]

I can't believe someone would read that in its entirety (nh @ "its entirety").

[ardamus]

I think the last comment Potholes makes is perfect. He sidestepped some other issues at hand that he did not mention.

[intuition]

interviewed macklemore on my old podcast in late '11 right before shit really really took off...i couldn't disagree more about him being "fake." he was probably one of the most genuine rap dudes i've talked to, and i went in thinking i was going to dislike the guy for the exact schtick that reyneke is talking about.

there seems to be a general trend with bloggers / music critics to vehemently attack music they would've LOVED when they were 20 and first discovered "underground" and "indie," as if they are ashamed they used to be Sublime fans or something.

i don't see how you can really be that mad at a dude that could've easily been a poster on this board a few years ago.

[Employee]

This is not good music, though.

[intuition]

but when's the last time you heard any esteemed music critics take pot shots at pitbull or flo rida?

just seems like there is extra vitriol because he has / had an underground aesthetic.

[Employee]

The only "vitriol" I see on display is the same kind that often follows around Macklemore-type rappers who drape themselves in morality: the music isn't good and the Message Songs they drop are boring promo ideas.

And Macklemore's music is nothing like what I was listening to when I was twenty. Speaking as a Californian I was listening to Log Cabin, Blowed, Anticon, Busdriver, etc.

[intuition]

And Macklemore's music is nothing like what I was listening to when I was twenty. Speaking as a Californian I was listening to Log Cabin, Blowed, Anticon, Busdriver, etc.

and the fact that he claims a lot of them as influences probably pisses you off more right?

[Employee]

And Macklemore's music is nothing like what I was listening to when I was twenty. Speaking as a Californian I was listening to Log Cabin, Blowed, Anticon, Busdriver, etc.

and the fact that he claims a lot of them as influences probably pisses you off more right?

It personally enrages me; of course it doesn't. Why would it? I never grew up under the illusion that I was the only rap dork in California with a several-generations-deep Log Cabin dub. Maybe if I made rap music or regularly subjected myself to this guy's music against my will I'd be as incensed as you wish I was.

[Employee]

Beyond that, though, and "respecting his work ethic/hustle/whatever is applicable": the music is awful. Genuinely bad.

[intuition]

perhaps it's a flawed theory...i was guessing maybe the current generation of "journalists" were upset that he's capitalizing on the same influences they had (while they pretend they never donned anticon tee shirts).

twas nothing personal emplo.

[Employee]

CSB.

[EichTurner]

http://macklemore.com/post/43688861186/ ... elling-out .. an open letter from macklemore in response to the accusation of him selling out..

In any licensing deal they are going to edit your music. A 4 minute song does not fit into a 30 second movie trailer. Lyrics have to get cut in order for the trailer/ad to make sense with what the company is promoting. And a song about consumerism doesn’t fit into an NBA All Star Game intro without some tailoring. There is a story telling aspect of Wings that chronicles loving basketball, being a kid and wanting to be like Jordan. That’s the side that the NBA wanted to use. Makes sense. Probably doesn’t make sense for them to use the part that’s breaking down our obsession with the shoes that 90% of the players in the NBA wear, right?

[Moolah]

That pro gay song is pretty good though (no homo).

[ackbar]

And Macklemore's music is nothing like what I was listening to when I was twenty. Speaking as a Californian I was listening to Log Cabin, Blowed, Anticon, Busdriver, etc.

[EichTurner]

That pro gay song is pretty good though (no homo).

i was gonna say! i do like that song.. i like the murs one better though..