Grammy Award winning rapper Macklemore has taken a stance on cultural appropriation and the #BlackLivesMatter movement much clearer with his new song with Ryan Lewis, "White Privilege II."
In the song, Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, discusses his own feelings about his place in the hip-hop industry. "Should I even be here marching/Thinking if they can't, how can I breathe?" he raps.
He goes on to acknowledge that he does not share the experiences of black people, even if he is a part of the predominantly black rap industry. "I want to take a stance, 'cause we are not free/then I thought about it, we are not we," he laments in the track, which features Jamila Woods.
Macklemore also uses the song as an opportunity to take on Miley Cyrus and Iggy Azalea, two artists who have frequently been accused of appropriating black culture, to task. "The culture was never yours to make better/You're Miley, you're Elvis, you're Iggy Azalea," he says.
In a statement released on the song's website, Macklemore and Lewis explained the vision behind the song. "We are committed to a long-term investment of our time, resources, finances and creative capacities towards supporting black-led organizing and anti-racist education & discourse," the two wrote.
"White Privilege II" is a followup to the 2005 track "White Privilege," according to E! News. The song is a collaboration with four organizations, Black Lives Matter, People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, Youth Undoing Institutional Racism & Freedom School, and Black Youth Project 100.
You can listen to the song here:
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