I'm a feminist, and here's why.
This weekend, my wife, her sister, her best friend, and I went to the Macklemore concert in St. George. We stood out in the cold and rain with five thousand college students and Macklemore repaid us by putting on a fantastic show. He rapped about baseball and thrift-shopping, which is a big reason why I like his music. Then the music stopped. He hushed the crowd and said into the microphone, reverently,
"This next song," he said, "is about acceptance."
The crowd cheered. "Same Love!" they yelled.
Macklemore straightened up.
"This next song is about compassion."
The crowd went berserk.
Then Ryan Lewis laid down a soft piano riff. And Macklemore started to sing about tolerance and same-sex rights and how we should treat gay people with respect. The crowd sang along, including me. I like the song. It preaches tolerance and love, asking us to respect those around us, regardless of their sexual-orientation.
The song ended and the crowd cheered. Macklemore then started a song called "Castle", which is about what he would do if he owned a castle. Here's a sample:
I got a cutey and I'm making a beat on her booty
Like I was up on the roof beating up on a bongo
and later...
Your thighs are the closet to Narnia
Is it cool if I go and get lost in that?
and one more...
Girl's booty was bigger than the stomach of Rick Ross'
Holy mother mountain of tender tendin' you get lost in
Bounce, bounce, that castle booty, that bottom
Make it wobble, wobbly-wobble 'til my third leg has to hobble
Now, I'll admit, I couldn't understand the lyrics while I was there. The concert was a lot of fun. It wasn't until after I downloaded the song that I realized the disparity that exists in society:
We preach love and respect for 5% of the population while we demean and indignify 50%.
I think what upset me most is that I thought about how I would feel if Macklemore were talking about my sisters, or my friends, or my wife with those lyrics. As a society, we get angry when someone says "that's gay," but we sing along with "See what's poppin' at the malls, meet a bad bitch, Slap her booty with my ****s."
I'm also angry at Macklemore. By cultivating the impression you are respectful and above all that "rapper nonsense", you make your young, impressionable listeners feel like it's okay to talk about women like you do. How can you be so upset about society's abuse of the word "gay" while you promote the abuse and objectification of an entire gender?
Mackelmore is right: if I were gay, I'd think hip hop hates me. But if I was a woman, I'd think hip hop hates me, too.
I love you, Brock!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWord! This is why I despise hip hop and rap. Not only do I rarely hear anything remotely resembling "music", the lyrics about women are just goddamn awful.
ReplyDeleteYou are missing the point of Macklemore's song. The song Castle is entirely satirical imo. As are many of his earlier songs (And We Danced, the Penis Song, American, the Bush Song, etc.). He has alot of songs where he is making fun of certain ideas that he is against. I think Castle is one of those songs. You conclusion is about as astute as a person who thinks the song "Kill the Poor" by the Dead Kennedys is actually promoting bombing slums. Sure when you just quote the lyrics without taking the tone or the musicians style into account it's easy to misinterpret what they're saying. When you look at his more serious content you realize that he is extremely conscientious and aware of the human condition. Go listen to the song Contradiction, a large part of that song is about how he believes in equality yet how he can't deny that he IS prejudiced, sexist, racist.. all those things because he has absorbed certain mindsets growing up listening to hip hop that he is constantly battling against.. there is no denial of his downfalls. There are many songs by Macklemore that discuss issues that I have rarely heard mentioned by white male musicians. Good examples of that are Contradiction, White Priviledge, Claiming the City, Remember High School, Soldiers.. and I could go on. It's unfortunate that Macklemore has only become popular now with The Heist, and alot of people are only listening to songs off that album, but without knowing what he's put out before that, it's hard to understand his style or what he's trying to say.
ReplyDelete*Your conclusion
ReplyDeleteHis lyrics may be ironic, but unfortunately many, many people don't realize that. In my opinion, these words just add to the barrage of insulting and degrading lyrics despite intentions to the contrary.
ReplyDeleteThis song that you are upset about is satirical. If you listen to his other songs you would see that his opinion of rappers who rap about "strippers up on the pole poppin'" and claim that their songs are artistic should just "stop it". Quoted from his song "A Wake" wherein he again expresses his belief that all people should be treated equally. I am not saying you shouldn't be a feminist, but don't choose this song to be to be your reason... Look into it more and don't hate on such caring, brilliant artists such as Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Macklemore's lyrics are deep and intended to be thought-provoking. The absence of thought-provoking material in "Castle" forces one to ask, "why is this not deep?", the answer to which can be found, I think, through examining his opinions expressed in other songs. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
ReplyDelete