Macklemore And Ryan Lewis Talk "White Privilege"!

Rap duo release a single that touches a nerve. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis release "White Privilege" off their sophomore album, The Unruly Mess I've Made. 

Grammy award winning rap duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are dropping a single that will have people talking. The duo released White Privilege II, a sequel to the White Privilege single from Macklemore's 2005 underground release The Language of My World.

The song gets the nation's attention.



The Huffington Post spotlights the single. Believe me that the song singles out Iggy Azalea, Miley Cyrus and numerous other White entertainers who embraced Black culture.

The duo's lyrics to the song  touch on racial tensions, the Black Lives Matter movement and the toxicity of being passive in one's own white privilege. The nearly nine-minute song, which features Jamila Woods, points out that too often white people stand up against racial injustice when it is convenient for them.

The song also tackles the exploitation of black traditions, calling out Miley Cyrus, Iggy Azalea and Elvis for cultural appropriation. “We take all we want from black culture, but will we show up for black lives?" Macklemore, who's been accused of appropriation himself, raps.

In anticipation of the follow up to their smash album The Heist, the duo releases The Unruly Mess I've Made in February.

The song, which is free on iTunes, is the result of the artists' ongoing dialogue about race in Seattle and across the country as they seek to engage with and invest in black-led organizations like Black Lives Matter and Black Youth Project 100.

"[W]e will continue to find ways in which we can leverage our platform and network towards strengthening the work of organizers and initiatives framed by genuine racial and social equity," the artists said in a statement. "We wish to support direct organizing and be led by the expertise and experience of those on the front lines as we proceed."

Macklemore is passionate about #OscarsSoWhite and the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

He released the song to show solidarity to Jada Pinkett Smith.

Jada called upon a boycott of the Oscar Awards and it's managed to gain traction.

Some individuals in the industry have spoken against the boycott. Besides Janet Hubert, you have two others involved in the controversy. Gerald Molen and Charlotte Rumpling have called the boycott bullshit and blast #OscarsSoWhite as racist.

We will cover this controversy in the next post.