Macklemore
/I am going to be one of those people that says I was a fan before everyone was a fan. It's annoying. I get it. But in this instance, it's totally true. When I heard And We Danced, I laughed so hard and LB and I started searching for his other music. What we found was beautiful. So I am sharing which two songs I wish Macklemore was known for (in addition to Same Love which makes me cry happy tears) and his newest jam. The first is about addiction... straight up. (Warning: If you have struggled with addiction this video may bring up difficult memories for you. Drug use is alluded to.)
Everyone in my family has struggled with addiction and this song just encapsulates the struggle. The uncertainty, the root causes of it, and the straight up fear. Because not being able to depend on yourself to get yourself from one day to the next is incredibly scary. Watch the video of this one... it's powerful... and definitely some of Macklemore's best work. A wake. No video for this one, but that's good cause the lyrics are all that matters here.
This verse is my favorite from A Wake:
Now every month there is a new Rodney on Youtube It's just something our generation is used to And neighbourhoods where you never see a news crew Unless they're gentrifying, white people don't even cruise through And my subconcious telling me stop it This is an issue that you shouldn't get involved in Don't even tweet, R.I.P Trayvon Martin Don't wanna be that white dude, million man marchin' Fighting for our freedom that my people stole Don't wanna make all my white fans uncomfortable But you don't even have a fuckin' song for radio Why you out here talkin race, tryin' to save the fuckin' globe Don't get involved with the causes in mind White privilege, white guilt, at the same damn time So we just party like it's nineteen ninety nine Celebrate the ignorance while these kids keep dying
And this last one appears to be his newest jam... a collaboration.
Again, brilliant writing:
Let me ash my issues Ashtray is this asphalt American spirit Black coffee, conversations and a passport When God gives you everything, everything That you ever asked for and it still looks a bit different Than when you pictured it on that back porch And I'm gone world traveller all I got is my songs When the nights start blending into one another and I don't recall Tom Petty in this motherfucker All I wanna do is free fall Yeah free fall And I'm so caught up I'm caught up, I'm caught up And I'm so tired, swore that I wouldn't Stare into the light And guess who tried it Shit I'm blinded by this lime light This lime light, it's all night, it's all day These bright lights, these bright lights Once you turn 'em on You can't walk away, don't die here Don't die here I came too far, I'm too great But I'm too scared and I'm too afraid To stare this world into its face I'm almost home, I'm driving lost My eyelids closed, light turns to grey The cameras off, the show is over You close the curtains and just escape
I have never thought that beautiful writing was reserved for books or poetry. Or that it solely belonged to those overwrought love ballads. This "rap" music is all love and lessons and truth. It's what makes Macklemore who he is (besides being raised in Seattle of course).
Some of you may not know that my second favorite dude in the world is embarking on an epic road trip soon, and LB and I are just coming off of one ourselves. He asked LB and I to put together separate epic road trip songs playlists for him. I obliged and decided that he should not be the only one who gets to benefit from my musical research and love all of the things road trip music. Thus, I am sharing with you, my lovely bloggy peeps. As a heads up, my musical taste falls more on the slow/methodical/emotional nonsense side. However, I clearly do love a good bluegrass... that I can understand. I hate bluegrass where the lyrics are lost to the music (and yes, purists. I totally get that the MUSIC is traditionally the whole point of bluegrass, but it's not my point, so there).
