nd33 said:

BlaqueKnight said:

You should have stopped right there. Everybody and their momma, sister and brother have been on the gay rights thing since prop 8 and using it to make themselves look P.C. Welcome to 2011. Gay rights is MOST MAINSTREAM right now and to deny that is to either be oblivious to everything going on in American society right now or to be straight up lying.

I commend him for saying what he said. No "buts". (No pun)

It was a noble issue for a straight white guy to tackle when he could do what most straight white males do and just ignore it altogether. SStill, that is not his only song. He is P.C. to the fullest and that plays a huge part in his success. He is safe. The second he steps outside of being safe, he's done.

OK, show me all the mainstream rappers/hip hop artists, taking a stand about homophobia before him.

I will happily retract my comment.

MAINSTREAM rappers, eh? LOL. Trying to load your statement. When he did the song, HE WASN'T MAINSTREAM YET. He only has ONE album.

I'm not going to research for you because I don't have time for all that but I'll throw a few names at you and let YOU do the work if you really want quotes.

Jay-Z

Kanye West

A$AP Rocky

Frank Ocean (even though he is a singer as well)

Nicki Minaj

The Game

Eve

They have all made public statements against homophobia.

Mainstreamers only care when one of their own says something. Macklemore is not some special, unique, "enlightened" rapper. You can ask a lot of rappers how they feel about homosexuality and get a range of responses from indifferent (like most of America) to positive. They may not go out an make songs about it because it might not be their subject to write about but that doesn't mean they are against it. If you are gay, then obviously his song would resonate with you more than it would someone who isn't. This is also the case with most other subjects. Artists pick subjects that are important to them and they write about them. It doesn't make them any more or less of an artist. Prince wrote Bambi but he's still a bad ass musician/singer.

BlaqueKnight said:

nd33 said:

OK, show me all the mainstream rappers/hip hop artists, taking a stand about homophobia before him.

I will happily retract my comment.

MAINSTREAM rappers, eh? LOL. Trying to load your statement. When he did the song, HE WASN'T MAINSTREAM YET. He only has ONE album.

I'm not going to research for you because I don't have time for all that but I'll throw a few names at you and let YOU do the work if you really want quotes.

Jay-Z

Kanye West

A$AP Rocky

Frank Ocean (even though he is a singer as well)

Nicki Minaj

The Game

Eve

They have all made public statements against homophobia.

Mainstreamers only care when one of their own says something. Macklemore is not some special, unique, "enlightened" rapper. You can ask a lot of rappers how they feel about homosexuality and get a range of responses from indifferent (like most of America) to positive. They may not go out an make songs about it because it might not be their subject to write about but that doesn't mean they are against it. If you are gay, then obviously his song would resonate with you more than it would someone who isn't. This is also the case with most other subjects. Artists pick subjects that are important to them and they write about them. It doesn't make them any more or less of an artist. Prince wrote Bambi but he's still a bad ass musician/singer.

My original statement was "I don't know that much about Macklemore, but rapping about breaking down homophobia is not mainstream", so I havent deviated one inch.

.

I'll check out the songs from those dudes...

nd33 said:

BlaqueKnight said:

MAINSTREAM rappers, eh? LOL. Trying to load your statement. When he did the song, HE WASN'T MAINSTREAM YET. He only has ONE album.

I'm not going to research for you because I don't have time for all that but I'll throw a few names at you and let YOU do the work if you really want quotes.

Jay-Z

Kanye West

A$AP Rocky

Frank Ocean (even though he is a singer as well)

Nicki Minaj

The Game

Eve

They have all made public statements against homophobia.

Mainstreamers only care when one of their own says something. Macklemore is not some special, unique, "enlightened" rapper. You can ask a lot of rappers how they feel about homosexuality and get a range of responses from indifferent (like most of America) to positive. They may not go out an make songs about it because it might not be their subject to write about but that doesn't mean they are against it. If you are gay, then obviously his song would resonate with you more than it would someone who isn't. This is also the case with most other subjects. Artists pick subjects that are important to them and they write about them. It doesn't make them any more or less of an artist. Prince wrote Bambi but he's still a bad ass musician/singer.

My original statement was "I don't know that much about Macklemore, but rapping about breaking down homophobia is not mainstream", so I havent deviated one inch.

.

I'll check out the songs from those dudes...

Well, those artists have SPOKEN about homophobia. I didn't say they all wrote entire songs about them. By the same token, I have never heard Macklemore spit about the troubles of growing up as a black man in an oppressive society, either. He can't do that with any conviction because he can only sympathize. PEOPLE PICK THEIR CAUSES AND BATTLES. Given that Seattle is a culturally progressive city in regards to gay culture, its not that shocking that a white rapper from Seattle in the midst of a cultural revolution of sorts would choose that as a topic.

Now here's the catch: MC no-name-black-rapper could have also written a song like this but given the nature of the dominantly white culture of the Northwest, it wouldn't necessarily get him/her any exposure. What you reagard as some kind of exceptional feat, I see as reflection of local culture. If he were from Detroit or Philly, he would be in a different mindset and his subject matter might be different...or not? Who knows? Props to Mack for tackling a subject currently getting publicity.

BlaqueKnight said:

Props to Mack for tackling a subject currently getting publicity.

I don't know if you meant this sarcastically, lol, or what. But it just reminds me of Joni Mitchell writing "Woodstock" having never attended.