The Sound of White Privilege

Along with Blue Scholars, Macklemore is representative of a growing Seattle-based hip hop scene that frequently pays tribute to the 206. This track is from his first official album in 2005, and I think it captures some of the unspoken racial politics in hip hop.

As the song notes all too well, the white appropriation of “ethnic” (particularly African American) music for the purpose of mass consumption is certainly nothing new, but I appreciate Macklemore’s honesty as merely one voice in a long line of artistic colonization that has shaped our musical landscape.

While recognizing his complicity in the problem, he also draws attention to the irony and hypocrisy of white hip hop that has been so profitable for those who stand to benefit from such widespread cultural appropriation. (It always struck me as a bit ironic that my first introduction to hip hop [N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton] was through my Mexican American friend in the Sacramento suburbs.)

According to his own lyrics, the sound of white privilege is essentially “the music without the burden,” or an adoption of the style without an understanding of its cost– a cost paid by others. And as those of us with privilege are hopefully aware, in an inherently unequal society, we are always standing on the shoulders (and the backs) of those who are without.

In other words, “we still own 40 acres; now we’ve stolen their 16 bars.” Word.