S. Samuel
Seattle rapper Macklemore has come forward to address backlash and hate fired his way after taking part in last weekend's NBA All-Star Weekend festivities with a promotional video.
Mack used his personal blog to ink a lengthy post about the fans upset with him for “selling out” his music.
“In my stripped down definition, selling out is compromising your artistic integrity for money/fame. In my heart I can tell you that my personal artistic integrity remained completely intact over the weekend. TNT used our song. They’re still my words. They picked the parts that fit their ad campaign, and visually matched it to us performing, threw in a highlight reel of crazy dunks and had a bunch of kids singing the hook in a gym. Word. I’m all for that. If you take away the consumerism cautionary core of Wings, a story still remains. And that story is one that I’m still proud of, and it’s dope to me that it’s relatable enough for TNT to want to use it.” (Macklemore)
He also questioned critics jumping the gun without making an accurate argument over how his “Wings” promotional video is a cheap move.
“I would understand the “Macklemore sold out” complaints more if we matched Wings to a shoe commercial. That would be blatant irony, it would completely contradict the song and would appear as a sell out move. But an NBA commercial? The NBA has very little to do with what Wings was really about. The songs subject is about shoes, but the guts of the record are about consumer culture. Is the NBA tied up in this culture and related in some way? Of course. All companies selling a product are. But this is the result of American culture. Does the NBA happen to fall under the capitalist umbrella? Absolutely. But it’s no different than the brands you’re currently wearing, the company that manufactured the couch that you’re sitting on or the computer/phone you’re staring into while reading this. If there was any trace of irony by Wings being one of the official songs of the 2013 All Star Game, that’s great. That means that we won. The song about consumerism was embraced on a national level, and played to the entire country of sports fans that tuned in. More people download the song, got the truth (the actual/full song) and we converted strangers that didn’t know who we were into fans. If that’s selling out to you, word. But to me that’s nothing but an all around win.” (Macklemore)
In the NBA All-Star Weekend clip, Macklemore is shown rapping while highlights of star players fade in and out.
Things just keep getting better for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. After years of groundwork, the duo scored big with their album, The Heist, and #1 Hot 100 single “Thrift Shop,” which recently reached double platinum status. Now, they unveil a revamped set of visuals for album standout “Wing$” that will serve as the spot for this year’s NBA All-Star game. In the video Macklemore and Ryan Lewis sport their western conference and eastern conference All-Star jerseys, as the Seattle MC spits emphatically about dreaming to be like Mike (Jordan) and the false sense of security created by the sneakers he sported to do so. They are joined by a youth choir, who sing a heartfelt chorus on the inspirational song. Clips of Blake Griffin, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and the rest of this year’s NBA All-Stars are integrated throughout the visual. (HHW)
The West Coast rapper’s latest album continues to sell copies on the Top 200 music sales chart.
Music duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis‘ The Heist fell 14 slots to No. 33 with 21,100. After 19 weeks, their new joint effort has sold 356,900 pieces. (SOHH Sales Wrap)
Check out the promotional video:
