Jenny Whoa nails the whole Macklemore craze

A blogger going by the name of Jenny Whoa has a very interesting tumblr account discussing all things race related. One might call her an angry black woman, but whatever, her analysis is spot on.

"RaceGenius breaks down Jon Caraminca’s original article, wading through the murky waters of coded white privilege-writing, so you don’t have to!"

http://jennywhoa.tumblr.com/post/67580644995/race-genius-presents-power-doses-of-a-rappers

She does a good job explaining exactly why I can't stand Macklemore.

 

This is the dumbest shit I've read in awhile. He's one of maybe three successful white rappers in the last twenty years. There are still conscious rappers they're just smart enough not to beat you over the head with that shit. J.Cole is dope Big Sean is dope Kendrick Lamar is dope shit I hate Drake but I have to admit he has some dope records. Macklemore made some decent tracks and capitalizes off of them who cares? Good for him it doesn't mean the end of black rappers.

 

That's not what I got from it, though recent news that not a single black artist had a #1 hit last year, and the rappers who did just happened to be white, makes you wonder.

I think she did a good job explaining just how far we have fallen. Its not that he's white, 'concious', or that he's even that bad of a rapper. Its the flagrant appropriation, sanctimonious messaging, and his overall success that irks me.

Now he claims his album isn't even a Hip-Hop album, I'm assuming because he wants to be humble about his Grammy nomination. But listening to this guy, he probably thinks its 'higher' than a Hip-Hop album.

White rappers are nothing new. Them going out their way to be "conscious" isn't either. This guys takes it a bit far imo, and his popular reception is pretty nauseating. For the record, I wouldn't consider Cole, Big Sean or Kendrick 'conscious' in the proper sense of PE, BDP, or something like Digable Planets. Like their contemporary, Drake, they're just highly self-reflective.

 

What is consciousness if not highly self reflective. And all genres have sanctimonious douche bags look at Lady Gaga Bono Moby and even Mase at one point. Its what happens when these "artist" become popular and begin to believe their own hype. Macklemore is no different he just happens to be a white rapper doing it.

 

I think you mean self-absorbed. Camron is very self-reflective, but I wouldn't call him a conscious rapper. I associate the 'conscious' style with activist-type artists, like Mos Def and Lupe Fiasco (both of whom deny they're "conscious"). There have been conscious mcs who were never really activists (Common and Kanye come to mind) and they're a big reason why the term doesn't mean much anymore.

Macklemore is garbage to me. If he were really that nice there wouldn't be a problem. But dude strikes me as a charlatan. Someone who positions themselves as the insider talking out of school, when he was never really down to begin with. He's not of the culture when you factor the circumstances of how rap came to be, but he likes to act as if he's teaching us something about it, when really he's talking past us while reaping all the benefits of being non-black in America.

He's hardly deserving of a pass

 

I feel you to that effect, it is annoying that his mediocrity is celebrated but you have to give it to his management team they knew how to package him for the masses. He may not be talented kind of like Britney Spears but he's authentic in his mediocrity because at least he sticks to topics that seem organic to him no "I'm hard for the streets bs"