rudietuesdays

Race + Hip-Hop + LGBT Equality: On Macklemore’s White Straight Privilege

(I)s it revolutionary for white people to get mainstream recognition for talking about homophobia in hip hop, when queer hip hop artists of color are routinely ignored? The fact of the matter is, the success of “Same Love” is largely due at least in part to white audiences being more receptive to white straight men talking about oppression than oppressed people, as well as the comfort of being able to remove themselves from misogyny and homophobia because the oppression at hand is the fault of Black people in hip hop. What could be more revolutionary than that? How about listening to queer people of color?

As I mentioned to FY!QM, to whom I must give credit for showing me this piece, I was wondering when something like it would be written. I’m really glad to see that it’s so well thought out, well put together, well done. Seriously worth the read, worth thinking about, worth discussing.

I think “Thrift Shop” is a fantastic song. Overall, I enjoy Macklemore’s music. He has rapped about white privilege in the past, so he’s got to be at least somewhat aware of what’s going on here. I’m interested to see if and how he reacts to criticism of this song.

H/T to FY!QM for inspiring (and being the content of) the last few posts on my blog!