Macklemore follows up a monster album with a steaming turd that features a song called White Privilege II, where he checks his privilege for being white at a Black Lives Matter protest.

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Zipped up my parka, joined the procession of marchers
In my head like, "Is this awkward, should I even be here marching?"
Thinking if they can't, how can I breathe?
Thinking that they chant, what do I sing?
I want to take a stance cause we are not free
And then I thought about it, we are not we
Am I in the outside looking in, or am I in the inside looking out?
Is it my place to give my two cents
Or should I stand on the side and shut my mouth? No justice, no peace
Okay, I'm saying that they're chanting out, "Black lives matter", but I don't say it back
Is it okay for me to say? I don't know, so I watch and stand
In front of a line of police that look the same as me

His new album, infused with social justice themes, saw a sales drop of ~1 million units compared to the previous one. It dropped like a rock.

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The album dropped to number 31 in its second week on the Billboard 200.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Unrul...erformance & http://djbooth.net/news/entry/2016-04-15...nruly-mess

The album is currently ranked 185 on the Billboard charts: http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200

Macklemore says he doesn't care about sales.

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"There’s a lot of contributing factors to that number. I think that we didn’t want to come out of the gate with singles. The strategy that we had around releasing this music wasn’t about sales. If it would’ve been about sales, I don’t think we would’ve put out a nine-minute song about White privilege and White supremacy five weeks out before the album drops. The reasoning for doing that had nothing to do with numbers."

He is from Washingston state and unfortunately a lot of his followers are leftists in the Pacific North West who have been brainwashed. I was in college when his Thrift Shop song came out and of course all of the hipsters and leftists loved it, stating that he was so great at writing a song that would cover all socioeconomic groups. But his ideas are so, so flawed. Of course, give a guy a funky name, a cool haircut and let him swing around on stage and he's cool with a lot of liberals.

I'm sure his label feels the same way.

Gay rights are cool, blacks not so much.

WIA

Blacks aren't cool?

I think in this case, it is more an issue of preachiness doesn't fit the medium.

We turn to music to feel positive emotions, not be lectured.

Would a similarly preachy song about gay rights actually be a hit across demographics?

Not as bad as Eminem's attempt to sway the 2004 election for Kerry.

Every time an entertainer makes an attempt to be political and have an agenda, it bombs.

But y'know, it's "art" and "creative", so he'll feel good about himself at the end of the day.

Who is this Macklemore guy?

He should have never beaten kendrick to album of the year award at the grammys.

Whenever I hear his name, I think of fish.

Quote: (04-20-2016 01:33 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  

Gay rights are cool, blacks not so much.

WIA

Given how much he uses the term I and me, this album is really about one white guy's ennui about race.

To say it's about blacks is incorrect, this is his life told from his perspective -- black people just happen to inhabit some parts of his world. It just so happens that all the people he hates also hate black people, therefore "we need to talk about race." Cue white people arguing over how much better they are than blacks each other's privilege, as if that would change something in this world. The average white person can't even lose 20 pounds or approach an average-looking girl at a bar, how is the hollow politics of "privilege" going to change anything?

That's the whole problem with the "white privilege" concept is it fosters no change, just excessive amounts of psuedo self-insight, self-castigation and hollow political posturing. Since blacks are disadvantaged relative to whites, it allows many whites an avenue to obsess over themselves while not changing themselves.

Black people are cool insofar as they allow a white person to self-identify or self-brand. However, gays are far more effective for that these days, so. . .

Quote: (04-20-2016 02:05 PM)spokepoker Wrote:  

Whenever I hear his name, I think of fish.

Quote: (04-20-2016 01:52 PM)frenchcorporation Wrote:  

He should have never beaten kendrick to album of the year award at the grammys.

I'm still losing sleep over that one.

Haven't heard it yet, but I'm sure I'll be able to pick it up from my neighborhood thrift shop in the near future.

delete

Good. I liked his thrift store song, liked the Cadillac song, then heard the depressing sounding gay song and knew he'd be a temporary fad. Just like his lame hairstyle.

What a shame. He coulda been a contender.

Quote: (04-20-2016 01:33 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  

Gay rights are cool, blacks not so much.

WIA

Then why does rap sell... being a whiny bitch doesn't sell, which is the main problem of this album.

It amazes me that 'White Privilege II' has twelve listed co-writers, and then they wonder why something designed by committee appeals to no-one.

Quote: (04-20-2016 01:32 PM)General Stalin Wrote:  

I'm sure his label feels the same way.

Certain conversations would have already been had. Expect the tour support and video budgets to dry up.

Quote: (04-20-2016 01:40 PM)debeguiled Wrote:  

Blacks aren't cool?

I think in this case, it is more an issue of preachiness doesn't fit the medium.

We turn to music to feel positive emotions, not be lectured.

Do Blacks care to hear how a White Male Feels about Black Lives Matter? Do Self-Flagellating Whites who buy into White Privilege care to hear how a White Male feels about Black Lives Matter?

Particularly: when has it ever been cool for kids to buy music where the singer reinforces the same message a school teacher would have lectured you with earlier that day?

We had this back in my day too, where you could learn how TV was bad, and that illegal immigration was about compassion for poverty, and if you were homophobic your eventual destination was to be raped up the butt in jail, and no-one bought it then either:



We're heading into the years where Millennial Purchasing and Viewping Power is dying off and is about to become the domainated by Gen Z tastes, who'll be around 15 or so now. Whilst I've seen some handwringing about how they're going to be even more fragile - I'd expect that in the Upper Classes. I'm noticing average working class children of that age group interact with each other in larger groups than the millennials, talk face to face, and are less interested in being buried in their phones at every moment. Still, they're switched on and connected and know how to look up information for themselves. As such, there's a huge shitlord streak appearing, whether it's the rebellions of the Chans and Gamergate; an 11-year-old rolling her eyes over Buzzfeed's hatred of males whilst multi-tasking; or a 9-year-old realising she can do a better job of reporting than the media by doing 'actual research' (coupled with an eyeroll).

Generational Change is coming, and SJW-ism is last year's thing, which is why it's no suprise to me we're starting to see the social media crackdowns that we are over the last year. I suspect these kids are so used to being bombarded with simultaneous information that they've become very skilled at filtering bullshit.

Of course, for the more conspiracy-minded members of the Forum, there's also this:

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Macklemore was criticized for a performance he gave at Seattle’s Experience Music Project in May 2014 where he was unintentionally dressed in an outfit resembling a stereotypical Jew.

Quote: (04-20-2016 01:33 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  

Gay rights are cool, blacks not so much.

WIA

Except black people have the same rights as everyone else.

Instead of focusing on things like: equal outcome, "white privilege", and race.

Let's focus on: criminal justice reform, police reform, and education reform.

The second category of issues will make American society better for everyone, the first category divides us.

^ Further on that scandal, the costume in question.



It played out like this:



Expected apologetic submission to the narrative:

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My intention was to dress up and surprise the people at the show with a random costume and nothing more. Thus, it was surprising and disappointing that the images of a disguise were sensationalized leading to the immediate assertion that my costume was anti-Semetic. I acknowledge how the costume could, within a context of stereotyping, be ascribed to a Jewish caricature. I am here to say that it was absolutely not my intention, and unfortunately at the time I did not foresee the costume to be viewed in such regard. I’m saddened that this story, or any of my choices, would lead to any form of negativity.

We all know how apologising means you are forgiven and saves your career.

First post-scandal single from this album in 2015, now he's only gold instead of multi-platinum or diamond.

Second post-scandal single back in Feb, and he didn't even chart in the US, UK or Canada and only went gold in Australia, which means, in a country of 20+ million people, he only sold - at least - 35,000 copies, and no more than 70,000, which is a platinum certification.

It certainly is an odd-coincidence.

Quote: (04-20-2016 05:45 PM)All or Nothing Wrote:  

Quote: (04-20-2016 01:33 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  

Gay rights are cool, blacks not so much.

WIA

Except black people have the same rights as everyone else.

Instead of focusing on things like: equal outcome, "white privilege", and race.

Let's focus on: criminal justice reform, police reform, and education reform.

The second category of issues will make American society better for everyone, the first category divides us.

We do but that's not the point.

The point is that if SJW-sim was a chess game ...

Black people would be the pawns, Hispanics would be the knights, Muslims would be the Bishops, non-white females would be the castle/rook , LGBT people would be the queen. The most powerful piece is the Queen & the least powerful are the pawns. All of them serve the most valuable piece of all - the King. Which would be middle/upper-middle class pretty white females.

There's a SJW hierarchy.

Gays are more way more valuable than blacks. Which is why Macklemore's "Same love" song featuring the Queen won so many awards but the white privilege song talking about the easily disposable pawns is a disaster.

He should have picked a more valuable piece. Muslims and illegal immigrants are hot right now.

Quote: (04-20-2016 02:53 PM)Il Bersagliere Wrote:  

Haven't heard it yet, but I'm sure I'll be able to pick it up from my neighborhood thrift shop in the near future.

That shit ain't worth 99 cents.

Quote: (04-20-2016 05:45 PM)All or Nothing Wrote:  

Let's focus on: criminal justice reform, police reform, and education reform.

Already achieved in the 1980's for the first two, and the 1970's for the latter. People from marginalised communities are victims of society and aren't responsible for their actions has been the dominant policing and criminal justice mantra for a good thirty years, and it turned my hometown into a warzone where the police throw up their hands in defeat because they know there's nothing they can do.

And yet the Marxist agitators still pretend it's 1975 and sell the image that the Police are a Patriarchal Institution where women don't have access to female officers post rape; where everyone hasn't already gone through diversity and sensitivity training; where cops can't get reprimanded for arresting gay guys having sex in public because it's part of their culture; where all signage doesn't had multiple language translations under each statement; and perps don't have ready access to interpreters 24/7.

Why is this false construct still being sold? Why do Feminist Groups at university discourage women from reporting their rapes to the police, or contacting the various Women's Crisis Centre's who are trained to deal with those situations? Why this repeated message that you won't be believed and that institutional actors are still uneducated?

The Black Community is currently-being used by Socialists to gain further control for their own ends, and if they buy into their bullshit, they will be discarded and remarginalised once the revolution happens. Why do you think working class whites are so currently-demonised? We refused to play ball with the Marxists and uprise in the glorious revolution they demanded of us, and now the narrative is that we deserve to die.

Marxists don't care about marginalised populations. They care about power. There is 100 years of Communist History to study that shows this again and again: if the black community challenges their power post-overthrow, they will simply round them all up and slaughter them, en masse. Particularly if there's a large component of Black Christians in the mix - that segment is guaranteed death.

Rich people always get their way. It's just how it is.

Quote: (04-20-2016 06:03 PM)Anabasis to Desta Wrote:  

He should have picked a more valuable piece. Muslims and illegal immigrants are hot right now.

I guess I misread what WIA was saying, but you understood it. Was he saying that black people aren't cool in the SJW hierarchy?

So if a prominent gay white woman got in a public feud with a straight black women, the white woman would automatically win? Being the king?

So is this set in stone, or does it change over time?

I am not perceiving the different levels of status on the progressive left.