On a visit toSway In The Morning Macklemore and Ryan Lewis open up about accepting their White privilege with the release of their latest single “White Privilege II.”
Sway describes “White Privilege II” as one of the most powerful songs ever made and asks whether or not when they are around a group of only White people, is there an understanding that White privilege exists.
“I think it depends on where you go,” Ryan Lewis says in the interview published today (January 26). “I think in our community a lot of people would understand the concept of White privilege and it would end there in terms of recognizing it and being silent being comfortable in your privilege which is what I think we’ve done in the past two years. So I think that song is an attempt to participate in this conversation in an authentic way and sort of face the White silence that we’re comfortable in.”
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Macklemore states that he’s using his platform to communicate to White kids who otherwise wouldn’t listen to a rapper who is Black addressing the same subject.
“We can be silent,” the GRAMMY winning-rapper says. “We can sit back behind the veil of White supremacy and still be comfortable. But that’s never going to change anything. We had to step up.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Macklemore discusses questioning whether him attending the Black Lives Matter protests would be “distracting” and if his appearance would be benefiting anyone but himself, describing the recording of “White Privilege II” as difficult.
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“I think that song starts out with the non-idictment of Darren Wilson and feeling that frustrations and feeling that and feeling that,” says the Seattle rapper whose album The Unruly Mess I’ve Madeis slated for release February 26. “This is happening again and I can’t believe it. I was driving my car and I was driving by the 9th precinct in Seattle where they were starting to protest and I drove past. I drove to a meeting and I sat down in the meeting and I just felt like I needed to crawl in my skin and I was just not comfortable in his place. I parked my car and got into the protest. That’s where the song starts.”
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ Interview on Sway In The Morning is as follows:
For additional Macklemore & Ryan Lewis coverage watch the following DX Daily:
