Music
The Return Of Macklemore Is The Sacrifice We Make For A Trump-Free Era
He's baaaaack!
One villain may have left the Oval Office today, but the white rapper everyone loves to hate is back. At 12 p.m. ET on Jan. 20 — literally in the middle of Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony — Macklemore (né Benjamin Haggerty) returned to the public eye with his "Trump's Over Freestyle."
"Trump's over, he lost / Social Media kicked him off, he gone / Throw a party on the White House lawn, retire the liar / Impeach that orange h*e, so long," the artist bravely raps now that Trump is out of sight, referencing everything from the Black Lives Matter movement to the COVID-19 pandemic to Joe Biden's age. The song's celebratory tenor is a throwback to the Obama era and the rapper's prime, when celebrity activism largely meant presiding over same-sex marriages at the Grammys and not, you know, getting tear gassed and arrested for peacefully protesting police brutality or donating $200,000 to the NAACP while pledging to raise your children with an awareness of systemic racism.
The Grammy-winning "Thrift Shop" performer warned us of the song's existence yesterday on his Instagram, posting a photo of Donald Trump playing tennis with the caption, "Who thinks I should drop this tomorrow AM?" Nobody stopped him.
Macklemore has long been known for virtue signaling, like when he performed same-sex marriages onstage with Madonna in 2014 and apologized to Kendrick Lamar for taking home three rap Grammys. Aside from Instagramming a black square in June, performing at benefit concerts, and working to help those recovering from addiction, his efforts in activism are far more visible in his music — which, to be fair, did introduce the concept of white privilege to many in the mid-aughts — than in his actions.
Anyway, Macklemore, thanks for your input and for sharing your 5-year-old daughter's ad-libs, which is perhaps the only redeeming moment in this clip.
Macklemore, "Trump's Over Freestyle"
(Hah, hah, that's enough, that's enough, that's enough!)
Fifty grand I get this all in one take, ey
(Turn it up!)
Now, all you high-fiving, MAGA white boys, drinking white claws
Care about your taxes more than human rights sign off
You no mask wearing, big truck driving
Blue lives matter, talking shit about the riots
Double standard once the white folks went and tried it
They're Patriots, no those are terrorists, Brian
And all you liberals out there being silent
While black people dying, at the hands of police violence
That care more about animal rights and recycling
And bicycling and the climate and tooth paste with iron
You too are complicit, you too getting brought up
I'll give it to you pro-bono, you too are the problem
I'm white there with ya, silence on all us
Comfy in my privilege, like should I risk all this?
Yes, and if you think I care to lose you as a fan
Peace out b*tch you know exactly where I stand
Trump's over, he lost (he lost)
Social Media kicked him off, he gone (he gone)
Throw a party on the White House lawn, retire the liar
Impeach that orange h*e, so long (you're fired)
Trump's over, he lost (he lost)
Social Media kicked him off, he gone (Yeah)
Throw a party on the White House lawn, retire the liar
Impeach that orange h*e, so long
It's like Trump is just a symptom, that we ain't free from
Just old white supremacy that he would feed us
We celebrating, but to think a new era's begun
Still half the country feels the same way that he does so
What the f*ck are we gonna do now?
Biden my dog, but he's close to getting put down
Surprise, another old white guy in the house
Who's fine, we just hold our breath when he opens his mouth
We thought 2021 was gonna save us
We thought that we were gonna all love our neighbors
We thought COVID was over being contagious
Nope, America still armed, dumb and dangerous
Trump's over, he lost (he lost)
Social Media kicked him off, he gone (he gone)
Throw a party on the White House lawn, retire the liar
Impeach that orange h*e, so long (you're fired)
Trump's over, he lost (he lost)
Social Media kicked him off, he gone (Yeah)
Throw a party on the White House lawn, retire the liar
Impeach that orange h*e, so long (you're fired)
Dad, wait one second
Look, I want you to say the rest of the part and then I say
Donald Trump is gone!
Donald Trump's gone, sick-a-nin-nin town?
Got that voice, now sick-a-nin-nin lime?
