An Analysis Of White Privilege II

“White Privilege II” is a single made Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. The song features the work of various songwriters and Jamila Woods, an up-and-coming black artist. The single was released on January twenty-second of this year. In the song, Macklemore rap’s about social injustice, white supremacy in the United States, and how it affects his career as a white male rapper. The song uses interviews, simple lyrics, and simple music composition to bring awareness to the privilege that white people have in America.

“White Privilege II” has interludes of real life interviews to exhibit and compare the differences between the White-American and African-American perspective on social injustice. The first set of interviews comes from the White-American

point of view. These interviews showcases a general outlook that is made up of anger, confusion, and a defensive nature. For example, the fifth interviewer talks about how the Black Lives Matter movement does not let people have the freedom to voice their opinions without facing unwarranted judgement, “Black Lives Matter thing is a reason to take arms up over perceived slights.” (4:20-4:26). The first set of interviews provides the audience a real life demonstration of those who do not believe that there is a issue with social justice. The second set of interviews come from the African-American point of view. Unlike in the first set of interviews, the speakers are not blaming those who oppose their ideas, but instead are asking White-Americans to acknowledge that there’s problems and take the steps necessary to make a change. For example, the last interviewer questions if White-Americans actually want to give up their privileges to create an equal social order, “What are you willing to sacrifice to create a more just society?” (7:17-7:20). The two sets of interviews demand that the audience think about their daily actions and how consider how they, themselves could make a difference in American society.
“White Privilege II,” uses simple language with few metaphors which allows for the song’s meaning to be comprehensible.

For example, in the seventh verse, Macklemore how multiple artist and people take from black traditions without supporting black businesses or black rights, “We take all we want from black culture, but will we show up for black lives?” (6:15-6:20). In Macklemore’s asking of this question, he is simultaneously pointing how cultural appropriation is a popular way for White-American to take from a group of people without regarding how their lives are affected. Macklemore even goes as far as to point out this issue in his own work and the work of popular artists such as Iggy Azalea and Miley Cyrus. Macklemore tries to make up for his actions by making a reference to Audre Lorde’s essay title “Poetry is not a Luxury” in the last verse of the song. The actual lyrics sung by Jamila Woods reflect on how the current way of the hip-hop genre does not address social issues in the African-American community and minorities at large, “Your silence is a luxury, hip-hop is not a luxury...What I got for me, it is for me/ What we made, we made to set us free.” By having her end the song, she represents the African-American community and allows for them to have the last word. This makes the song appear to not be based on solely the opinions of

Macklemore.
“White Privilege II,” has a simple music composition which allows for audience to focus mostly on the meaning of the lyrics.

For example, in the section that features Jamila Woods, the only instrument that is heard is a piano. Because the melody of this section sounds uncomplicated and works with Jamlia’s voice the words being sung are easy understood. However, while the composition is simple, at times it seems to work against what Macklemore is saying. This emphasizes the lyrics and force the audience to pay attention. For example, in the fifth verse, Macklemore has a conversation with himself as a presumably White-American mother. In this conversation, the mother compliments the positive nature of Macklemore’s work and implies that if a person is pulled over by a cop, it is their duty to do as they're told no matter their race, “Even the protest outside - so sad and so dumb/ If a cop pulls you over, it's your fault if you run,”(3:57-4:02). During this section it uses music and the sound of muffled protesters chanting, “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” (2:57-3:00). The contradicting ideas between the lyrics and background sound force the audience to pay close attention what Macklemore is saying while getting the opinion of those who actually experience police brutality. These types of techniques play up the lyrics and the connection between the verses and interludes throughout of the

song.
“White Privilege II” uses real world conversations, straightforward lyrics, and uncomplex composition to create a story in which Macklemore explores social injustice. These aspects of the song allow for the audience to easily connect with the song's subject matter that. In using actual conversation keep the music fairly simple, Macklemore opens himself to general to be criticized as an White-American male. The general public jumped this chance and questioned the true intentions of “White Privilege II” by questioning whether Macklemore was just trying to appeal to the African-American community and make money or whether he was making an actual effort to raise awareness about social injustice. And if Macklemore is truly making an attempt to raise awareness the music community has expressed that one song is not enough to counteract pain made up of centuries of injustice.