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Macklemore has addressed the issue of white hip hop musicians appropriating black culture in a new interview, saying, "This is not my culture to begin with. As much as I have honed my craft, I need to know my place."
The rapper's comments come amidst months of high profile debate over the elevated status of white rappers in hip hop. On his new album, J.Cole namechecked Macklemore as one of the artists "snatching the sound" of black music.
Meanwhile, Azealia Banks recently told HOT97, "That Macklemore album wasn't better than Drake's record. That Azalea shit is not better than any black girl that's rappin' today. All it says to white kids is, 'Oh yeah, you're great, you're amazing, you can do whatever you put your mind to,' And it says to black kids, 'You don't have shit, you don't own shit, not even the shit you created for yourself.'"
Whilst Iggy Azalea dismissed Banks' comments by calling her a "bigot" and a "miserable human being", Macklemore has acknowledged the criticisms as legitimate.
Speaking again to HOT97, Macklemore said, "You need to know your place in the culture. Are you taking or are you contributing? … You need to listen, you need to be humble. This is a whole debate, but this is not my culture to begin with. This is not a culture that white people started. I do believe that as much as I have honed my craft and put in years of dedication into the music that I love, I need to know my place."
He added, "Why am I safe? Why can I cuss on a record, have a parental advisory sticker on the cover of my album, and yet parents are still like, ‘You’re the only rap album I let my kids listen to’? Why can I wear a hoodie and not be labeled a thug? To me, the privilege that exists in the music industry is the same privilege that exists in America as a whole… It’s white privilege.
"White, liberal people want to be nice. We don’t want to be racist. We don’t wanna mess up. We want to be ‘Oh we’re post-racial. We have a black president. We don’t want to talk about white privilege and it’s all good, right?’ It’s not the case… We have to get past that awkward stage of the race conversation. As a white person, we have to listen."
Watch Macklemore's full interview on the "Great Race Debate" below
