18 Feb 2013
On its surface, Macklemore’s “Wing$” off of his album The Heist is an ode to basketball, as well as an ode to anti-consumerism in the shoe industry. Below that surface are verses that talk about friends getting shot for their shoes, how maybe Phil Knight of Nike tricked us all into buying expensive shoes and how expensive shoes don’t necessarily make us cool.
Then, in a promo for the NBA All-Star Game, Macklemore’s song of self-awareness suddenly took an edited turn as an empty praise to basketball, leaving out all the parts of the song that made it so powerful to begin with. It’s almost as if this self-made rapper “sold out” to appease the NBA, seeing as how calling out the organization for creating a consumerist culture probably didn’t blend well with what they were trying to sell.
I mean, I guess everyone’s gotta collect a paycheck and Macklemore is an intense fan of basketball, so it would make sense that he chose to use one of his songs to promote something that he loves. But just because you want to love something and promote it, does that necessarily mean that you need to compromise your previous message? I don’t think so.
Check out the original below.
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