The Bipolarism in Macklemore's Songs

          In Latin America unit 1, we learned about the artists that played such a prevalent role in government; socially, economically, and politically.  The artists are the only ones that can fully represent the complicated Latin American identity, which is a contradictory relationship between two ancestries: conqueror and conquered. That got me thinking. Even though North America does not have the same identity crisis as Latin America, do we still have artists that play a large role in other aspects of life, specifically government?
          I immediately thought about my homeboy Ben Haggerty, otherwise known as Macklemore. I was introduced to this gem of a music artist in seventh grade, when Ethan Borg forced me an earbud and made me watch the music video for "Thrift Shop." Macklemore's songs can be really serious with a lasting message, such as "Same Love," "Other Side," and "Wing$." However he is also known for making songs about random stuff, such as "Thrift Shop," "White Walls," and his most recent, "Downtown."
          Unlike many rappers (if you can call him a rapper,)  the subjects that he raps about are not revolving around love, drugs, success, or anything else.  He tends to rap about very serious social and identity issues.  "Same Love" talks about gay pride. "Wing$" speaks of the problem with consumerism.  "Otherside" talks about drinking addiction. "Kevin" talks about his brother who died from drug abuse.  One song that caught my attention was "White Privilege II" which talks about the matter of black lives.  I guess what I'm trying to say, is that just how Drake differs from other rappers because his music revolves around love, Macklemore differs from other rappers because his music revolves around social issues.
          However, like I said earlier, Macklemore also has a bunch of songs that are about random stuff.  "Thriftshop" is literally about a shopping spree at a thrift store. "White Walls" is about Cadillacs, and how he always wanted one. "Downtown" is an anthem about mopeds.

          Musically, the un-serious songs are better.  I could/would definitely listen to "Downtown" for a solid straight four hours.  However, it is the serious songs that are going to make a bigger impact.
          Macklemore is shooting himself in the foot.  I can't be the only one who is unable to take his songs seriously; even with his songs that are supposed to be very serious.  Whenever I hear the name "Macklemore," I immediately think of "Thriftshop," not "Same Love," "White Privilege II," or the Kings player.
          Macklemore most likely does this because he doesn't want to be fully classified as a political artist or a protest artist.  For my term paper topic, I wrote about Fela Kuti, a Nigerian music artist that seemed like his efforts would succeed, but eventually failed in the end.  One of the factors that contributed to his failure, was that he was so invested in making politicized music and protest music, that his band members aBANDoned him because they were just tired of him going on and on.  This is probably what Macklemore is trying to avoid.  If he just releases music with serious messages, people with eventually stop listening to him, because they will see it as whining about the problem and not actually fixing it.  People sometimes just want to let their hair down, spread their Wing$, jump on their moped and cruise downtown towards the thriftshop.
          As confusing as it is that Macklemore releases songs that are pretty much opposites, it makes sense why he would do it.  He just needs to stay popular, so that when he does release the serious songs, there is still an audience.