"White Privilege II," the latest record of hip-hop duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, stirred up controversy for calling out artists like Iggy Azalea and Miley Cyrus for appropriating black culture.
Azalea responded to the track, saying on Twitter, "He shouldnt have spent the last 3 yrs having friendly convos and taking pictures together at events etc if those were his feelings."
However, Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, explained that he is also a target of the song and that people are misinterpreting it. "That whole verse is me implicating myself," he said in an interview with Sirius XM's "Sway in the Morning."
"So it says, Ben, think about it. 'You've exploited and stolen the music, the moment. The magic, the passion, the fashion you toy with. The culture was never yours to make better. You're Miley, you're Elvis, you're Iggy Azalea.'"
He went on to say that he and other white artists have been "rightfully critiqued" these past few years for appropriating black culture and are profiting from it.
Macklemore, who is white, has long been a pivotal point in debates about cultural appropriation, and it was emphasized further when he defeated Kendrick Lamar, who is black, for Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards in 2014, according to Entertainment Weekly.
