Macklemore is the latest musician to weigh in on the ongoing debate over hip-hop and race, following the recent war of words between rappers Iggy Azalea and Azalea Banks.
During an interview with New York City's radio station Hot 97's "Ebro in the Morning," the 31-year-old Grammy winner voiced his opinion on white rappers' success in the hip-hop industry.
"For me, as a white dude - as a white rapper - I'm like, how do I participate in this conversation? How do I participate?" Macklemore said. "How do I get involved on a level where I'm not co-opting the movement or I'm not making it about me, but also realizing the platform I have and the reach that I have, and doing it in an authentic, genuine way? Because race is uncomfortable to talk about. White people, we can just turn off the TV when we're sick of talking about race. We can be like, 'No, I'm done.'"
He added, "It does not work that way for everybody. White 'liberal' people want to be nice. We don't want to mess up. We don't want to be racists. We want to be like, 'We're post-racial and we have a black president and we don't need to talk about white privilege. It's all good, right?' It's not the case."
Earlier this month, Banks slammed white hip-hop stars for mocking the hip-hop culture, which is connected to what is considered a predominantly black musical genre.
When asked if he thought his success as a rapper was due to the "white privilege" in America, Macklemore replied, "Yes, absolutely. Why am I safe? Why can I cuss on a record, have a parental advisory sticker on the cover of my album, yet parents are still like, 'You're the only rap I let my kids listen to.'"
He added, "Why can I wear a hoodie and not be labeled a thug? If I was black, what would my drug addiction look like?... The privilege that exists in the music industry is just a greater symptom of the privilege that exists in America. There's no difference... I got put in that 'hero' box and I think that when that happens, it's because of white privilege."
