Macklemore is being used to paint the rest of hip-hop uncivil

Probably the least surprising aspect of the Grammy nominations announcement was the fact that rapper Macklemore is well on his way to a huge night at America’s biggest music awards show. It’s been clear for months that Macklemore was headed towards the Grammys – he and producer/collaborator Ryan Lewis were nominated for seven awards including best new artist, record of the year and album of the year.

At his core, Macklemore is a rapper, and a pretty good one at that. He’s also a hard-working MC who has hustled for close to a decade to get where he is now, setting the stage for wildly successful (and rich) independent musicians going forward. However, thanks to anti-hip-hop posturing and shallow-minded generalizations, Macklemore is being used as an example of ground-breaking “civility” for rap. A pseudo-gentrification that undermines decades of artistry hip-hop culture has provided.

We’re all familiar with the stigma surrounding rap music: misogyny, homophobia, violence and drugs. Young African-American men perpetuating the violent communities they grew up in by leading other African-American men to commit crimes they hear in lyrics. And, naturally, there is always a sector of the genre that offers nothing remotely positive to society, but hip-hop is a vast genre. For every Chief Keef promising to raise the murder rate with his new album, there’s a thoughtful artist like Dee-1 donating his video budget to feed the homeless.

However, some are using the Macklemore story to paint a narrative of one singular example of rap’s potential for positivity in a sea of endlessly destructive music. Take, for example, this article from the Dallas News website with the headline “Macklemore shows hip-hop doesn’t need to be homophobic, violent in Dallas concert.” As well as the opening paragraph: