Tagged: lyrics

Macklemore Has Been Stuck in My Head All Weekend

My sister started playing this song on her iPod for me without telling me what it is.

Now, I’m not much of a rap listener, but for some reason I’ve been enjoying Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ newest album as well as his original one.

I like this song specifically because he takes what is probably very annoying Irish music and sets it to a catchy, contemporary beat.

He proceeds to embrace his roots in his proud lyrics:

Toast to those that made it on a boat to New York
And when the English came the colonizer came
They filled up bottles of gasoline, turned ’em into balls of flame
And hurled ’em to protect what’s ours

I very much enjoy Macklemore’s rapping in general. His lyrics have minimal curse words, his songs are in general very profound and thought-provoking.

– Daily Prompt

Other Macklemore favorites from The Heist:

Can’t Hold Us – Ray Dalton’s singing just brings the whole song together

Thrift Shop – classic; not very deep but definitely catchy

Same Love – summing up the gay marriage debate so eloquently; basing the whole situation not even about questions of faith and belief, but more about ethics and human nature

Make the Money – speaking about rappers, famous people, and just regular people, and the way that everyone seems to act when their end goal is money and material happiness

Neon Cathedral – Allen Stone is actually a great featured artist for this song. I really love the beat but I haven’t fathomed the lyrics just yet…

Wings – who knew that he could create a whole song around a pair of shoes? But then again, the whole song expands to reference the impact that the shoes have on his life, the symbol that they represent to him

What are your favorite Macklemore songs? Lyrics?

Enjoy The Music But Nothing More

Enjoy the music. Submerge yourself in your own interpretation of the lyrics.

Bath in the rhythm.

Bask in the beat.

Do whatever you need to do to show your appreciation of beautiful music, but stop getting so excited about the artists themselves.

It’s somewhat difficult to say that I have a favorite artist. I call myself a single song buyer, because I seldom enjoy/listen to an album at a time; I’ll probably just enjoy a few songs from a large variety of artists.

When I listen to music, I listen to ONLY the music. I’ll admire the album cover for a couple of seconds and I’ll probably gawk over a pretty face but I’ll tend to focus on the music itself. I suppose that if I shifted focus, I’d probably associate a song with a certain artist instead of with a personal experience, which I prefer. I don’t know what the ultimate point of music is, but it’s not to fawn over people that we’ve never met.

I don’t care about the way the band formed. Don’t tell me about the four times they broke up. I’ll watch the music video but don’t expect me to have watched it beforehand. Why should I be concerned about the personal lives about singers, actors, and the like?

If we continue to obsess about ordinary people like this, we mentally categorize them as people who are just overall better than us, which would be a complete lie. Yes, maybe they do have better voices than us. They can probably write better lyrics than we can, but are they as fast of runners as us? Can they teach trig like my Calc teacher can? Can they knit as well as my grandma? These are just a few examples and simple ways to demonstrate that these so-called “stars” are not as special as we often designate them to be.

Inspiration is good. Having role models is an essential component of worthy success, but there comes a point when we’ve just got to stop glorifying them.

Go to a concert, if you must. It  will probably help you get over your obsession, and your expectation of perfection that you have of them, as soon as you see them up on stage, sweating, singing out of tune, and out of breath.

They’ll give a quality show, no doubt, but they are in no way perfect. There’s really no reason to care about what goes on in their lives.
And this opinion of mine also spills over into the realm of celebrities in general.

Why do we alienate celebrities? Do we just assume that since they’re famous and beautiful, that they’re better than us? LIES.

Also – why do we care about their lives? I’m guilty and hypocritical because I’m often obsessed with celebrities but I still think my approach is counterproductive. I become obsessed with a certain celebrity and I’ll either want to be them or marry them. I’ll envy their life over mine when really there’s not much to envy. Why do we have reality TV shows? Is it really just for shallow entertainment, or do some people actually wish they led such lives?

There’s corruption in that system. There’s airbrushing and photoshopping. Everyday, people get paid off to promote something that they would never even consider if there weren’t some economic incentive for them.

Yet, there are actually beautiful people, people born with features so delicate and picture-perfect that you can’t help but advertise their face. There are some people out there with extraordinary talents of singing, dancing, acting, etc. We should appreciate these talents, but limit just how much we appreciate them. Don’t forget to love yourself and your quirks, abilities, and special skills once in a while. Just because you’ve never been on an ad or TV doesn’t mean you’re less worthy than them.

Except maybe Neil Patrick Harris.

Urban Myths

Sometimes I listen to music – raging and energetic

The lyrics sound like they’re sprinting in whatever path they see

Sometimes when I write

I think about myself – commonly perceived as 100% committed and ready to go

I think about the kids in high school – moving so fast yet they don’t know where they’re going

And I wonder:

Do people actually stop and think

And maybe turn around and chase the polar opposite

Or is that just an urban myth?

Somedays I listen to music – nostalgic and lonely

The lyrics – they sound like they were written just for me

So sometimes when I write

I think about myself – so often left alone in a sea of my own thoughts

I think about the kids in high school – our perspectives so easily distorted, and by no means permanent

And I wonder:

Do people actually exist that actually know what they want

And what the future holds

Or is that just an urban myth?

On special days I’ll listen to music – rebellious and insightful

The lyrics are a call to action, illuminating the daily injustices

But sometimes when I write

I think about myself – a young person with the innocence and motivation to spark change

And I think about high schoolers – writing songs, directing plays

And I wonder:

Do we actually understand what we rant about

And do people ever actually form masses

And does social change ever really happen

Or is that just an urban myth?

Vampire Weekend June 2007Lacking the letter Z – Daily Prompt