With producer Ryan Lewis, XXL freshman Macklemore dropped some of my favorite hip hop songs of last year. His video for the track "Wings" even made it on the top of my favorite music videos of 2011 list.
Macklemore is gearing up to release a full-length album with Ryan lewis in October titled the Heist, and just yesterday the first track from the album was dropped: "Same Love." It's a song that takes the high road of acceptance on the subject of homosexuality. With dudes like Frank Ocean coming out recently--done to increase record sales or not--it's been drumming up a lot of conversation on whether or not hip hop culture truly has room for a homosexual voice. It's a tense issue, but "Same Love" relieves that tension beautifully with a gorgeous, piano-lead beat that's been graced with the guest vocals of Mary Lambert.
At the start of the song, Macklemore approaches homosexuality with the confusion most kids too young to fully understand do. His lyrics paint the picture of a young mind littered with more stereotypes than facts, but he manages to grow and move on. The track continues to point out the hypocrisy exemplified by hip hop, religion, and society at large. With one sincerely written verse after another, I feel deeply sorry for anyone who manages to come away from this track thinking, "well, that was gay!"