Rapper Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, known professionally as Macklemore, released a new song in support of pro-Palestinian protestors at university campuses across the country.
The latest track, “Hind’s Hall,” is a reference to Columbia University‘s Hamilton Hall, which was sieged last week by rioters who hung a banner dubbing the building “Hind’s Hall.” The name is in reference to Hind Rajab, a young Palestinian girl who was reportedly killed by Israeli forces along with her family.
The video, which YouTube provides a content restriction for, begins with one agitator waving a Palestinian flag on top of a university building before other images of students’ Gaza encampment and officers are shown.
Macklemore says, “The problem isn’t the protests, it’s what they’re protesting” regarding university students and others engaging in weeks long demonstrations, some of which have devolved into riots.
“Block the barricade until Palestine is free,” Macklemore declares, before referencing NWA lyrics, “F— the police!”
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Macklemore goes on to refer to authorities as “actors in badges” designed by a white supremacist system. The rapper then takes aim at lobbyist groups including American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and other organizations, declaring the younger generation is “about to cut the strings.”
“But it’s too late, we’ve seen the truth, we bear witness / Seen the rubble, the buildings, the mothers and the children,” Macklemore raps, referencing images and videos from the Israel-Hamas conflict which have circulated across social media before calling accusations of antisemitism into question. “Claimin’ it’s antisemitic to be anti-Zionist / I’ve seen Jewish brothers and sisters out there and ridin’ in.”
The track goes on to call Israel an “apartheid system” upholding the occupation of Palestinian land.” Toward the end of “Hinds Hall,” Macklemore says President Joe Biden is complicit in the alleged genocide of Palestinians.
“The blood is on your hands, Biden, we can see it all / And f— no, I’m not votin’ for you in the fall / Undecided,” Macklemore declares. “What you willin’ to risk? What you willin’ to give? What if you were in Gaza? What if those were your kids? / If the West was pretendin’ that you didn’t exist / You’d want the world to stand up and the students finally did, let’s get it.”
In 2012, Macklemore released “Same Love” which discussed political issues regarding the LGBTQ community. The cultural sentiment behind the song culminated in the Supreme Court of the United States’ 2015 decision on Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
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