Macklemore has dropped a new song in support of the college-campus protests across the world decrying the ongoing war in Gaza, which has already claimed thousands of lives over the past six months.
Whereas a number of notable academic institutions in the United States have bred student-led demonstrations in support of Palestine, Columbia University has been central to movement. In April, a group made up of staff, students, alumni and allies took over the institution’s Hamilton Hall and renamed it “Hind’s Hall” — an homage to Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was tragically killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) earlier this year.
On Monday (May 6), the 40-year-old rapper released a single titled “Hind’s Hall” in solidarity with the nationwide demonstrations and promised to donate all proceeds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East once it goes live on streaming platforms.
“The people they won’t leave/ What is threatening about divesting and wanting peace?/ The problem isn’t the protest, it’s what they’re protesting/ It goes against what our country is funding,” he spits over a video montage of law-enforcement officials uprooting college encampments. “Block the barricade until Palestine is free/ When I was seven, I learnt a lesson from [Ice] Cube and Eazy-E/ What was it again? Oh yeah, fuck the police.”
He continues: “Who gets the rights to defend and who gets the right of resistance/ Has always been about dollars and the color of your pigment/ But white supremacy is finally on blast, screaming ‘Free Palestine’ till they’re home at last.
“We see the lies in them, claiming it’s anti-Semitic to be anti-Zionist/ I’ve seen Jewish brothers and sisters out there and riding/ In solidarity and screaming ‘Free Palestine’ with ’em/ Organizing, unlearning and finally cutting ties with a state/ That’s got to rely on an apartheid system to uphold an occupying violent history been repeating for the last 75/ The Nakba never ended, the colonizer lied.”
Regarding the majority of his peers being silent on the matter, he adds: “The music industry’s quiet, complicit in their platform of silence/What happened to the artist, what do you got to say?/ If I was on a label you could drop me today/ And be fine with it ’cause the heart fed my page/ I want a ceasefire, fuck a response from Drake.”
Check out the full track below:
HIND’S HALL. Once it’s up on streaming all proceeds to UNRWA. pic.twitter.com/QqZEKmzwZI
— Macklemore (@macklemore) May 6, 2024
Last year, Macklemore took to social media to explain his stance on the bloodshed in Palestine.
“When I say ‘Free Palestine,’ it’s not against anyone,” he said in late December. “It actually means we should protect everyone. It means equality for all. Respect, peace and love. It means the right to exist, regardless of what sector you’re from.
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“My intention is to never offend anyone. I want every soul in this arena to feel the reflection of love. But there’s innocent humans out in Gaza getting murdered with our dollars, and those precious human lives are an extension of us. I can’t get up here and jump around in a fur coat and pretend while in my gut … my gut’s saying, ‘you know better, Ben.’ The ancestors yelling, ‘You’d better step up for us!’”
He concluded: “I love my Jewish brothers and sisters so much, and my perspective is one that’s saying ‘Free Palestine’ is also rooted in your protection, my loves. And there isn’t a drop of anti-Semitic thought in my head or my blood. ‘Never again,’ means never again for all.”
Prior to that, the “Thrift Shop” hitmaker made headlines when he took to the stage at a pro-Palestine rally in Washington, D.C.
“First and foremost, this is absolutely beautiful to observe today,” he told the crowd. “I didn’t expect to be on a microphone — there are thousands of people here more qualified to speak on the issue of a free Palestine than myself.
“They told me to be quiet. They told me to do my research, to go back, that it’s too complex to say something, right? To be silent in this moment. In the last three weeks, I’ve gone back and I’ve done some research … I’m teachable. I don’t know enough, but I know enough that this is a genocide.”
This wasn’t the first time he referred to the Israeli attacks on Gaza as genocidal. Just days after the current war began, he shared a statement on Instagram advocating for a non-violent deescalation of the conflict.
“My heart deeply hurts for the Israelis that lost loved ones to such an abomination,” he began. “As a father, I cannot imagine if one of my kids was at that festival [the Supernova music festival, attacked by Hamas], or was still missing after being kidnapped. It is absolutely unfathomable.
“[K]illing humans as collective punishment is not the answer. That is why I am supporting the people around the world who are calling for a ceasefire.
He added: “We are witnessing an unfolding genocide in Palestine at this very moment … Gaza is being demolished. Well over 1 million people have lost their homes … Innocent kids are being murdered as I’m typing this … Israel isn’t allowing water, food and medicine into the open-air prison that is Gaza.”
Tensions in the occupied territory have been at an all-time high ever since Hamas launched an attack in Israel back in October that claimed the lives of around 1,200 people. Since then, the IDF have endlessly unleashed a series of onslaughts on the 25-mile long stretch. According to TIME, the strip’s death toll surpassed 30,000 last month as its living conditions continue to deteriorate.
