A Rhetorical Analysis Of Macklemore's Song 'Same Love'
Mark Bowen
Justin Smith
English Comp. 101
August 7, 2013
Rhetorical Analysis
Love According to Macklemore
On July 18th, 2012 a song titled “Same Love” was released by an up-and-coming new hip-hop artist named Macklemore. Macklemore has recently reached number one on The Billboard Hot 100 with his song “Thrift Shop” and his voice has become very influential to his mainstream fan base. “Same Love” was recorded during the campaign for Washington Referendum 74, which legalized same-sex marriage in Washington State in 2012. The song has peaked at number eleven on The Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and has reached number one in Australia and New Zealand. “Same Love” is the first song about same sex marriage and equality to ever …show more content…
Macklemore does not neglect to bring up religion versus equality and he uses some well-written words in his song to counter the conservative religious views on homosexuality. “’God loves all his children’ is somehow forgotten/ but we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago” (16-17). Here Macklemore speaks of how the conservative, religious oppressors of equal rights paraphrase the Bible to preach that homosexuality is wrong. However, their logic is flawed because the Bible has been interpreted in countless ways and the text is dated. Surely, the principles and levels of morality and understanding have drastically changed over almost four thousand years. Macklemore bluntly argues against the religious belief that homosexuality is a choice or a curable disease by saying “The right wing conservatives think it 's a decision/ and you can be cured with some treatment and religion/ man-made rewiring of a predisposition/ playing God” (11-14). He continues on to speak of the hate some churches preach. “Live on and be yourself/ when I was at church they taught me something else/ if you preach hate at the service those words aren 't anointed/ that holy water that you soak in has been poisoned” (45-49). Clearly, he expresses his disapproval of any church preaching hatred. Macklemore is trying to make his listeners understand that promoting hate is immoral and unethical. While religion continues to oppress the equal rights movement, we have learned from logic of our past that human rights will
Justin Smith
English Comp. 101
August 7, 2013
Rhetorical Analysis
Love According to Macklemore
On July 18th, 2012 a song titled “Same Love” was released by an up-and-coming new hip-hop artist named Macklemore. Macklemore has recently reached number one on The Billboard Hot 100 with his song “Thrift Shop” and his voice has become very influential to his mainstream fan base. “Same Love” was recorded during the campaign for Washington Referendum 74, which legalized same-sex marriage in Washington State in 2012. The song has peaked at number eleven on The Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and has reached number one in Australia and New Zealand. “Same Love” is the first song about same sex marriage and equality to ever …show more content…
Macklemore does not neglect to bring up religion versus equality and he uses some well-written words in his song to counter the conservative religious views on homosexuality. “’God loves all his children’ is somehow forgotten/ but we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago” (16-17). Here Macklemore speaks of how the conservative, religious oppressors of equal rights paraphrase the Bible to preach that homosexuality is wrong. However, their logic is flawed because the Bible has been interpreted in countless ways and the text is dated. Surely, the principles and levels of morality and understanding have drastically changed over almost four thousand years. Macklemore bluntly argues against the religious belief that homosexuality is a choice or a curable disease by saying “The right wing conservatives think it 's a decision/ and you can be cured with some treatment and religion/ man-made rewiring of a predisposition/ playing God” (11-14). He continues on to speak of the hate some churches preach. “Live on and be yourself/ when I was at church they taught me something else/ if you preach hate at the service those words aren 't anointed/ that holy water that you soak in has been poisoned” (45-49). Clearly, he expresses his disapproval of any church preaching hatred. Macklemore is trying to make his listeners understand that promoting hate is immoral and unethical. While religion continues to oppress the equal rights movement, we have learned from logic of our past that human rights will