Macklemore releases pro-Palestine track Hind’s Hall as he hits out at Drake vs Kendrick Lamar beef
Rapper hits out at capitalist greed and American politics, as well as the music industry’s silence, in the surprise track
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Your support makes all the difference.Macklemore has stunned fans by releasing a blistering new protest track in support of Palestine, with musician Tom Morello branding it “the most Rage Against the Machine song since Rage Against the Machine”.
Titled “Hind’s Hall”, the surprise release from the US rapper is inspired by the ongoing student protests taking place around the world, and pays tribute to Hind Rajab.
The six-year-old Palestinian child was killed by an Israeli strike two months ago in Gaza while she was waiting for aid, trapped in a car and surrounded by the bodies of her dead relatives.
The song samples “Ana La Habibi” by Fairuz, the popular Lebanese singer known for her vocal support of Palestine. In “Hind’s Hall”, Macklemore, real name Benjamin Haggerty, covers everything from American politics, capitalist greed, social media censorship and white supremacy in less than three minutes.
The 40-year-old Grammy winner also takes a swipe at the music industry for prioritising what he appears to deem petty issues, such as the ongoing beef between hip-hop titans Kendrick Lamar and Drake, over Israel’s war on Gaza.
Macklemore also challenges the notion that support of Palestine is antisemitic, rapping: “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/ Organising, unlearning.”
In the post shared from his social media accounts, Macklemore intersperses clips of pro-Palestine protests with the devastation in Gaza, along with images of conglomerates such as McDonald’s and Starbucks, and scenes from the ongoing conflict.
Addressing the ongoing feud between Drake and Lamar, he raps: “The music industry’s quiet/ Complicit in their platform of silence/ What happened to the artist/ What you got to say/ If I was on a label you could drop me today/ and be fine with it because the heart fed my page/ I want a ceasefire, f*** a response from Drake.”
Macklemore announced that all proceeds from streams of the track will be donated to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees.
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On social media, fans and fellow artists said they were blown away by the song, and praised Macklemore for taking a stand where many artists have remained silent.
“Honestly Macklemore’s ‘Hind’s Hall’ is the most Rage Against the Machine song since Rage Against the Machine,” musician Tom Morello tweeted, referring to the rock band’s protest songs including “Killing in the Name Of”.
“This is our anthem now,” one fan tweeted, while another said it was “by far the best response” they had seen from “any celebrity and sadly even better than most news coverage”.