I DVR 'Ellen' every day, however, I don’t keep up with watching them so before I know it I have three months worth of ‘The Ellen Degeneres Show’ on my DVR.  I was watching a few episodes the other day because I couldn’t find anything else good to watch.  Her musical guest that day was Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.  I assumed they would be performing their hit, ‘Thrift Shop.’  To my surprise, they performed a very powerful song, especially for hip-hop, entitled ‘Same Love.’

‘Same Love’ is a song about stereotypes and how people judge too quickly.  It also calls out the hip-hop community and their overuse of gay slurs.  I found this song very poignant and timely.  As I’ve written before, I cry at everything and this song didn’t quite make me cry, but it made me listen.  I agree with a lot of what Macklemore is saying in this song.  I give him immense credit for wording this song so eloquently while still getting his point across without being mean -spirited towards those who may not agree.

I consider myself an ally to the LGBT community and I think a rapper helping elevate this topic to a higher consciousness is great.  I found this song on Ellen, but the message reminds me of another daytime talk show diva, Oprah.  Oprah always said on her show, “When you know better, you do better.”  I believe she quoted Maya Angelou on that, but it’s still a great lesson.  I think if people knew more about the LGBT community and their allies then there wouldn’t be so much tension and misunderstanding.

One of my favorite lines from the song is as follows:

"Whatever God you believe in
We come from the same one
Strip away the fear
Underneath it's all the same love
About time that we raised up"

 

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis will be performing live in Sioux Falls on April 5 at the Elman Center on Augustana’s campus.

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