Related Text , Text and society wings by Macklemore
“Wings” is a song written by rapper Macklemore and produced by Ryan Lewis, from the album “The Heist “2011. The Song is a powerful story about American youth and their struggle to find their way in a culture dominated by consumerism, obsession and wanting to be” Be like Mike”. It relates to many of Bruce Dawe’s poems which Criticise Consumerism such as Americanized and The Not-so Good Earth. The song ‘Wings’ is about the pursuit of identity through the means of consumerism “This Dream that they Sold to you….. Consumption in the veins”. The song attempts to dissect our infatuation and attachment to logos, labels, brands and the fleeting happiness that is intrinsically linked to the almighty power of the purchase “This is the best day of my life”. The subject he uses in the song is shoes, but its aim is to paint a broader picture of being a consumer and to trace back to Macklemore first memory of Retail infused Desire. Consumerism Pressure
The song tries to show the Obsession that American had of Michael Jordan and the Nike/Jordans Logo. He is considered the greatest players of all time, he was one of the greatest athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing ( Americanizing the world) the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. The title of the song “Wings”, is trying to represent “Air Jordan” (MJ nickname) and how he was known to be flying through his Leaping Ability. The song describes how youth in America wanted to be like Michael Jordan, and the only means of “be like Mike” were through Jordan Shoes. Nike used this obsession of being as good as him , Hypnotising youth to Buy Jordans, even through their Logo “just do it” , “My Movement told me be a consumer and i consumed it, They Told me to just do it, i Listened to what that swoosh said…..it consumes my thoughts”. Macklemore displays this through the repetition of I, and how the shoes would change him to being better, and cooler. ” I wanted to touch the rim, I wanted to be cool I wanted to fit in” This relates to Americanized and Enter without so Much as Knocking, as the youth community are bombarded with influences of Consumerism Logos and Brand, to purchase their Products, in “Wings” it is Nikes, and their Dominance like the mother in Americanized .The broader image of the Nikes example, Consumerism of American Culture,
and it spreading throughout the world today, for example like Ronaldo and Nike.
Consumerism destroying Relationships and Humanity
The song tries to relate to the Idea of Consumerism overtaking/destroying relationships and humanity by displaying the idea of Shoes being so important and better than everyone else. ” I knew i couldn’t crease ’em, My friends couldn’t afford ’em” Also in this verse Macklemore is referring to the shoes as them, as if there were people, and looking after caring about a material good over more than important things in life, and can relate to Bruce Dawes Poem The Not so Good Earth. Macklemore also tells the story about how his friend’s brother got murdered for his pair of Adidas “And then my friend Carlos’s brother got murdered for his fours, whoa” in the song Macklemore describes how his friends couldn’t afford his Nikes ” My friends couldn’t afford ’em, Four stripes on their Adidas” as if the Adidas were cheap shoes. Even though the Adidas were cheap shoes, it seems people still think it is worth taking away someone life, their Humanity, something that doesn’t have a price tag, over something like shoes which does. Both of these examples display the idea of Consumerism destroying Relationships and Humanity, and its very similar to Not so good Earth, about TV status being more important that whats happening on the TV.
