If you’ve never heard of Tom MacDonald before, don’t feel too bad. A little over a week ago, I’d never heard of him, either. A week ago, if you’d asked me whether or not I liked rap music, my answer would have been an emphatic “No!” Today if you asked if I’ve listened to anything except rap music for the last week, same answer. Not just any rap music, though. I’ve been stuck on the messages coming this one artist, Tom MacDonald.
Yesterday I found myself submitting this article about Tom to American Thinker lauding his talents as a young rap artist and my perception of his music as having the ability to bridge the racial divide by infusing positive messages with rap music. Multiple editors thanked me for the submission and queued it for publication. That has never happened before. Either this is the best article I’ve ever written for American Thinker, or the editors already knew who Tom is, and knows his audience is ubiquitous.
Each time I have discovered a “new” song in his catalog that I like, I tend to listen to it over and over to catch all of the sometimes subtle and often brash lyrics blasting at my ears as if fired from a machine gun (I believe in rap lingo, the term for this is “spitting bars.”) More accurately, I tend to watch the video version of the song over and over because in addition to the blistering frequency of raw, thought-provoking rhetoric effortlessly flowing from this young man’s mouth, the images that accompany the words are equally powerful and compelling to watch.
His politically incorrect, anti-cancel culture messaging prevalent in most of his work is worthy of rave reviews on their own accord, but his very best work, his masterpiece, doesn’t address those topics at all. Instead, it addresses the issues of self-doubt, mental health, addiction, and confronting our personal demons. Rather than simply linking to the video itself, I’ve decided to share one or two of the “reaction” videos to “The Best Rapper Ever” instead, because that way you know I might not be as far out on a limb as it sounds when I say (much to my surprise) that Bob Dylan might not be the voice of our century that people will remember another one hundred years in the future after all.
This goes beyond raw, and beyond real. Every word strikes with the force of a battering ram, and every image underlines the messages in the music. Nova Rockefeller might be as talented a videographer and MacDonald is as a rapper.
The connection between this black podcaster and a white rap artist over the subject of depression is profound and amazing to see. And uplifting–the submitted title to American Thinker, before an editor changed it, was “Tom MacDonald is bridging the cultural divide.” The more I listen, the more I realize how unique, important, and profound his lyrics are.
In retrospect, even my headline was insufficient, but at least it mentioned Tom by name, which seems to be incredibly successful for click bait. He’s making deep, personal connections with influential voices in the black community. ArtofKickz has almost 900k followers on YouTube. D-Gibby, the podcaster below, has just under another 250k. Art was subdued and depressed, but Gibby is dancing in his chair, his reaction closer to euphoria. The reactions to the same song could not have been more different, and yet there was much they had in common. The word “fan” is an abbreviation for fanatic, and that’s what Tom’s followers appear to be, and I seem to have joined their swelling numbers.
I love watching these reaction videos as much as I’ve enjoyed Tom’s music. I see lots of common ground unaffected by skin color. I see a lot of intelligent people with interesting things to say and views similar to mine. A week ago, I had little if any hope at all that the current racial divisions in America could ever be solved. Today, I’m feeling much more confident.
The music of Tom MacDonald and the incredible diversity of his fan base has given me renewed hope for the future of America once again.
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