How Tom MacDonald’s Controversial “Fake Woke” new single is the antidote for democracy…

3 min readMar 16, 2022

Tom Macdonald burst onto the scene with his controversial, rhetorically charged lyrics and gritty music videos that often highlight the complexities of social/cultural and economic issues faced in (not only in the U.S.) but all western democracies today.

I was born in 1990. I grew up on hip hop.

Real hip hop…cadences, nuances, and metaphors eloquently tied together with lyrical rhyme scheme that would rival Shakespeare in literary genius.

When did I get so old? Time flies. Remember:

Coincidences
Ironies
Paradoxes
Cliches

“Kids these days…you call that music?!”

Your emphasis is on the wrong pa-ra-ble….

I digress…

Back to the subject: the fact of the matter remains, that in order for the U.S. to truly Build Back Better we must stare down the barrel of hyper-partisanship and eradicate it from within the very bowels of our (America)’s social/cultural/economic and political fabric.

Nowhere more is this illustrated than in Tom’s “Fake Woke” — a cacophony of social issues intertwined in one brilliant, creative music video.

Radio personalities, rappers, actors, authors, and all forms of individuals from the private sector have always played a quintessential role in driving American policy. Whether we’re talking about Joyner Lucas’ “I”m not Racist” or the aforementioned single above, this is clearly self-evident. During WWII, all the proceeds from a single Yankee game went to fund the Battle of Midway (fact check me on this, I”m not sure which battle exactly) but you get my point.

In order to win the culture war, you have to declare a ceasefire.

Obtain some semblance of empathy and let that understanding resonate && truly simmer within you.

I get asked all the time about how I met @cthagod.

No it wasn’t me running into a random celebrity and demanding a selfie. Quite the contrary… I had longed known Charlemagne and lauded his reputation, intellectual prowess and read his stunning (or rather listened to the audiobook) “Black Privilege”

I implore any disenfranchised gen Z / millennial to hear/read this.

It’s a riveting and powerful indictment for (esp disenfranchised latino/a/black youth engaged in the middle of class warfare) to follow the same 3 defining principles DETAILED (of all places, in a Ted Talk) keynote presentation/speech that saved my life as outlined in Mike-Brody Waite’s inspiring speech that resonated with me more than anything else at the time && was/is perhaps the sole reason I did not fall out/fail.

Rigorous Authenticity

Surrendering to Circumstances you cannot control

Doing HARD / Uncomfortable work && Making Hard / Uncomfortable Decisions.

I implore anybody to watch MBW’s URL for his TedX (above) as it applies to virtually anybody in life who is attempting to fulfill their goals, dreams and aspirations.

With that being said, have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

Respectfully,

Ahmed T.
Peace && Love ❤

Originally Published on 2/02/2021; Edited & Re-Published 03/16/2022