Macklemore has performed his new pro-Palestine protest song live for the first time.
The US rapper unveiled “Hind’s Hall” earlier this week, a powerful and scathing song that expressed solidarity with Palestine and called for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza. He even snuck a Drake diss into “Hind’s Hall” for good measure.
At his first of two Wellington shows on Wednesday night, Macklemore performed “Hind’s Hall” live for the first time in front of a packed crowd inside TSB Arena.
“I stand here today and every day forward for the rest of my life in solidarity with the people of Palestine, with an open heart, in the belief that our collective liberation is at stake – that we all deserve freedom in this life of ours,” Macklemore said in a rousing speech almost halfway into his set.
“Yesterday [Tuesday], I put out a song called ‘Hind’s Hall’ – can I play it for you guys?” he then asked, much to the crowd’s approval.
When he performed “Hind’s Hall”, a Palestinian flag flashed across the arena, while a video displayed student protestors in the US alongside footage of Gaza. Check out footage of Macklemore’s performance below.
@nickpurdie Macklemore performing ‘Hind’s Hall’ live for the first time! 8 May 2024 Everyone needs to hear this song. Share the message!! @Macklemore #freepalestine #hindhall #macklemoreconcert #hindshall #macklemorelive #sharethemessage #firstperformance #hindshalllive #notvotingbiden #newzealand #wellingtonnz
After releasing the song, Macklemore revealed that he’ll donate all proceeds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees once the song arrives on streaming services.
The song’s title is a reference to the new name protesters at Columbia University gave to Hamilton Hall when they occupied it last month, re-naming it after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old likely killed by the Israeli military in February.
“The people, they won’t leave,” Macklemore raps at the start of the song. “What is threatening about divesting and wanting peace? / The problem isn’t the protests, it’s what they’re protesting / It goes against what our country is funding / Block the barricade until Palestine is free.
Elsewhere in the song, Macklemore calls out the effort to ban TikTok in order to stop images and videos filtering out of Gaza, efforts to label anti-Zionism as anti-semitic, and also comes for President Joe Biden, spitting, “The blood is on your hands, Biden, we can see it all / And fuck no, I’m not voting for you in the fall.”
Macklemore closes “Hind’s Hall” with a rebuke of many of his peers in the music industry: “Never be defeated when freedom’s on the horizon/Yet the music industry’s quiet, complicit in their platform of silence / What happened to the artist? What do you got to say? / If I was on a label, you could drop me today / I’d be fine with it cause the heart fed my page / I want a ceasefire, fuck a response from Drake.”
