Wings By Macklemore

Matt Morphy

Written and produced by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Uploaded to YouTube on July 20th, 2011The video has over 65,000,000 views, 400,000+

likes and 8,400 dislikes

The message Macklemore is preaching is against consumerism in America. The music video uses Nike shoes to symbolize expensive and premium items that Americans are obsessed with buying.

Nike shoes are an effective symbol because they are associated with being the best in basketball and being cool around friends and in America. Although the quality from the shoe isn’t that different from other brands, the message of the video points out the flaws Americans have by thinking expensive things define them and make them better people. The video those this with out mocking or shaming the viewer but instead focuses on a young boy that the viewers can relate to. This video is very effective because Macklemore avoids preaching their message to the viewer throughout the video but rather indulges them at the beginning by praising Nikes, an expensive item, and later pointing out the flaws in spending unreasonable amounts of money for an expensive variation of a simple item.

In the beginning of the music video, an elementary school boy actor, is meant to represent Macklemore in his youth and provide a connection between the viewer and the story. The video focuses on Nike shoes and their importance in his childhood. Macklemore introduces Nike shoes, early in the video when he says “I was 7 years old, when I got my first pair… and I was like “Mum , this air bubble right here, its gonna make me fly.” these lyrics introduce Nikes as subject of the videos by making a reference to Nike Air Jordan shoes with the phrase “air bubble” and by showing a zoomed in shot of his shoes. These lyrics also excite the audience by referencing the experience many of Americans have had of using and showing off that expensive item you just bought.

As the video progresses, Nikes are praised for making him cool in the lyrics “I was so cool, My friends couldn't’t afford’em, four stripes on their Adidas” This is said long side a low, slow panning video scene of his shoes compared with his classmates, this scene tells the viewer that Nikes are considered cool because of their expense and unobtainability to the general public. The other shoes are Adidas and shoes that are well known to the general audience. The other shoes are dirty and show significant signs of wear, which further distinguishes Nike shows are superior.