Seattle rapper Macklemore has come forward to address backlash and hate fired his way after taking part in last weekend’s NBA All-Star Weekend festivities with a promotional video.

“In my stripped down definition, selling out is compromising your artistic integrity for money/fame. In my heart I can tell you that my personal artistic integrity remained completely intact over the weekend. TNT used our song. They’re still my words. They picked the parts that fit their ad campaign, and visually matched it to us performing, threw in a highlight reel of crazy dunks and had a bunch of kids singing the hook in a gym. Word. I’m all for that. If you take away the consumerism cautionary core of Wings, a story still remains. And that story is one that I’m still proud of, and it’s dope to me that it’s relatable enough for TNT to want to use it.” (Macklemore) 

“I would understand the “Macklemore sold out” complaints more if we matched Wings to a shoe commercial. That would be blatant irony, it would completely contradict the song and would appear as a sell out move. But an NBA commercial? The NBA has very little to do with what Wings was really about. The songs subject is about shoes, but the guts of the record are about consumer culture. Is the NBA tied up in this culture and related in some way? Of course. All companies selling a product are. But this is the result of American culture. Does the NBA happen to fall under the capitalist umbrella? Absolutely. But it’s no different than the brands you’re currently wearing, the company that manufactured the couch that you’re sitting on or the computer/phone you’re staring into while reading this. If there was any trace of irony by Wings being one of the official songs of the 2013 All Star Game, that’s great. That means that we won. The song about consumerism was embraced on a national level, and played to the entire country of sports fans that tuned in. More people download the song, got the truth (the actual/full song) and we converted strangers that didn’t know who we were into fans. If that’s selling out to you, word. But to me that’s nothing but an all around win.” (Macklemore)

(www.sohh.com)

Seattle Public Schools wants to preserve the five large murals of Native Americans painted on the Wilson-Pacific campus, which is scheduled for demolition. But the artist says he no longer wants to give the district his permission.

Two side-by-side portraits of Chief Seattle and Chief Joseph can be seen for blocks around North Seattle’s Wilson-Pacific school, an aging set of buildings now used for offices and programs, including one that historically has served Native American students.

Painted in black, white and gray, the murals each soar 25 feet high, with Chief Seattle, in his older years, sitting in a chair looking off to one side, and Chief Joseph, in his prime, staring straight ahead.

Andrew Morrison, an artist who grew up in the Seattle area, painted the murals and three others on the Wilson-Pacific campus over a period of about seven years, populating the school’s dull, beige walls with images of friends, acquaintances and a Haida mythical figure along with the two iconic chiefs.

The murals have become a touchstone for the surrounding Licton Springs neighborhood and the Native American community in Seattle, which has strong ties to the area because of the Native American programs at the school and nearby Licton Springs, once a tribal gathering place.

Now the murals’ fate is in limbo, as Seattle Public Schools, with the passage of a capital levy earlier this month, plans to tear down Wilson-Pacific and replace it with two new schools.

District officials hope to preserve all five murals by taking digital photographs of them, then reproducing them at the new school buildings. They have asked for Morrison’s permission and offered to pay the costs and give Morrison a seat on the school’s design committee, which would decide where the reproductions would be placed.

(www.seattletimes.com)

Travel + Leisure magazine has ranked Seattle No. 1 techiest city in America. 

Seattle’s “plentiful Wi-Fi” and “tech-savvy locals” won it first place on the list of 20 major cities, ranked in order of “techiness.” The magazine says other factors, including Seattle’s technology supergiants — Amazon, Microsoft, and Nintendo — combined with its reliable wireless coverage, helped push it to first.

San Francisco, Calif., came in second on the list, followed by Austin, Texas and Portland, Ore.

Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas, Nev., rounded out last place. 

(Previously reported at http://www.king5.com)

Jessica Chin, 12, of Seattle was named one of Washington’s top two youth volunteers of 2013 on Feb. 5 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism.

Jessica, a seventh-grader at Seattle Country Day School, has worked for several years with her family at a facility that provides free children’s clothing and supplies to homeless families. She also raises money and takes care of dogs and cats for the local Humane Society.

To support her local Humane Society chapter, Jessica has donated over $600 by participating in two fundraising walks and persuading family members to walk with her.

As a State Honoree, Jessica will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion, and an all expense paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C.

http://www.nwasianweekly.com