"Hind's Hall" is a protest song by American rapper Macklemore, released as a single on May6, 2024. Written and produced by Macklemore, it expresses support for the

pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses Pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses escalated in April 2024, spreading List of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in the United States in 2024, in the United States and List of pro-Palestinian protests on university cam ...

that call for divestment from Israel and a

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...

in the

Israel–Hamas war An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place chiefly in and around the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023. On that day, Palestinian militant groups launched 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, a surp ...

. The song's title is a reference to pro-Palestinian activists' renaming of

Hamilton Hall Hamilton Hall can refer to several buildings including: *Hamilton Hall (Columbia University) *Hamilton Hall (Montana State University) named after James M. Hamilton. *Hamilton Hall (Salem, Massachusetts) Hamilton Hall is a National Historic Lan ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

to "Hind's Hall" in honor of

Hind Rajab Hind Rajab ( ar, هند رجب; 2017/2018 – 29 January 2024) was a six-year-old Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip who was killed by Israeli forces (IDF), during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. The IDF also killed six of her family m ...

, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

. In the song, Macklemore is critical of the United States's funding of Israel; he describes Israel's occupation of the

Palestinian territories The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The I ...

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. Additionally, Macklemore announces his opposition to the music industry for their silence on the issue, and to President Joe Biden because of Biden's support for the Israeli government and military.

Background

In 2024, pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses have taken place across the world, particularly in the United States, as protesters called on their universities to sever links with Israeli entities due to Israel's actions in the Israel-Hamas war. Protestor encampments have been raided by US police, who arrested more than 2,300 students, many of whom face expulsion and campus bans. Protests at Columbia University have been prominent. At Columbia, activists occupied

and renamed the building as "Hind's Hall" in honor of

, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by Israeli forces in

Gaza City Gaza (;''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1998), , p. 761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza...". ar, غَزَّة ', ), also referred to as Gaza City, i ...

along with her relatives and paramedics who came to her rescue. On April30, 2024, New York police sieged Hamilton Hall and arrested the protestors inside.

Composition

"Hind's Hall" was composed and produced by Macklemore, and samples "Ana La Habibi" by Lebanese singer Fairuz. In his lyrics, Macklemore is critical of the United States' funding of Israel. He describes Israel's occupation of

. He also criticizes US politicians' acceptance of donations from pro-Israel lobbying organizations such as

Christians United for Israel Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is an American Christian organization that supports Israel. Its statement of purpose is; "to provide a national association through which every pro-Israel church, parachurch organization, ministry or individua ...

(CUFI) and the

American Israel Public Affairs Committee The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC ) is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States. One of several pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the United Stat ...

(AIPAC). Macklemore describes Israel's ongoing military actions as

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

, and makes references to the Nakba and the Israeli military's murders of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip. Macklemore calls for a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war. He condemns the music industry's "platform of silence" on the war. He also references the ongoing feud between rappers

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

and Kendrick Lamar, saying he considers it a minor issue compared to the war. Additionally, Macklemore declares President Joe Biden to be complicit in the Israeli government's mass murder of Palestinian civilians, saying "The blood is on your hands, Biden". Macklemore proclaims that he will not vote for Biden in the

2024 United States presidential election The 2024 United States presidential election will be the 60th quadrennial presidential election, scheduled for Tuesday, November 5, 2024. It will be the first presidential election after electoral votes were redistributed during the 2020 ce ...

, and that he is

undecided "Undecided" is a popular song written by Sid Robin and Charlie Shavers and published in 1938. Recordings *The first recording was made by John Kirby and The Onyx Club Boys on October 28, 1938, and released by Decca Records as catalog number 22 ...

. The song also denounces Congress' banning of TikTok, the

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

apparent in policing and policy decisions, and the

conflation Conflation is the merging of two or more sets of information, texts, ideas, opinions, etc., into one, often in error. Conflation is often misunderstood. It originally meant to fuse or blend, but has since come to mean the same as equate, treati ...

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

with

anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestin ...

. Macklemore quotes the title of the 1988 song " Fuck tha Police" by hip hop group

N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip hop group whose members were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and the group is widely considered ...

Release

The single was released on social media on May 6, 2024. Macklemore announced that once the song was available on streaming services, all of the single's proceeds would be donated to

UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 P ...

. Macklemore performed the song live for the first time on May 9, 2024 in New Zealand, saying, "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". On May 11, the song was made available on major streaming platforms including

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

, Amazon Music, and YouTube. The song's music video includes a photo of a college building spray-painted with the phrase "Free Palastine". Some internet users erroneously believed the photo was taken at Columbia University and used it to criticize the protesters. The photo was taken of Tabaret Hall at the University of Ottawa in Canada.

Reception

Solcyre Burga in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' called it "the latest addition to the catalog of American protest songs that includes

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop si ...

's "

Strange Fruit "Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black ...

" and Crosby, Stills, and Nash & Young's "

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

." Guitarist

Tom Morello Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is best known for his tenure with the rock band Rage Against the Machine and then with Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, Morello ...

of Rage Against the Machine tweeted: "Honestly @macklemore’s 'Hind’s Hall' is the most Rage Against The Machine song since Rage Against The Machine."

Jill Stein Jill Ellen Stein (born May 14, 1950) is an American physician, activist, and former political candidate. She was the Green Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 and 2016 elections and the Green-Rainbow Party's candidat ...

, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

's presidential candidate in 2024, publicly thanked Macklemore for making the song. Reception from social media has been positive, with many users praising Macklemore's use of his platform to protest. Aja Romano of '' Vox'' called the song "electrifying" due to its

surprise release A surprise album or surprise release refers to the release of an album with little or no prior announcement, marketing or promotion. The strategy contrasts traditional album releases, which typically feature weeks or months of advertising in the f ...

. They noted that Macklemore's position as a white

independent artist Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

has helped him to express himself freely without career-ending consequences, especially considering the song's contentious subject matter.

Charts

Release history

References

External links

Official video
on YouTube

''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' (May 2024)
Official video
on Twitter {{authority control Reactions to the Israel–Hamas war in the United States 2024 singles 2024 songs Macklemore songs Songs written by Macklemore Anti-war songs Political rap songs Songs about Joe Biden Songs inspired by deaths Protest songs 2024 controversies in the United States Songs about Palestine