Tom MacDonald is making it increasingly difficult for music journalists to ignore him. But oh, do they try.
The indie rapper doesn’t have a record label or business partners to promote his music. Instead, it relies on cutting-edge music videos and its growing fan base. This has made his music go viral time and time again on YouTube, with some tracks like “Fake Woke” garnering over 34 million views on the platform.
It also scores highly on the iTunes download charts.
Yet most major entertainment outlets claim that his fame doesn’t happen. Nothing to see here. To advance. They ignore its success at their peril, in terms of credibility.
The “Snowflake” musician has defied the odds, once again, by skyrocketing the charts with his new song, “End of the World.”
Except this time, MacDonald got a massive helping hand from country music royalty.
Congratulation to@IAMTOMMACDONALDsitting at #1 this morning all genres on the iTunes download chart! It was great to collaborate with him on #End of the world 🤜🇺🇸🤛 You can download it here👇https://t.co/YF6BirLs1y pic.twitter.com/iEkNDWn4Vy
— John Rich🇺🇸 (@johnrich) March 20, 2023
John Rich of Big and Rich fame collaborated with MacDonald on the track, a pessimistic dismantling of culture with a country accent as the hook. Rich, like MacDonald, resents Big Tech censorship or a music industry that treats right-wing artists like second-class citizens.
This made them both unlikely bedfellows and natural collaborators.
The video that accompanies it is that of MacDonald’s squeeze, the talented Nova Rockafeller who conceives all the clips of her boyfriend.
The title track is pure MacDonald, brimming with its edgy raps and propelling beats. Rich enters as the hook, his sweet vocals completing the dystopian vibe.
A bit of country, a lot of rap and a big hit as a result.
Our billionaires are going to space, don’t blame them for leaving
Birds fall from the sky, fish wash up on our beaches
It’s the end of time, humans have a deadline
Kids were the future until we ruined them with headlines
Bedtime should be past but everyone’s awake
They told us “chase a dollar” then made everyone break
I feel like cryptocurrency is probably our last financial hope
Rich has been at war with Country, Inc. for a while now, frustrated with the industry’s narrow view of artists and their ideologies.
“The wave of awakening that has hit this country and especially the entertainment industry, which has made its way to Nashville. So these artists are sitting there and being told by their publicist, their managers, the heads of their record labels, ‘Hey, we know you think these things about America, that you’re kind of against all of this woke up stuff we do”—they don’t call themselves “woke up”, of course….
Is there freedom and art in Nashville, like total freedom? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. It’s sad.”
MacDonald is a perpetual thorn in the side of the system, able to sidestep gatekeepers to build a massive fanbase and rack up iTunes hits on command.
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