OG Maco caught up with Complex during SXSW in Austin, Texas to talk about how his perception has changed amongst fans, moving past his hit “U Guessed It” and cultural appropriation.
Maco’s hit song “U Guessed It” helped the Atlanta-bred artist breakthrough from the underground and become more recognizable at the annual music and film festival this year. However, Maco was not impressed with a Korean pop rendition of the song, which surfaced earlier this year.
“People want to go back and run to it and say, ‘Oh, it’s the culture of Koreans to go and do this,'” Maco says. “Just because something is the culture of something, it doesn’t mean that it’s right, doesn’t mean it’s longstanding. You got cultural racism in America. That doesn’t mean it’s right. It’s just been here for forever. When you look at what they’ve been doing for years, they’ve been appropriating everything we do.”
When asked about his fans using the N-Word during his shows, Maco explained it isn’t really an issue with his crowds.
He says that he has experienced, thus far, “racially diverse and accepting crowds.” Maco used his song “Fuckemx3‘” as an example and suggested that all of his fans can say the word “fuck.”
Also, within the five-minute interview, Maco clarifies a comment he made during a Fader interview when he said “people like ‘U Guessed It’ so much because they’re idiots.”