Macklemore and Ryan Lewis appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night and performed his recent single “White Privilege II.” It’s not exactly and uplifting or digestible song (it was cut down from 8 minutes to just under 7 minutes for this performance), but it’s good to see Colbert willing to have the performance nonetheless.
Macklemore performs on a largely dark stage, backed by three singers, Ryan Lewis and his trumpeter Owaur. The Seattle emcee dips out after a couple of verses to allow poets Nikkita Oliver and Danez Smith to each recite a stanza. Finally, Jamila Woods closes out the song.
Whether you like the song or not, you have to appreciate Colbert’s savvy trolling of Bill O’Reilly by scheduling him to appear on the same night.