Ben Shapiro appearing on a MAGA rap song was not on my 2024 bingo card
- Thread starter lonestar50
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Congratulations, you finally found something more uncomfortable to watch than this:
Ben Shapiro’s new song hit No. 1 on iTunes. How did that happen?
Ben Shapiro, a right-wing political commentator known for his incendiary takes, just made his rap debut with a spitfire song called “Facts.” It soared to the No. 1 spot on the iTunes Store, sitting above recent pop and hip-hop hits from the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, Justin Timberlake and Jack Harlow.
The song, a collaboration between Shapiro and Canadian rap artist Tom MacDonald, is packed with lyrics that take aim at critics, the culture wars, the rap genre in general, and calls out rap artists Nicki Minaj and Lizzo.
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“Let’s look at the stats, I’ve got the facts/ My money like Lizzo, my pockets are fat,” Shapiro raps. Later, he adds, “Nicki, take some notes, I just did this for fun/ All my people download this, let’s get a Billboard number one.”
Being No. 1 appears to be a big deal for Shapiro, who founded the Daily Wire in 2015 and currently hosts his own political podcast and radio show. He recently changed his bio on X (formerly Twitter) to read: “WORLD’S #1 Rapper.” He titled one of his recent YouTube podcast videos, “I Am America’s #1 Rapper,” in which he played the entire “Facts” music video while praising the success of his song.
“FACTS is officially the top song IN THE WORLD on iTunes. Rap god status: unlocked!” Shapiro said in an X post on Tuesday.
“I just want to thank God, @IAMTOMMACDONALD, and my parents, who paid for 15 years of classical violin lessons so I could become the #1 rapper in America,” Shapiro wrote on X on Friday after the song’s release, sharing a picture of himself, MacDonald and the words “#1 in Hip-Hop” in massive gold lettering.
“No one is fantastic on their first outing but Ben did better than a lot of the guys you see in the mainstream who have been doing it for years,” MacDonald said.
Much of the song’s success so far has been seen on iTunes, which ranks its top songs based on direct downloads and buys, according to Apple. Despite millions of listens on Apple Music and Spotify, the song hasn’t garnered enough streams to crack its way into top playlists on those platforms.
The song’s success mirrors that of other songs that have ties to America’s politics, such as Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” and Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” from last summer - both of which were celebrated by conservative music fans.
Here’s a look at how “Facts” found success and how much of an imprint its making on pop culture. Representatives for Shapiro did not respond to requests for comment.
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What is ‘Facts’ about?
The song’s name is drawn from Shapiro’s catchphrase, “facts don’t care about feelings,” one that he frequently uses to argue ideas that mainstream listeners might find offensive.
“Facts” features a number of lyrics that seem to call back to talking points floated frequently from far-right wing influencers and media outlets.
MacDonald raps on the opening verse: “They call me offensive, controversial / There’s only two genders, boys and girls.” He then adds, “They claim that I’m racist, yeah, all right I’m not ashamed because I’m White / If every Caucasian’s a bigot, I guess every Muslim’s a terrorist, every liberal is right.”
“I think it presents an alternative [to] the manufactured, overproduced, wrapped-in-plastic mainstream product,” MacDonald said about “Facts.”
“I feel like not only did this song encourage high moral standard … it also is a legendary troll on the music industry. It’s a bit of revenge to enter their arena and beat them at their own game,” he added.
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Has Shapiro rapped before?
Shapiro has a noted history of criticizing rap music and explicit lyrics. In 2019, he said on his show that rap wasn’t a real genre of music, igniting a backlash on social media.
“It’s not actually a form of music,” Shapiro said in an interview with the rapper Zuby. “It’s a form of rhythmic speaking. Thus, beyond the objectivity of me just not enjoying rap all that much, what I’ve said before is that rap is not music.”
In 2020, he went viral for criticizing and reading the lyrics of the controversial song “WAP” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. Similarly, Shapiro ridiculed Sexyy Red’s song “Pound Town” and “Pound Town 2″ - a remix of the song by Nicki Minaj - last year. The criticism led to him and Minaj trading barbs over social media.
After the release of “Facts” on Friday, Minaj, who is dealing with a rap-based feud with Megan Thee Stallion, praised the song.
“I just listened to it @benshapiro not bad,” Minaj wrote in a post on X on Saturday. “Congrats on #1. But it def sounds like Roman’s Revenge when the beat first came in … idk,” she added, referencing her own song “Roman’s Revenge” with Eminem.
Shapiro responded shortly later, “Didn’t know what I was doing, but I put on a cape. Now it’s, ‘Which world tour should I go on today?’” - a lyric from Minaj’s 2010 song “I’m The Best.”
Ben Shapiro’s new song hit No. 1 on iTunes. How did that happen?
Ben Shapiro, a right-wing political commentator known for his incendiary takes, just made his rap debut with a spitfire song called “Facts.” It soared to the No. 1 spot on the iTunes Store, sitting above recent pop and hip-hop hits from the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, Justin Timberlake and...
