Cultural revolutionaries come in all shapes and sizes. Be they musicians, painters, filmmakers, or novelists, the one thing they have in common is that their message has such resonance that it can actually re-shape society by influencing the hearts and minds of all those exposed to it.
The last time America went through a widespread cultural revolution was in the 1960s, with the rise of the counter-culture movement which saw a dramatic shift from traditional establishment values and norms to ones spearheaded by hippies who were anti-war, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, pro-women’s rights, and all about free-love, recreational drugs, and raging against everything propped up by the white male patriarchy.
But now, close to 60 years after the rise of that movement, the counter-culture revolutionaries have become the establishment, with those rebellious hippies now in high positions within government, industry, and entertainment. And in such an environment where the ‘woke’ are in charge, the most rebellious thing one can do is be to the right of Karl Marx – both culturally and politically.
Enter Tom MacDonald, the ‘new breed’ of cultural revolutionary whose success is scaring the left.
By all accounts, MacDonald, 33, doesn’t look like he’d be a ‘figurehead’ for the right-wing of American culture. He has long hair, numerous piercings, and a body covered in tattoos. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and started his career as a professional wrestler, performing under the ring-name ‘Allstar’ within various Canadian-based wrestling leagues for about six years. Like many artists, he struggled with addiction, and went through a rehabilitation period to not only get him sober, but also reinvent himself.
Reinvent himself as what, you may ask? Well, this straight white male from Canada went from being a high-flying wrestler to a rapper.
Yes, that’s right. A rapper.
The move wasn’t exactly a conventional choice, but it seemed to make sense for MacDonald, who had begun getting into hip-hop and performing when he was 18. MacDonald’s early career was spent making music similar to what was popular at the time – namely, rapping about guns, drugs, girls, and every other hip-hop cliché from the early 2000s.
As one can imagine, MacDonald’s entrance into the world of hip-hop wasn’t an overnight success story, especially when he began expressing his right-leaning political beliefs in an industry that was so heavily associated with leftist politics and the African-American community. The road to success for MacDonald was rocky at first, with his songs garnering little attention and lots of negativity on social media.
“There were a lot of negative comments in the beginning because I didn’t have a fanbase when I started releasing music,” MacDonald said in an interview with Inked Magazine. “All it was at that point in time was people hating and objecting to the things I was saying.”
But MacDonald wasn’t discouraged. He kept on producing his music and not backing down from his beliefs. His first single, ‘Whiteboy’, dropped in 2018, and was followed by ‘Straight White Male’ in 2019. MacDonald’s message was that straight white men were being demonized in society – a message that was considered ‘edgy’ by a ‘woke’ establishment media complex. As one can imagine, MacDonald was attacked by numerous media outlets, being called everything from ‘racist’ to ‘sexist’, and (of course) ‘homophobic’. But despite the slander being levied against him, MacDonald’s music was beginning to have resonance among the ‘silent majority’ that the music industry had long been ignoring – music fans on the political right.
“It took a few months for it to really catch on and for me to find people who were open-minded enough to at least try to understand what I was talking about,” MacDonald said. “I still get some resistance now, but the amount of support is overwhelming in comparison.”
MacDonald’s rise to popularity was completely grassroots – and done entirely by utilizing alternative media. Forget record labels and radio time. Tom MacDonald had YouTube and iTunes. Like most ‘alternative’ musicians, he’s spent his time building a following outside of the establishment media. Back in the 1980s, punk bands were shaking things up by playing small bars and clubs and amassing a hardcore following. Nowadays, counter-culture artists turn to digital media in order to reach their fans.
MacDonald’s music is entirely independently produced and is as raw and unfiltered as it comes. He was an early adopter of NFTs in the music space and innovated by purchasing an Eminem-produced instrumental called ‘Stan’s Revenge’, which he then used for his single ‘Dear Slim’. And MacDonald’s unwillingness to back down in the face of controversial subjects, such as the coronavirus pandemic, has given a voice to the political right that has been largely absent in pop culture.
In 2021, MacDonald released his two biggest hits to date, ‘Fake Woke’ and ‘Snowflakes’. Fake Woke was an indictment against the group Black Lives Matter and took a stance against the concept of ‘white privilege’. Snowflakes is a relentless takedown of cancel culture and the wokeism that is currently infecting society. In August, MacDonald released a song called ‘Brainwashed’, which took on the Biden administration and the news media for lying to the public in order to push their radical leftist agendas.
By being fearless and unapologetic in his beliefs, MacDonald has risen to become a folk hero to those on the right of the political spectrum, and is quickly becoming a cultural icon.
“MacDonald believes his music is popular because he’s willing to scream what others would never say out loud,” Fox News journalist Carley Shimkus said on ‘The Story with Martha MacCallum’.
“I love that if someone is going to be listening to hip-hop, they’re listening to this,” said Michael Knowles of the Daily Caller’s Michael Knowles Show.
MacDonald is becoming so influential that even Donald Trump Jr. began following him on Twitter.
Of course, as MacDonald’s popularity grows, he becomes a bigger and bigger target for the left, whose policies and beliefs he so expertly criticizes in his songs. But as an independent artist who produces and releases his own music and videos, there is little the left can do to censor him.
And that’s why the left is so scared of Tom MacDonald. Because nothing is more dangerous to bad political ideology than critical voices that cannot be silenced. MacDonald has not only weathered the left’s relentless attacks against him, but also thrived in spite of it. (And some would argue, because of it.)
With no sign of slowing down, more and more fans are finding MacDonald and his music as his message continues to resonate in a politically divisive environment where many feel marginalized, ignored, and abused by the mainstream media and their political allies on the left. MacDonald could be in the vanguard of a new wave of artists leading a counter-culture revolution.
Because in the modern era where yesteryear’s radical left is now ‘the establishment’, being on the right is as ‘revolutionary’ as one can get.
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