Macklemore Otherside Analysis

Otherside-Macklemore “We live on the cusp of death thinking that it won’t be us,” (l.32). Macklemore is saying that people think that they will not die from doing drugs. In this song Macklemore is stating that drugs can be really addictive also he states that drugs can really mess you up and how media influences you to do drugs, for example rappers like Lil Wayne which he talks about in this song and Wiz Kalifa. Strong poetic devices permeate throughout Macklemore’s song Otherside for example he uses allusions, repetition and end rhyme. An example of a poetic device that Macklemore uses in this song is allusion. One allusion Macklemore uses is “Groundhog Day life repeat each time”(l.59). Macklemore mentions the movie Groundhog Day the main character’s life is on repeat and no matter what he does the same day happens again even if the day before ended in death. This is also showing that in his struggle with drugs his life was the same thing every day he would smoke and it became a routine. One other example of an allusion is “rationalize the stuff that I’d try after I listen to Dedication/ but he’s an alien, I’d sip that pass out and play Playstation”, (ll.51-52). This line is an allusion to Lil Wayne because in most of his songs he refers to himself as an alien or a Martian. This is also another reference to Lil Wayne because he has an album titled Dedication. Macklemore uses allusions to show things that you might not see at first until you realize that he is referring to that to show emphasis. Another example of a poetic device that Macklemore uses in this song is repetition. One use of repetition in this song is, “he never got up, he never got up, he never got up/ we live on the won’t be us”(ll.31-34). In this part of the song Macklemore is talking about someone he once knew that died from overdose. When someone overdoses they may never wake up and everyone who does drugs says that it will never happen to them and that they will never overdose. Another