Music Appreciation: Imagery: Wing$, by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

The song is Wing$, and the artists of the song are Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Macklemore is a current hip- hop artist, and Ryan Lewis is the one who plays the piano.

The song has a lot of imagery in it, specifically hyperbole and allusions, and I will refer to two different points in the song for each. The song “Wing$” was released in 2012 (this is the clean version):

(First Verse with Imagery) Allusion (1:18): “Cuz I wanted / to be like Mike, right / Wanted to be him / I wanted to be that guy,”

Explanation: This is an allusion to Michael Jordan, one of the great basketball players. He doesn’t talk about Michael Jordan directly, but he says “Mike,” which refers to him. He also talks about how the shoes make him fit in, and make him feel as though he was Michael Jordan, since he was wearing Jordan’s (his brand of shoes).

(Second Verse with Imagery) Hyperbole (1:32): “I want to fly / Can you take me far away / Give me a star to reach for / Tell me what it takes / (Skip) I bought these dreams / That all fall down”

Explanation: This is hyperbole, because you can’t “fly” when wearing sneakers, but this is how Macklemore felt when wearing Jordan’s. It’s also not possible to reach the stars, but he felt like he could do anything just because of this pair of shoes.

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