New York, NY (Top40 Charts) What do you get when you combine "the biggest independent rapper in the whole friggin' world" Tom MacDonald and The Daily Wire Co-Founder, best-selling author, podcaster, host of The Ben Shapiro Show, and fellow firebrand Ben Shapiro?
You get "Facts"—the new single from Tom and what serves as Ben's official rap "debut."
Together, they deliver what the world needs more than anything: a whole lot of truth.
Over a beat Tom cooked up, neither he nor Ben hold anything back (would you expect anything less though, really?). Establishment and mainstream media sacred cows get slaughtered in a clever and quotable verbal crossfire. At the same time, a positive message seethes beneath all of the provocation with a promise, "We won't turn your sons into thugs or your daughters into hoes," yet Tom still warns, "You can cry and you can scream. You can riot in the streets. You defunded the police now there's no one to protect you."
Once again, Tom's closest collaborator Nova Rockafeller directed an engaging visual to accompany the track. Ben raps to the camera, donning a hoodie emblazoned with the signature phrase, "FACTS don't care about your feelings." Neon lights and TVs glow, lasers surge, and Tom and Ben pop off with potentially internet-breaking consequences.
A few years back, Tom and Ben serendipitously bumped into each other in Los Angeles, posted a photo (that pissed a lot of people off), kept in touch, and crossed paths every once in a while. That said, this collaboration happened naturally.
"I like to do things nobody else can do," states Tom. "Not everybody can get Ben Shapiro on a track. For someone who had never recorded a rap song before, he got in the studio and nailed it. We've both criticized the status quo of hip-hop, so it made sense. There is a good intention at the heart of "Facts." There is light. We don't want your kids to overdose or ruin their lives. I hope you hear it and ask, 'Why does everyone hate these guys so much? Why are they so controversial?' This song is me standing on the gossip, bulls***, and narrative that I'm a troll and saying, 'F*** you, here I am'."
Shapiro added, "As a longtime devotee of rap, becoming a rapper was the natural next step in my career trajectory. So, when Tom asked if I wanted to collaborate on a song, I leapt at the chance. This was the moment I spent 20 years of classical violin training preparing for. For those who don't appreciate my artistic stylings, all I can say is that they didn't appreciate Bach properly in his own time, either."
Tom capped off a busy 2023 with the release of The Brave II with Adam Calhoun. It notably crashed the Top 10 of the Billboard Top Album Sales Chart. Earlier in the year, he joined forces with country legend John Rich for "End of the World." He also notched the scored the biggest single of his career thus far with "Ghost." Beyond tens of millions of streams and radio airplay (independently!), it surged to #1 on the Billboard Digital Song Sales Chart, eclipsing pop juggernauts churned out by the machine. Like the lone hero he is, he did it without a label, management, or the dozens of songwriters and producers behind today's usual chart "[s]h***."
Be on the lookout for more soon.
Tom MacDonald is independent rap's most vital voice, and that's "FACTS!"
