"Fake Woke" is a song written, produced, and performed by Canadian rapper Tom MacDonald. It was self-released as a single on January 29, 2021. A music video for the song, directed by his girlfriend and fellow musician Nova Rockafeller, was released simultaneously with the single. The American conservative news television channel

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

promoted "Fake Woke" on its series ''

The Story with Martha MacCallum ''The Story with Martha MacCallum'', known as The Story, is an American television news/ talk program on Fox News Channel hosted by Martha MacCallum. Episodes air live from 3p.m. ET/2p.m. CT on Monday through Friday. The show has been a part ...

'' and interviewed MacDonald about the song.

Music and lyrics

The song begins with an isolated clean

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

. In the song's introduction, MacDonald disses American rapper

Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Cephus (; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Noted for her unfiltered public image and lyrics, Cardi B is one of the most successful female rappers. From 2015 to early 2017, she ga ...

, criticizing her for being perceived as a role model, and also disses

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

, pointing out how he used to gay bash and talk about murdering his mother in his songs, but now he does not want to associate with fans who voted for

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. He also takes a stand against the idea that

white privilege White privilege, or white skin privilege, is the Social privilege, societal privilege that benefits white people over Person of color, non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or ...

exists and against the activist group

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

, rapping, "I think Black Lives Matter was the stupidest name / When the system screwing everyone exactly the same". MacDonald also says that the

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politic ...

is "Fake Woke", hence the title of the song. However, he also criticizes the

right wing Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

in the line, " eoplehate their neighbor 'cause he wears a mask or he stays home / Has a daughter but his favorite artist said he slays hoes / picks her up from school, music slaps on the way home". Macdonald also criticizes

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

for being biased, saying, "Censorship's an issue 'cause they choose what they erase / There's a difference between

hate speech Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...

and speech that you hate."

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. * Tom MacDonald – composer, producer, songwriter * Evan Morgan – mixing and mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Reflist 2021 singles 2021 songs Diss tracks Protest songs Tom MacDonald (rapper) songs