Look, there is literally nothing to say about Tom MacDonald that hasn’t already been said a million times by people far more articulate than me. Even still, here we are, and Canadian Tekashi69 is back again (he’d probably generically say he “never left”) with a new song, “Daddy’s Home,” all about the re-election of Donald Trump. How original.
This time, however, the gimmick isn’t just his tired MAGA-mongering, Temu-quality hip-hop. It’s still all of that, but now he’s joined by none other than former comedy legend Roseanne Barr.
I believe in the importance of giving credit where it’s due, and the truth is that Barr’s role in the evolution of comedy cannot be understated. In the late ’80s and ’90s, she — and her titular television show — represented a voice for middle America and the working class that many other comedians simply did not provide.
I think that’s what makes it so sad to admit… she has ZERO bars. Not a one. Every line that fumbles out of her mouth is just weak. Like making an anti-trans comment referencing her old show by awkwardly stumbling through the line: “Why they trying to turn Becky into Dan?!”
I get that there’s creative license in the songwriting process, and sometimes that means putting together two things that are not connected in order to create something new. But, The Conners — the TV show that emerged when the Roseanne reboot was canceled after Barr made some racist comments on the internet — literally never features anything of the sort.
(There was a trans character on The Conners, actress Alexandra Billings, for like a half dozen episodes four years ago in the third season, but her arc is in no way related to anyone from the main cast also coming out as trans).
Barr concludes her verse by yelling: “Screw Eminem! I’m Roseanne!” It makes no sense, is completely out of place in the song, and, like, I know that Marshall has better things to do with his time than give a shit what a washed-up comedian from 30 years ago says about him in a bootlicking jingle… but I really just want him to go into the studio and record a diss track called “Barr None” or something and lyrically spatchcock the both of them.
Also, MacDonald put Barr in some hideous blonde braids for the video, which one can only assume was done to mimic his own. Because who wouldn’t want to look like Tom MacDonald?
The crux of “Daddy’s Home” is that MacDonald and Barr are throwing Trump’s presidential win in the faces of “woke” Americans who voted for Kamala Harris. They paint a picture of an angry crowd who can’t stand the outcome and are so overcome with emotion that they might want to fight.
The only problem here is there’s been no show of force from anti-Trump folks over the past few months. The song’s whole perspective could be turned against their own MAGA community who literally stormed the U.S. Capitol building in 2021 because they were trying to “stop the steal” mad their candidate lost.
Ultimately, the song is unremarkable, with an OK-ish beat but a lot of MacDonald falling back on repetition to make up the song’s 2:12 runtime, and Barr harping on her established complaints about being labeled a “racist” and refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
You can check out the song and its video for yourself above, or you can do literally anything else and have a better day. Choose wisely.
The post Tom MacDonald’s New Rap Song With Roseanne Barr Is Pretty Awful appeared first on VICE.
