Rap duo of pro-equal marriage song, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, win BET award for best group

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Rap duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, who entered the Billboard chart last week with a song strongly supporting equal marriage, have been awarded a BET award for best group.

The pair were awarded the honour of best group in Los Angeles on Sunday at the BET awards. They wrote, produced and released their album The Heist, independently.

The song Same Love, from the pair’s latest album, addresses Macklemore’s personal experiences and feelings around the issue of same-sex relationships and equal marriage, and features a video spanning the lives of a gay couple, including a happy marriage.

The song was inspired by Referendum 74, at which voters in the US state of Washington voted to uphold a law legalising equal marriage.

The song entered the American Billboard Hot 100 chart recently, despite being released in February this year. Some have attributed its success to momentum gained in equal marriage campaigns leading up to the US Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of same-sex marriage, in two cases last week.

The BET awards celebrate African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis rose to fame last year with the song Thrift Shop, which reached number one in the UK chart. Their follow up Can’t Hold Us, is currently at number 17 of the UK chart, after being in the chart for 16 weeks.

The song Same Love, about equal marriage in the US, which was seen as a positive sign that attitudes towards same-sex marriages are changing for the better, both in the rap industry, and in general, is available to view below.