Music Monday - Macklemore!
Seattle rapper Macklemore has been getting some major attention from the world recently with his hit singles 'Same Love' and 'Thrift Shop' which have been lurking about the top of the iTunes charts for a couple of months now.
Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, grew up in Seattle, Washington with dreams of reaching the youth through music and thus pursued a career in music. Citing Digital Underground as his earliest influence, he moved in the direction of hip hop as his music of choice and began listening to a lot of east coast hip hop, known for its hardened lyricists such as Nas and Talib Kweli.
He released his first full length album in 2005, titled 'The Language of My World' but then went on a lengthy hiatus until September 2009 when he released 'The Unplanned Mixtape'. The reason for this he openly states was that he developed a problem with substance abuse, most notably with the use of Oxycontin, a struggle which he later went on to chronicle in the critically acclaimed song 'Otherside'.
'Otherside' featured on the 'VS EP', a project which Macklemore enlisted the help of producer Ryan Lewis for and was critically well received, so much so, they released a follow up remix EP titled the 'VS Redux'.
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis released their full length album 'The Heist' in October last year and they have been creating some major buzz around their two lead singles, the jokey, fun times song 'Thrift Shop' and the track 'Same Love' which see's Macklemore tackle some serious issues around sexuality which are normally ignored in the hip hop mainstream.
The album debuted at #1 on the iTunes album chart and reached number 2 on the Billboard 200 and has sold tons of copies. This year looks set to be Macklemore's year!
Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, grew up in Seattle, Washington with dreams of reaching the youth through music and thus pursued a career in music. Citing Digital Underground as his earliest influence, he moved in the direction of hip hop as his music of choice and began listening to a lot of east coast hip hop, known for its hardened lyricists such as Nas and Talib Kweli.
He released his first full length album in 2005, titled 'The Language of My World' but then went on a lengthy hiatus until September 2009 when he released 'The Unplanned Mixtape'. The reason for this he openly states was that he developed a problem with substance abuse, most notably with the use of Oxycontin, a struggle which he later went on to chronicle in the critically acclaimed song 'Otherside'.
'Otherside' featured on the 'VS EP', a project which Macklemore enlisted the help of producer Ryan Lewis for and was critically well received, so much so, they released a follow up remix EP titled the 'VS Redux'.
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis released their full length album 'The Heist' in October last year and they have been creating some major buzz around their two lead singles, the jokey, fun times song 'Thrift Shop' and the track 'Same Love' which see's Macklemore tackle some serious issues around sexuality which are normally ignored in the hip hop mainstream.
The album debuted at #1 on the iTunes album chart and reached number 2 on the Billboard 200 and has sold tons of copies. This year looks set to be Macklemore's year!
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