Why I love Macklemore

Hey peoples, let's talk music. Macklemore, an independent rap artist only recently introduced to the eye of the public with his humorous song, "Thrift Shop". I am, personally, a big fan of his stuff, not simply because a lot of his songs are very clever and funny (such as this one I've posted below, such a great satire, I can't help but grin whenever I hear it) but because he can also evoke such emotion with his words. 

Now, "American" is perhaps not the greatest example of one of Mack's thought provoking and clever songs. They lie much more in the vein of "Same Love", "Neon Cathedral" and, one of his best, I feel, "Otherside".

Now, if I'm honest, I'm not a huge rap fan. Not because I don't like it as a medium, when I do listen to rap intervals in pop songs and such I enjoy the more personal voice that it tends to have in comparison to the hook or main part of the song. The main reason I don't consider myself a fan is that I was never really exposed to it, like many things, and so I didn't form the necessary attachment. Also, the fact that my friends weren't into rap (and still aren't, except maybe for Eminem and our friend Macklemore because they're more... accessible? I don't really know, I think, again, it's down to exposure. If you're a caucasian middle class teen living in Dublin, unless you go looking for it you're not generally going to get into rap unless it's an image thing or a peer pressure thing). 

Back on subject, Macklemore is one of the only rappers I listen to so I can't really judge him on that, nor can I really judge the genre. But I will say this. I like the poetic element of rap, particularly with this artist. I like the personal voice, the things you learn that you usually wouldn't when a person's just singing (I think I've mentioned how much I analyse people, this is another medium where I can indulge this habit, yay!) Songs can be stories about other people and tend to be more obscure, rap is pure voice, pure storytelling and I really like that. 

I also love Macklemore's range of topics that he decides to tackle; he seems to have found the balance between talking about himself, be it his childhood in "My oh My" or his career in "Victory Lap" or "Jimmy Iovine" (The storytelling and atmosphere in the latter is fantastic, go listen!). He talks about issues like race in "A wake", sexuality in "Same Love" and consumerism in a very clever piece, "Wing$". He narrates some of his struggle against alcoholism in "Starting Over" which is an interesting compliment to his clever metaphorical piece "Neon Cathedral". Then he contrasts the seriousness with some really funny stuff like "Castle" or "Gold" or just plain pump up tunes like the likes of "Can't Hold Us". I love this guy, I love his honesty, his clear intelligence and his sense of humour. I highly recommend you look him up if you haven't already.