Ben Haggery, better known by his stage name, 'Macklemore', is an American rapper from Seattle, who has recently burst onto the music scene. Although he has been working on his music for a number of years, he recently has developed some extraordinary success since partnering with Ryan Lewis, a music producer. In October 2012, Macklemore released an album entitled 'The Heist'. He recorded for the album with Ryan Lewis for nearly three years. This album includes songs that cover a numerous amount of topics, from gay marriage (song: Same Love), his hometown Seattle Mariners baseball team (song: My Oh My), and his past addiction to drugs and a relapse (song: Starting Over). One song from this album that he released as a single called 'Thrift Shop', is easily his most popular song to the typical music listener. What helped make this song so likable and successful was the different type of beat and how in the music video, Macklemore is seen buying clothes in a thrift shop. Macklemore has stated that this song is based on him and how to this day, he still buys clothes at thrift shops a few times a week. The song has been on Billboard's top 100 songs for 21 consecutive weeks, even reaching the number one spot for four consecutive weeks.
I've been listening to Macklemore's music for a about three years. He is definitely my favorite artist because he speaks from the heart. Some of the songs featured on 'The Heist', I had already known because some were released as singles. This album itself is truly a great piece of art. His songs are extremely easy to relate to, for any type of person. He isn't the type of rapper that swears in his music just because it "sounds cool" or because "it's what the listener wants to hear". That isn't true at all. He comes up with some amazing lyrics and some people my be turned off by some of the vulgar language he uses, but I say, it's just part of the art that makes his music so great.
Zach, First off, great choice of a rap artist to review! I myself am a Macklemore fan. By far, my favorite song from him is Starting Over. However, I'm not a big fan of Thrift Shop. I find it kind of annoying and bland. I fully agree with you that when a rapper swears in his/her song, they're swearing because those lyrics have meaning to them, and sometimes the only way of making the meaning noticeable is to be vulgar and explicit to what they are saying. The fact that his song "Starting Over" was written based on his drug addictions makes his songs much more understandable and easily relatable to his fans. What makes his music standout to me, is that he is rapping from experience and not something that he feels would become a hit single. In all, I thought this was a great blog and an even better review choice. Once again, nice work!
Dear Zach, after reading your review on Macklemore I am glad to see there are other people in the world who know other Macklemore songs besides Thrift Shop. I feel that if you ask someone what songs they know by Macklemore they only could tell you one song. However, I did not know that he had been writing “The Heist” for more than three years. I just recently started listening to Macklemore and the first album I listened to just happened to be “The Heist.” On top of your knowledge of Macklemore, I also liked your viewpoint on rappers nowadays using curse words to sound cool or tough. I believe that rap’s issue is that is all people just assume rap is about how much money you make, what car you drive, or how many girls you get. But in reality, it is much more than that. Thank you for writing this great review on Macklemore, I learned some new stuff about him and his amazing talent.
Ben Haggery, better known by his stage name, 'Macklemore', is an American rapper from Seattle, who has recently burst onto the music scene. Although he has been working on his music for a number of years, he recently has developed some extraordinary success since partnering with Ryan Lewis, a music producer. In October 2012, Macklemore released an album entitled 'The Heist'. He recorded for the album with Ryan Lewis for nearly three years. This album includes songs that cover a numerous amount of topics, from gay marriage (song: Same Love), his hometown Seattle Mariners baseball team (song: My Oh My), and his past addiction to drugs and a relapse (song: Starting Over). One song from this album that he released as a single called 'Thrift Shop', is easily his most popular song to the typical music listener. What helped make this song so likable and successful was the different type of beat and how in the music video, Macklemore is seen buying clothes in a thrift shop. Macklemore has stated that this song is based on him and how to this day, he still buys clothes at thrift shops a few times a week. The song has been on Billboard's top 100 songs for 21 consecutive weeks, even reaching the number one spot for four consecutive weeks.
Zach,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, great choice of a rap artist to review! I myself am a Macklemore fan. By far, my favorite song from him is Starting Over. However, I'm not a big fan of Thrift Shop. I find it kind of annoying and bland. I fully agree with you that when a rapper swears in his/her song, they're swearing because those lyrics have meaning to them, and sometimes the only way of making the meaning noticeable is to be vulgar and explicit to what they are saying. The fact that his song "Starting Over" was written based on his drug addictions makes his songs much more understandable and easily relatable to his fans. What makes his music standout to me, is that he is rapping from experience and not something that he feels would become a hit single. In all, I thought this was a great blog and an even better review choice. Once again, nice work!
Dear Zach, after reading your review on Macklemore I am glad to see there are other people in the world who know other Macklemore songs besides Thrift Shop. I feel that if you ask someone what songs they know by Macklemore they only could tell you one song. However, I did not know that he had been writing “The Heist” for more than three years. I just recently started listening to Macklemore and the first album I listened to just happened to be “The Heist.” On top of your knowledge of Macklemore, I also liked your viewpoint on rappers nowadays using curse words to sound cool or tough. I believe that rap’s issue is that is all people just assume rap is about how much money you make, what car you drive, or how many girls you get. But in reality, it is much more than that. Thank you for writing this great review on Macklemore, I learned some new stuff about him and his amazing talent.
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