'Downtown' and Macklemore's Attempts to Stay Hip-Hop - Inverse
Most of the world has no problem characterizing Ben Haggerty, a. k. a. Macklemore, as a bonafide capital-P pop star — a guy who just happens to rap in his songs — more than one of the major figureheads in the rap genre. The reason to make this qualification is that his music has always had little to do with anything else going on in hip-hop, either in terms of style or content. Indeed, Macklemore seems to gain mileage for lightly defining himself himself against it. The swagless dance-pop beats, white-boy-delivered hooks and positive, goofy or outright bougie themes are precisely what helps him do those Taylor Swift... “Can’t Hold Us” was an EDM-tinged dance-floor record which at most pointed to a love for Kanye’s genre-bending, and ballads like the recent Ed Sheeran-featuring “Growing Up” appeal to parents who enjoy positive messages, staying “in touch” and Sam... But still, as Mackle the younger put it in his 2009 song “White Privilege,” “Hip hop started out on a block I’ve never even been to. ” He understandably feels the need to explain himself away somehow — to prove that he is, in his own way,... He’s mostly expressed it in interviews, and stunts like the post of the apologetic text to Kendrick after Mack won the Best Rap Album Grammy for The Heist over the undeniable rap-fan favorite, good kid, m. A. A. d city. Source: www.inverse.com
