AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Growing up macklemore unruly mess4/10/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Ides" offers the empowering "I know the devil fancy me/But that don't mean the muthf*&ka get to dance with me," making that Grammy more deserved than ever. That said, the middle of the album is The Heist all over again, and maybe even better, as the significantly improved writer Macklemore displays on the masterful freestyle session "Need to Know," where he drops the excellent "I swear rapping make it easy to lie/But secrets don't make it easy to write." "Kevin," featuring a beautiful bridge from Leon Bridges, skillfully tackles the overprescription of drugs as it watches a friend die at the hands of big pharma addiction, while the sublime "St. In other words, the bookends of the album address what needs to be addressed, and the end user can endure, adore, or accept them with the option to skip on return visits. A mom/fan is even confronted in the song, and the lyrics bounce between the mindsets in a manner that's fascinating more than it is riveting. Same can be said for the closing "White Privilege II," where the rapper does the numbers and wonders why his brand of love and understanding sells so well to the public but rarely gets a "yes" vote at the polls. It's big, bold, and will be considered cloying by anyone who bristles at Macklemore's emo-ish excuses for doing well, but its main fault is taking on too much and winding up too busy. ![]() Put the needle to the record and "Light Tunnels" featuring Mike Slap takes the listener on an elaborate, unrelatable journey through music award shows and the hypocrisy of fame. That platinum albatross started hanging off the duo early on, and Macklemore's declaration that Kendrick Lamar should have won the Grammy instead certainly foreshadowed how LP two, or three, was going to be "difficult," but Unruly is surprisingly good at dealing with guilt and expectations, exorcizing its demons in a way hardcore fans can enjoy, and casual listeners can avoid. The album both embraces fame and pushes it away - and the result is a queasy hodgepodge.Call it the "difficult" third album from Seattle's Macklemore, or the second LP from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, but however the discography is counted, This Unruly Mess I've Made is the release that follows the Grammy-winning, massively successful The Heist, the one that introduced this pop-rap rapper/producer duo to most of the world, meteoric rise and all. Yet it’s hard to imagine him wanting to return to his days playing pokey clubs either. But Unruly Mess is ultimately a record that doesn’t know what it wants to be.įurther acclaim, and Macklemore would probably go utterly around the bend. This surely is the first record to feature KRS-One, Ed Sheeran and actor Idris Elba (not on the same track alas). No doubt it’s tough at the top - but do Macklemore and Lewis have to spend an entire album making the point?Īmid the stodge are some fascinating cameos. Macklemore tenderly speaks to his daughter on ‘Growing Up (Sloan’s Song)’ yet the grooves are clunking, Macklemore’s lyrics brimming with Hallmark sentimentally.Īnd he turns straight-up whiney on single ‘Light Tunnels’, wherein he recalls his Grammys win as a nightmare experience. That’s a problem across the entire LP, which is short on the immediate hooks of the duo’s biggest hit, ‘Thrift Shop’. ![]() Sincerity has never worked especially well in hop-hop and Macklemore’s craw-thumping comes off as a pose, no matter that he is assuredly speaking from the heart. However, his undoubted good intentions are lost on a song that lays on the preachiness with a trowel. He addresses the subject on recent single ‘White Privilege II’, asserting his underdog credentials, yet acknowledging that, compared to his African-American peers, he had it easy. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |