Macklemore's Terrifying Secret: He's Not Really That Good

By Corey Deiterman Wed., Feb. 27 2013 at 9:00 AM

When I first heard about Macklemore, it was through the word of mouth surrounding the craze over his video for the song "Thrift Shop." Memes make stars these days, and the kitschy, comedic video and song about wearing clothes from Goodwill really struck a chord with my young, hipster peers.

I was finally forced to listen to the damn song, just to understand what everybody was freaking out about, and in doing so, I stumbled upon a terrible secret Macklemore and his partner in crime Ryan Lewis have been hiding from all my friends and erstwhile hipsters around the world: He's not really that good.

I know, this revelation will come as a surprise to a lot of people who are really into what this guy does, but I'm going to have to put paid to that idea. It's okay if you like his music. Music is subjective, and I'm not here to say that your taste is, or even can be, wrong. But even if you like what he does, you can't possibly think this guy is actually a good rapper.

He's not even a rapper. He's a gimmick. He's in tune enough with pop culture and hipsters to understand what to rap about to catch people's interest; that much is true. But Macklemore isn't talented; he's smart. He's not an artist; he's a businessman.

He's latched onto a brilliant marketing scheme that literally anyone could think of if he or she tried hard enough: use clichéd indie hip-hop to talk about the things people want to hear about and can relate to in some generalized way. It's so obvious, yet so few people want to do it.

So why don't more people do what Macklemore is doing? For the sake of their art. Some people want to be artists and create something that matters to them, something that is inspired and has some kind of integrity to it.

Macklemore is not interested in that. He's interested in latching onto fads to make money. If this were the 1980s, "Thrift Shop" would have just had a whole lot of references to parachute pants and spiked leather jackets.

Tags:

Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, Thrift Shop

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lame.

zzzZZZzzz....

joshechols

2 Like

finally forced yourself to listen to the #1 song on the radio? then whines about it being "hipster"? wow, now that's hipster!

chuybenitez

Corey Deiterman's Terrifying Secret: He Shouldn't be Writing Musical Reviews If He Doesn't "Get" Macklemore x Ryan Lewis.

April Dupree

Is this what people said about Eminem? Not comparing the two but almost every lead single from an Eminem album until now has been a "comedic song" and people look up to him like a hip hop God.

TheMightyQuinn

1 Like

Haters gunna hate.

But this is hating that is confusing and with a terrible title.

Do you dislike businessmen? How is he a business, man? Whats a good rapper? His songs are catchy so he is a businessman? He is popular so he is a businessman? Thrift shops are trendy? What are you saying?!

And how is this a brilliant marketing scheme: "use cliched indie hip-hop to talk about the things people want to hear about and can relate to in some generalized way." What does this even mean?

I like how Macklemore gets under some people's skin. Its popular so off course the haters dont know why they dont like it so they say his 'beats are lazy' or he is not 'underground' or that he is Donald Trump or whatever you were trying to say.

But it all boils down to some people are just too cool. As for me? I like that I can jam his hip hop with my teenage cousins and know that at least theres a message about gay rights, and anti-consumerism, and even politics. And if this is popular, then all the better.

Christopher Davis

Save your advance money dude..its a short ride.

Julian Bajsel

so annoying that this guy is headlining at least 7 sxsw showcases. unacceptable.

NewRider Ivan

Meh and meh.

Wendy Browne

The song is clever I guess but for the love of glob-- I'm sure The Box plays some clever hip hop junk that I'd chose to listen to... if I wanted hip hop junk. Not alt rock like expected on 94.5

Chris Alonzo

i agree with wendy...bad song!

tabytha.00

You can't possibly think that listening to one song by an artist gives you enough opinion to sum up Macklemore as an artist. And even then, so what if he's a 'gimmick,' I think everyone is secretly beating themselves up that they didn't think of it first. Basically, you can judge all you want, but the guy has made, whether it's short term or long term. People love the guy and the people that don't still don't affect my opinion. To each their own.

Avrami Gavin

Great article

Ozeal DeBastos

I guess "the album-The Heist" isn't worth the mention. Dude is nice. There's actually music composition involved in his songs unlike 99.9% of today's rap music. I dig his music. His single isn't a representation of what's he's doing. *sigh*

Wendy Browne

UGH I hate that song and how 94.5 keeps fucking playing it. Damn my Jeep for not having an ipod adapter!

Kylejack topcommenter

Are you psychic, or how have you divined that Macklemore doesn't really believe in the things he sings about, such as confronting the homophobia in hip hop? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlVBg7_08n0

MadMac topcommenter

4 Like

Hm, I remember reading Joey Ramone, Joe Strummer, and The Edge all stating they couldn't play their instruments well (or at all) so they just turned them up loud to compensate and point of fact, airplay/girl frenzy/billion$ aside, Bono/Britney/Sting can't sing. ZZTop still sells more tickets than The Black Crows, who DON'T lip sinc/"play" to recorded tracks.

As for extremely calculated--Ed Sheeran's "The A Team." So, bottom line, you don't like this cat, I can dig it. I can't stand ICP/Eminem/John Legend and I won't wax 500 words to justify...oh, wait you get paid per blog post, right? Cold business.