Look, I wouldn't put him in the list of greats or anything, but he's made some killer songs, has a sense of humor, and is genuinely talented. His songs are often genuinely fun and catchy.
Macklemore's corny, sure, but "Without Me" is one of the best selling rap songs of all time - it's not like cheese is beyond the genre. I think it's unfortunate that the backlash of him being "a safe white rapper" (which isn't really fair) caused him to have a big backlash. Hell, I admit to jumping on that wagon at first.
But, really, Hip-Hop lately has been so bland and humourless, that a guy who raps about wearing piss-stained clothing or cruising downtown on a moped is someone who I can respect.
Edit: I do want to amend this review a bit. I will fully admit that whenever he tries being serious (such as in the "White Privilege" songs, or "Same Love", which Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping brilliantly skewered) he could come across as pretty clueless, and I suspect that contributed to the backlash a fair bit. I think when you look at rappers like Eminem, or fuck, even Vanilla Ice, they found success by basically just revelling in the fact that they were white, having a "So what?" attitude about it. Macklemore felt like he need to try to defend and justify himself, and I think his career did end up suffering from it.
Maybe it is time we re-evaluate Macklemore.
Look, I wouldn't put him in the list of greats or anything, but he's made some killer songs, has a sense of humor, and is genuinely talented. His songs are often genuinely fun and catchy.
Macklemore's corny, sure, but "Without Me" is one of the best selling rap songs of all time - it's not like cheese is beyond the genre. I think it's unfortunate that the backlash of him being "a safe white rapper" (which isn't really fair) caused him to have a big backlash. Hell, I admit to jumping on that wagon at first.
But, really, Hip-Hop lately has been so bland and humourless, that a guy who raps about wearing piss-stained clothing or cruising downtown on a moped is someone who I can respect.
Edit: I do want to amend this review a bit. I will fully admit that whenever he tries being serious (such as in the "White Privilege" songs, or "Same Love", which Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping brilliantly skewered) he could come across as pretty clueless, and I suspect that contributed to the backlash a fair bit. I think when you look at rappers like Eminem, or fuck, even Vanilla Ice, they found success by basically just revelling in the fact that they were white, having a "So what?" attitude about it. Macklemore felt like he need to try to defend and justify himself, and I think his career did end up suffering from it.