![]() These hits resulted in the rediscovery of “Can’t Hold Us,” a relentlessly upbeat motivational anthem with the energy of a small star going nova. In 2012, they released two wildly popular singles: “Same Love,” a soft-lit ballad that was adopted as an informal theme song for Washington’s campaign to legalize same-sex marriage, and “Thrift Shop,” a bargain shopper’s manifesto that doubled as a goofy, self-deprecating play on hip-hop’s boastful style. The year after the release of “The Language of My World,” he began working with the Seattle producer Ryan Lewis, who brought a pop sheen and a knack for big choruses to Macklemore’s impassioned rhymes. He would have cobbled together a long career as a witty, well-meaning rapper, playing shows at colleges and festivals in front of committed fans who related to him and his thematic concerns. It’s easy to envision what would have happened had Macklemore’s trajectory as an independent artist plateaued then. Bush to mischievous tales of scoring a fake I.D., it didn’t seem like a contradiction that required resolution. On an album with songs ranging from attacks on George W. “So where does this leave me? / I feel like I pay dues but I’ll always be a white MC / I give everything I have when I write a rhyme / But that doesn’t change the fact that this culture’s not mine.” In the end, Macklemore resolves to keep walking the world aware of his privilege, hopeful that his listeners will do the same. The song also seemed to suggest that Macklemore was somehow different, blessed-or burdened-with slightly more self-consciousness than other white hip-hop artists or fans. ![]() In a song titled “White Privilege,” he examined the tensions of his life as a white rapper: “Where’s my place in a music that’s been taken by my race / Culturally appropriated by the white face?” It was an honest, questing attempt to face the guilt of the gentrifier, wary of what he embodies yet pleased with the new view. In 2005, the Seattle rapper Macklemore released his début album, “The Language of My World.” Its impact was modest, confined mostly to the Northwest. Appropriation is a blunt charge, but Macklemore now seems like its poster child.
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