We all fell in love with Macklemore because of his transparency and also, because he constantly searches for spiritual healing and that can be easily observed on his songs. His songs can be used to mend your soul, but also if you want to listen to something funny and crazy. I guess most of the people found out who’s Macklemore after “Can’t Hold Us” dropped because I remember this banger was literally everywhere in 2012.
1. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Wing$
This track is about the idea that your worth as a person is intrinsically linked to the monetary worth of the items you own and the reliance on materialistic items to fit in. Mack tries to say that you are more than your sneakers, your gold chain and so on and so forth. Even kids are brainwashed by consumerism and start to have this kind of rotten mindset — I wanted to be cool, and I wanted to fit in. Actually, I was bullied in elementary school because I was poor and I couldn’t afford to dress in a certain way.
2. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Can’t Hold Us ft. Ray Dalton
This is a celebration song and Mack is really confident and has a lot of energy on this track. This is the 2nd track from Macklemore’s album “The Heist” and it was a huge success. He talks about how passionate he is and how the best is yet to come — Grown music, I shed my skin and put my bones / Into everything I record to it and yet I’m on.
3. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Otherside Remix ft. Fences
“Otherside” deals with drug abuse and the danger of idol worship in the rap game, how important is to actually have a good role model that inspires you, not someone who you can use as an excuse for drug use. This is the sad reality of a drug addict and I’ve seen so many people that had a lot of potential, but wasted it because of drugs and we can’t blame them because everybody has their own way to cope with suffering and also, everybody makes mistakes:
We sell our dreams and our potential
To escape through that buzz
4. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Starting Over ft. Ben Bridwell
On this song, Mack talks openly about his relapse and details his subsequent struggles, speaking about informing his father and being approached by an inspired fan after just having relapsed. He said that he basically felt like a hypocrite because he was other people’s motivation to get clean, but he figures out that his mind just tries to trick him and concludes: If I can be an example of getting sober / Then I can be an example of starting over.
5. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Ten Thousand Hours
This track is about passion and about that “Ten Thousand Hours” theory that says that you need ten thousand hours to do something in order to be considered an expert and actually have some skills. People with passion see it’s all darkness at the end of the tunnel. They have no idea if and when all their hard work will pay off but they dont care, they’re going in no matter what because this is what they love — No light at the tunnel / For the people that put the passion before them being comfortable.
6. Macklemore – Glorious ft. Skylar Grey
Full of renewed confidence, Mack expresses a great desire to create new music. Skylar on the choruses acts as his inner voice, emphasizing his passion for music and reinforcing the feeling that he was born to make music. He is ready to take his chances again in continuing to fulfill his goals and dreams by making new music — I was born for this, born for this / It’s who I am, how could I forget?
7. Macklemore – Excavate ft. Saint Claire
If I could read the world my notebook and these thoughts in it / Would they judge me or love me for what I’ve written? — these are the first lines of the song. This track is about peace, about that moment when you feel like planets are aligned, God loves you, the universe is smiling at you and everything’s just fine. A lot of people don’t know about this song and I think it is really underrated. I understand that the chorus sounds like church music, but that is a good song that you should listen to.
8. Macklemore – Intentions ft. Dan Caplen
“Intentions” is about how we all have something that we would like to change in our lives (our diet, career, switching to a healthier lifestyle in general), but that doesn’t happen. Our intentions are pure, but it is really hard to have faith and actually change something. As human beings, we are all slaves to vices that simply kneel our souls and that’s actually the moment when we realize how powerful our vices are, that’s the moment when we want to change the paradigm and take our power back. This song is about the constant battle between ideals and desires that makes us ask: Wanna live freely, why isn’t it so easy?
9. Macklemore – Corner Store ft. Dave B & Travis Thompson
“Corner store” is about getting high and not giving a f**k. They all wanna know what’s next, shit, I don’t even know myself — that’s the vibe. Mack has a different flow on this track on which links up with new (and hella talented) rappers Dave B and Travis Thompson.
10. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Growing Up ft. Ed Sheeran
Mack dedicated this song to his daughter, Sloane, who was his first kid. As a soon-to-be-father without experience, he had a lot of fears, hopes and pieces of advice that he expressed on this track. I love these lines from the bottom of my heart because I’m in love with my future and what I’ve chosen to do:
Don’t try to change the world, find something that you love
And do it every day
Do that for the rest of your life
And eventually, the world will change
