When I say the name Ben Haggerty or, better known by his stage name, Macklemore, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Let me guess... what, what, what, what? I'm gonna pop some tags, only got $20 in my pocket... Majority of people only think of the song Thrift Shop when they think of Macklemore. And honestly, that is fair; Thrift Shop is arguably Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's most popular song. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not realize just how big of an artist Macklemore is and the kind of artist we need.
Though Macklemore is well known for his song Thrift Shop, he is one of the most underrated artist of our generation because his songs that rap about life and have deeper meanings are often overlooked for a song about going to Goodwill. So, I thought together we could look at the top 3 of the deeper songs that have come out from Macklemore.
1. Drug Dealer
I have actually written about this song before, but this one is so good it needs to be talked about again. Macklemore's song Drug Dealer discusses America's current epidemic involving prescription drug abuse. The song mainly focuses on doctors being too lenient in writing prescriptions for hard drugs like Xanax and Adderral. Some notable lyrics: "My drug dealer was a doctor, doctor, had the plug from Big Pharma, Pharma. He said that he would heal me, heal me, but he only gave me problems, problems," and "I'm caught up, I'm on one, I'm nauseous. No options, exhausted, this is not what I started. Walkin' carcass, I lost everything I wanted; my blinds drawn, too gone to leave this apartment."
2. Ten Thousand Hours
This song is not quite as intense as Drug Dealer, but it is still a very inspirational song. As opposed to rapping about a dark past, this one leads more to encouraging people to still trying harder. The whole song is based off of the popular Ten Thousand Hours Theory - this theory states that to become a master of something, you need to practice it for 10,000 hours. Notable lyrics: "A life lived for art is never a life wasted," "I stand here in front of you today all because of an idea. I could be who I wanted if I could see my potential and I know that one day imma be him" and, "The greats weren't great because at birth they could paint, the greats were great cause they paint a lot."
3. Same Love
I think the majority of us know this song, but it seems to have faded into oblivion. For those who have forgotten what this song is about, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, with the help of Mary Lambert, discuss the topic of gay marriage; Macklemore even reveals that his uncle is gay and he and Lewis grew up around a lot of gay adults. Notable lyrics: "When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay cause I could draw, my uncle was and I kept my room straight. I told my mom, tears rushing down my face, she's like, 'Ben, you've loved girls since before Pre-K!' Trippin', yeah, I guess she had a point, didn't she? A bunch of stereotypes all in my head. I remember doing the math like, 'Yeah, I'm good at little league,' a pre-conceived idea of what it all meant," "America the brave still fears what we don't know and 'God loves all his children' is somehow forgotten," and, "If I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me. Have you read the YouTube comments lately? 'Man, that's gay' gets dropped on the daily, we've become so numb to what we're saying."
Stop sleeping on Macklemore and only knowing him as the "Thrift Shop" guy. I assure you, he is so much more than just that.
