MACKLEMORE: Ryan is one of my best friends in this world.В HeвЂ™s my producer.В HeвЂ™s my business partner.В And heвЂ™s probably one of my toughest critics, which is an imperative trait of a teammate.В I trust Ryan.В I trust his ear and his eye.В His creative aesthetic.В I wouldnвЂ™t be in this position if it wasnвЂ™t for him.В I spend more time with Ryan than anyone else in my life.В WeвЂ™re a team, and IвЂ™m extremely blessed because of it.Д«UYANOVSKY: Would there still be a Macklemore if not for Ryan Lewis? Pretty much the same thing IвЂ™m doing now, just a different phase.Д«UYANOVSKY: What does Ryan Lewis mean to Macklemore? MACKLEMORE: Damn!В I never wanted that to make its way to the Internet!В It was only a matter of time.В I actually havenвЂ™t heard it in years.В I was a kid in high school that loved music.В Those were very important, formative years in shaping who I am as a person and an artist.В A lot of mushroom trips around that time.В I was just trying to figure out who I was, and that search is documented on that album. 12 years later, how do you look back on that version of yourself? You can recognize your voice, but your flow, beats and content are nothing like your recent work. There was barely a hip-hop scene in Seattle, so the basement of Langston Hughes Cultural Center in the Central District of Seattle was our platform to read our writing.В It really gave me a chance to develop as a performer.В Reading a piece of poetry with no beat in front of 20 people is way more challenging than rocking for 10,000 people.Д«UYANOVSKY: I listened to your first project -Open Your Eyes -and it sounds like a completely different artist. MACKLEMORE: I grew up in the spoken-word community.В The Saul Williams вЂњSlamвЂќ days.В Before everybody had a home studio, or before we could get booked for shows, open mics were the only way to be heard by other people. MACKLEMORE: I definitely use вЂњsmiling while rappingвЂќ as a tool in the booth.В I want to have fun while recording.В At times it can get tedious and stressful when itвЂ™s not sounding the way you heard it in your head, but youвЂ™ve got to remember to just smile and appreciate the fact that youвЂ™re even in the booth and there are people who want to hear your art.Д«UYANOVSKY: You also seem to have roots in spoken word, just by the way you deliver and accent certain words. Is that something youвЂ™re aware of while recording? I also have a producer that is critical as shit, and picks apart everything I write.В That definitely helps.Д«UYANOVSKY: On some of your songs, you sound like youвЂ™re smiling while rapping, especially on вЂњThe TownвЂќ-where youвЂ™re reliving all of these fond hometown memories.

The last thing that I want to do is be preached at and told who to be or what to think when listening to an artist.В However, I do want to be inspired.В ThereвЂ™s a fine line. MACKLEMORE: I put myself in the place of the listener when editing my writing. How do you think youвЂ™ve been able to pull that off? In a time when most of his contemporaries arenвЂ™t saying much of anything, heвЂ™s saying a lot.ДЄ day before the release of The Heist, MacklemoreвЂ™s debut LP with producer Ryan Lewis, we spoke with him about his faith, gay marriage, and rapping for 10,000 hours.ДAN BUYANOVSKY: People call you a conscious rapper, and you do make conscious, socially aware hip-hop music, but youвЂ™re never pandering or heavy-handed. One is a land of boasts, women, and riches, expertly detailed by new pop legends like Drake and Rick Ross and the other is a grittier world, marked by an uprising internet-based mainstream where hardcore young rappers like Chief Keef shoot homemade videos about gang violence, and blow up with such white-hot speed that major labels and journalists alike canвЂ™t keep up.Дespite being the odd ones out, Macklemore and Lewis have made a case for their recent success with a string of honest, challenging songs like вЂњWings,вЂќ an ode to the sneakerhead and the unrelenting consumerist culture that engulfs him вЂњOtherside,вЂќ a Red Hot Chili Peppers-sampling rap ballad detailing a hard-fought return to sobriety and most recently, вЂњSame Love,вЂќ a soft and beautiful statement on sexuality, homophobia, and gay rights.ДЄs a lyricist, Macklemore presents himself as a flawed individual, a scarred artist who has seen the other side and has come back to inspire his fans and listeners with not only cautionary tales but also confessions of his own missteps. Not only are they two white guys from Seattle making hip-hop, theyвЂ™re two white guys from Seattle making hip-hop unlike any other.ДЄs musicians who blend pop-anthem production with mindful lyrical content, the duo stand between two distinct worlds.

Macklemore & Ryan LewisвЂ™s popularity doesnвЂ™t entirely make sense.

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