Album Review: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis-The Heist

Seattle MC Macklemore and his producer Ryan Lewis's path to success is a bit unusual. Macklemore has been quietly making and self-releasing music since 2000 (with a hiatus in the mid-2000's to get sober), but all of a sudden strictly online word-of-mouth his second full-length The Heist debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 charts. I was amongst the legions of people that never heard him before until recently so with this incredible wave of success and hype, I decided to check out what all the fuss was about. I can say that The Heist is definitely a worthwhile release and yet another solid 2012 hip-hop album.

The Heist is one of the more conscious hip-hop records I've heard this year. Macklemore spends the majority of the album speaking about drug addiction, alcoholism, equality for same-sex marriages, and finding what really matters in life. No matter what the subject matter, He approaches it with sincerity and honesty. He's been through or strongly believes in all of the issues he talks about the album which gives this is the authenticity that makes every song more effective. What makes The Heist and Macklemore in general interesting is his ability to have a lot of different styles. There are some songs where he flat-out spits at thunderous speeds with wordplay galore (like he does on the album's addictive standout "Can't Hold Us"), other songs where he mellows out and raps slow with a lot of emotion ("Wing$, "Neon Cathedral") and pretty much everywhere in between. I always like to see rappers that have a lot of range and Macklemore is absolutely one of those artists The production from Ryan Lewis is also impressive. Most of his beats are very subtle and understated with pretty heavy use of violin and piano, which perfectly fits Macklmore's primarily calm style. There are songs where he goes outside the box with his beats, such as the aforementioned "Can't Hold Us", which is very upbeat and almost seems like it has some gospel influences.

Even though The Heist is solid, There are a few things that hold it back from being great. The biggest issue is most of the hooks. They are way too poppy for the type of music that Macklemore is making and the placement of all of them are really awkward and seem forced. This becomes less of an issue in the second half of the album, but the first half is plagued with mostly terrible choruses. I also didn't like how some of the guest artists were used. For example, Ab-Soul only does the chorus on "Jimmy Iovine" and wasn't even given a chance to drop a verse. Ab-Soul is a great rapper and when some one godawful like Buffalo Madonna gets more time to do his thing in a song, It's doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Schoolboy Q is given a whole verse on "White Walls" and it's definitely a good one, but it just didn't really work well within the context of the song. I get what they were trying to do with the contrasting styles of Macklemore and Schoolboy Q, It just kind of backfires.

The Heist is a nice effort from Macklmore and Ryan Lewis. It definitely puts them on the map and gives them a nice building block for a long career in the hip-hop industry. This album reminds of a more poppy version of Atmosphere, Grieves, or someone else on Rhymesayers (If Macklemore was to ever sign to a record deal, It would probably be with Rhymesayers. His style fits in way too perfectly with their artists.) The production is low-key, but crisp and Macklemore is a skilled rapper with a big heart and a gift for expressing his emotions honestly and effectively. With a little bit of a slicker execution and some other small tweaks, We could be looking at one of the most important conscious rappers to hit the hip-hop scene in a long time.

3.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Can't Hold Us feat. Kevin Dalton
2.Wing$
3.Jimmy Iovine feat. Ab-Soul