Macklemore: Stylin' and profilin.' Photo courtesy Macklemore.com
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis will release their debut full-length album, The Heist, Oct. 9. Last month we got a taste of the record when the pair released “Same Love,” a song that got quite a sizable amount of buzz due to its pro-gay marriage message. The song helped raise the pair’s profile locally and nationally, not that they needed it since they seem to be doing pretty well in the buzz-generating department.
While “Same Love” satisfied fans wanting to hear new Macklemore and Ryan Lewis material, it is not the record’s lead single. The lead single off The Heist, “Thrift Shop,” will be released into the world Aug. 28 with a video to follow on Aug. 29. I’m not a fashion blogger, but if I were to describe Macklemore’s fashion sense I would slap the label “thrift shop chic” on his wardrobe (check out his killer David Bowie jacket as seen at Guerrilla Candy’s Bumbershoot Prefunk in 2010), which makes thrift shops an appropriate subject for a Macklemore and Ryan Lewis track.
To mark the release of “Thrift Shop” Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have put together a contest for fans, encouraging them to dress up in their favorite thrift store outfit and take a picture with Instragram labeling it with the hashtag #MacklemoreThriftShop. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis will choose their favorite thrifted-up fan on Aug. 24 and fly him or her and a guest to Seattle for a private screening of the “Thrift Shop” video.
Here’s what the always fashionable Mack had to say about the song, while rather humorously sticking it to PETA in a way only Macklemore can, in the press release announcing the song and contest:
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with Marco Collins
“I am the most prolific thrift shopper in the rap game right now. What Bob Barker is to the Price Is Right, I am to used fringe jackets. My collection is worth anywhere between $70 and a $1,000,000 depending on who’s appraising it. I’m gonna be honest, if it’s me…. I’m going with a million. Count the zero’s. That’s how many fur jackets I have. Tell PETA my Mink, Fox, Rabbit, Coyote, and Hungarian Raccoon jacket are ALL dragging on the floor. And I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. I love my animals. But they’re dead. And they’ve been dead for hella. When I wear them, I’m bringing them back to life and introducing them to a whole new generation who wasn’t around when they were out in the woods doing their thing. Those animals have now migrated from some old lady’s closet, to a thrift s hop and are now getting their proper shine, up to 40 years later. It’s recycling. And recycling is beautiful, am I right? That’s what this song is about.”
If you want more Macklemore, you can listen to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis talk with Jet City Stream’s Marco Collins about their upcoming album, support for Ref. 74, and more, below.
Travis Hay is a music journalist who has spent the past 20 years documenting and enjoying Seattle's music scene. He's written for various outlets including MSN Music, the Seattle-Post Intelligencer, Seattle Weekly, Pearl Jam's Ten Club, Crosscut.com and others.
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