Macklemore & Ryan Lewis talk hip hop and Ed Sheeran in our latest Close Up

Seattle-born rapper Macklemore and his BFF (it’s official), Ryan Lewis, took some time out from their tour to talk music with Deezer. Trust us you want to meet them. A proud Grammy winner, Macklemore shot to fame in 2012 with his hilarious and catchy hit single ‘Thrift Shop’, which he described in our interview as “the perfect banger about 2nd hand clothes”. The song featured on the platinum selling album “The Heist” has raked in over 100 million views on YouTube with its gut-busting video. Impressive, considering that at the time the duo weren’t backed by any major label.

The band returned in 2015 with their equally funny single ‘Downtown’  and a video featuring camp, leather-clad gangsters on mopeds. The cleverly-built song and sassy lyrics proved once again that Ryan Lewis and Macklemore really do make the perfect team.

In our Close Up Macklemore and Ryan Lewis discuss their love for synthetic ‘but real’ saxophones, hip hop and Wu-Tang Clan and why they think Ed Sheeran is “a dangerous ginger”. Macklemore also candidly touches on his past addiction to painkillers and how rehab led to him sampling Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Otherside’.

Macklemore’s long and successful road to recovery inspired the band to release their new single ‘Drug Dealer’ in October 2016, in an attempt to raise the alarm on America’s increasing addiction to oxycontin and other prescription drugs. Macklemore has taken the battle a step further and featured alongside President Obama in the crisis documentary ‘Prescription for change: Ending America’s opioid crisis’.

Close Up playlist – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

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