The Heist is the debut album of Ben Haggarty and beatmaker Ryan Lewis. Almost three years in the making, "The Heist" is an incredibly genuine production filled with personal narratives and opinionated anthems. Coming from modest beginnings, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis made "The Heist" in a 500 square foot studio built with their own hands nestled between a sheet metal factory and a paint manufacturer. 29 year old Seattle native Macklemore brings a new element of vulnerability to the hip-hop genre. The Heist is filled with honest tracks and stories of Macklemore's journey as an independent artist.
The track "Jimmy Iovine" explains the reasoning behind naming the album "The Heist." As an independant artist, Macklemore had an outside look on the record label scene. He saw rappers signing and making millions, and he compared the whole scenario to a criminal heist.
"Gotta be strategic, creepin, go in, leave with that motive
Hold up, my plan is forming, alright, case in this building
Watch these rappers that rappin' walk in and leave out with millions"
(Jimmy Iovine)
"Thought it would be shiny and beautiful
Thought it would be alive and like musical
But it feels like someone died, it’s got the vibe of a funeral"
What he saw though, was nothing like what he had expected. What he saw was a place where artists and their art went to die. He saw"CDs boxed in cardboard\Artists that flopped, that got dropped and never got to be sophomores" Instead of a place where artists became succesful, he saw a place with "the vibe of a funeral." Macklemore knew as soon as he met Jimmy, that being signed to a label was not for him. Much like the hip-hop MC's of days past, Macklemore raps for the audience. Instead of signing with Interscope record and possibly making millions of dollars, leaving his fans behind, and writing simply catchy tracks, Macklemore walked out the door and chose to make his music as an independent. With a number one album on the iTunes charts and more than 70,000 copies of "The Heist" sold in the first week alone, Macklemore shows that with a fans first mentality, success is still a possibility.
The Heist is full of Macklemore's flashbacks of substance abuse, addiction, and harder times. To really appreciate the album to its fullest potential, some Macklemore background is nessacary. While his rap career started around 2000, he hit a major alcohol and substance addiction roadblock around 2005. After a four year break, He and Ryan Lewis came on to the scene again. Instead of hiding, ashamed of his past, Macklemore embraced it and with a sense of vulnerable authenticity not often found in hip-hop, featured stories of his past in several Heist tracks, including "A Wake" feat. Evan Roman.
The name itself of the song "A Wake," is a clever play on words not fully understood before a full listen through of the song. The song talks about how he used to "drink away [his] paycheck,"and how he finally moved past his life of addiction into someone who rapped about, as Macklemore himself jokingly said, "No guns, no drugs, no sex, just truth." The name "A Wake" refers to the death of his old lifestyle, but while he holds a wake for his old self, in truth, he's finally "awake for the very first time." Macklemore also talks about the difficulties of being white in a predominately black hip-hop scene. He recognizes the failures of white society to deal with issues of the past and present, and brings up some of the faulty practices of white society. Like how they handle the poor, black intercity "neighbourhoods where you never see a news crew, [where] \ Unless they're gentrifying, white people don't even cruise through." Macklemore says how the only way to react to these types of things and to handle such issues, is to simply not say anything about them. He feels as if he does comment on such things, it only comes off as hypocritical because he's white. He has the issues of "White privilege, white guilt, at the same damn time" going on in his head, and he has trouble handling the internal conflict, but he openly talks about it in an attempt to overcome those feelings and promote racial equality.
"Same Love" has gotten the most public notice of any track on the album and not without reason. Through this song Macklemore stands up for a civil rights issue relevant to his time period just as hip-hop MC's of old did. To him the new issue of equality regardless of sexual orientation is to our society what racial segregation was to our past.
"Gender to skin color
Complexion of your pigment
The same fight that lead people to walk-outs and sit-ins
Human rights for everybody
There is no difference"
With an eerily simple piano and organ background, "Same Love" really emphasizes Macklemore's soft-spoken flow that hits the listener with a powerful message. The song has gotten the attention of news sources, music critics, and members of the gay rights community. He brings up the fact that hip-hop, historically has not been supportive of gay rights when he says:
"If I was gay
I would think hip-hop hates me"
Throughout "Same Love," Macklemore emphasises the need for the hip-hop community to embrace the modern civil rights issue of gay rights, for who better to understand such an issue than the typically black hip-hop community.
"The Heist" is one of my favorite albums of the year. All in the span one album Macklemore and his
DJ, Ryan Lewis manage to do so much that it constantly has me finding something new with each listen. The sense of genuine gratefulness and indebtedness to their fans that permeates the whole of the album just makes it impossible to dislike the duo. Whether its the fun and catchy "Thrift Shop" or the powerful "Same Love," that catches your ear, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have shown that they have a rare talent for the hip-hop game, and they're here to stay.
