Who knew Macklemore before Thrift Shop?
 

I was very disappointed when Thrift Shop first hit the radio and it was nothing like the songs I had previously known him for:

Macklemore - Inhale Deep


Macklemore - White Privilege (It's human nature to want to be a part of something different, especially when your ancestors are European Christians... *shots fired*)

That second song is garbage.

The first one is okay and I sort of get Brother Ali vibes, but he's nowhere near as lyrical or charismatic.

You've heard them before or just now listened?

I was more curious if anyone actually knew he existed prior to his mainstream explosion. And yeh I could understand where you get the Ali feel from.

Ali's older work is some of my favorite. I had the privilege of meeting him outside BB Kings in NYC after he performed. He sat there for like 15 minutes just bull****ting with us. Awesome guy.

i never knew of him before thrift shop. cant say im much of a macklemore fan tho and i cant really pin point why. he just seems like one of those bleeding heat liberal pansy types that i dont like. and it kinda overflow sinto his music with some of the themes and for some reason i just really cant get into the guy. then again my liking for rap has been diminishing over the last few yrs anyways. i am more picky with rap artists than other genres i think

He showed up one one of CunninLynguists' Strange Journey mixtapes with a verse and I quite enjoyed it. Still haven't listened to his new stuff, nor his old stuff. I dunno, I guess I've filled my quota of white conscious rappers.

I hadn't knowingly heard him before, but it's entirely possible that I had.

Macklemore said he wants to introduce his listeners to unfamiliar genres with his rap, so it's sort of the point for him to release material that sounds nothing like his other music.

Thrift Shop, and Same Love sound completely different from each other and I honestly did not recognize Same Love as a Macklemore song before I looked it up-and this is after playing Thrift Shop like a hundred times in the span of 1 month.

Regardless of wether you want to acknowledge it or not, Macklemore is still creating music exactly the same way he did before with the same methods.

Also, I can't help but notice your first post has the feel of a I-heard-such-and-such-before-he-was-popular-therefore-I-am-better-than-you-are kind of post.
Who cares, Macklemore is wildly successful because he's literally got the music people my age want to listen to, down to an exact science, and good for him.

That being said, I had no idea who he was before Thrift Shop.

Lol @ the better than you comment. I'm just here to introduce people to hiphop they never heard before because I am a huge fan of the underground scene.

Also, I was in no way knocking Macklemore. I am not the hugest fan but I think he is better than most mainstream radio. I simply liked him better before he blew up.

@Wpnfire. Take a chill pill yeah?

I didn't read the OP as having that hipster vibe of "oh I liked this artist way before he was popular."

I feel like he was just trying to ask a general question of whether people knew him before his most recent album came out.

I knew him before but I didn't listen to him much. I heard can't hold us before he tweaked it a bit to put on this album a couple years ago. I always used to think that it was John Legend singing on that track for some reason.

I am glad I haven't listened to him before or after lol.