Seattle rapper Macklemore has carved out a niche through a combination of fun, bouncy pop tracks and an identity as hip hop’s most woke whiteboy wordsmith.
For his new album, ‘Gemini’, he's parted with longtime collaborator Ryan Lewis after the lukewarm reception to their previous two offerings, and the result is an album loaded with candy crush pop, entertaining flow and fine (if B-list) collaborations.
Highlights include the most quintessential of Macklemore tracks, Ain’t Gonna Die Tonight, alongside the churchy Good Old Days, which features Kesha. The latter track is a little close to the bone.
The appropriation of African-American musical tropes by white artists is a dance as old as pop music itself, but it only really works with a combination of blinkered confidence (Simply Red) or profound emotional candour (Eminem). In this context, the two performers carry it off well, but questions about the robustness of the song remain.
Macklemore’s music exists in a bit of a taste vortex. ‘Gemini’ is an album that can be played with equal effect in a shopping mall or a customised hatchback. And while its inherent message is generally one of liberal tolerance, it often appears somehow more offensive than the profanity-laden social observations of more credible artists like Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole.
The monster hit Glorious seems to distil this feeling. It uses some of the best pop production around and is arranged with confidence. Yet the tedium of the song’s central message feels problematic: “I made it through the darkest part of the night / And now I see the sunrise / Now I feel glorious, glorious / I feel glorious, glorious.” It's as though a record executive requested a Major Lazer sound-a-like track minus the edge, and Macklemore obliged with a whole album of them.
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